Image Sets
from the IMCL Council
IMCL Image sets illustrate essential features of livable cities, selected from the IMCL Council’s extensive image library. The sets are accompanied by detailed descriptions and background information for each image. The high-resolution images are stored on CD-ROM and are suitable for print or the Web.
 |
#1 - Appropriate Urban Architecture (13 images) Continuing and developing local traditions; examples of appropriate and inappropriate architecture; architecture that "fits" the city's heritage. |
 |
#2 - The Carpet of the City (12 images) Paving the floor of the city for walking; designs using local materials; recording history and tradition; designs that delight. |
 |
#3 - Traffic Calming
by Design (8 images) Paving, planting, bollards to reduce traffic speed and impact; design for "living streets"; intersection designs to reduce speed. |
 |
#4 - Seating in the City (18 images) Hospitable seating, formal and informal; designs to encourage social life; seating that serves different population groups. |
 |
#5 - Outdoor Cafes (10 images) Hospitable outdoor cafes to facilitate social life and revive downtown; seating and umbrella designs. |
 |
#6 - Community Festivals (15 images) Developing sense of community and enlivening the city; expressing neighborhood and group identity; flower festivals, Palio, Fasnacht, Carnival. |
 |
#7 - Farmers Markets (12 images) Europe's best farmers markets; essential elements; role in enlivening the city; display technology and aesthetics. |
 |
#8 - Children in the City (16 images) Need for traffic free spaces; what the child learns in the city; using streetscape details for play; role of sculptures and water in play. |
 |
#9 - Recent Art in Public
Places: Europe (12 images) Celebrating local traditions, occupations and mythology; combining humour and functions; sculptures for the blind and disabled; architecture as art. |
 |
#10 - The Child and Public Art (10 images) Art that encourages participation and learning; climbing, sliding; touching, moving, getting wet; children's stories and local legends. |
 |
#11 - Successful Urban Squares (14 images) The heart of the city; purpose and functions; designs for public life; essential elements; Europe's best and lesser known examples. |
 |
#12 - Successful Urban Streets (14 images) Creating a sense of place; essential design and management elements; the lively street at night; analysis of successful European streets. |
 |
#13 - Successful Urban Waterfronts (14 images) How European cities provide for access and play; active and passive water activities; water celebrations; waterfront design details. |
 |
#14 - Water in the City (12 images) Imaginative sculpture fountains; rediscovered streams and creeks; the role of water; refreshment and play. |
 |
#15 - Nature in the City (11 images) Good designs for planters and arbors; providing shade; softening hard streets and hiding bad architecture; mini parks and garden. |
 |
#16 - Architectural Details and Decorations (12 images) Painted facades; sculptured reliefs; how buildings meet the sky; decorative frames; local colour and texture. |
 |
#17 - Windows, Balconies, and Doors (12 images) Traditional designs to enhance use; adaptable shutter designs; French windows, window and door surrounds; balconies and roof gardens. |
 |
#18 - City Street Facades and Signage (12 images) Continuity and scale; street level emphasis; permeability; traditional shop/house façade; beautiful and appropriate signage. |
 |
#19 - Creating Community - Mechanisms (8 images) Communal dinners; the role of public art; ritual and celebration. |
 |
#20 - Mixed Use and the Shop House (17 images) Mixed use to ensure the city's vitality; basic forms of the shop/house; regional architecture differences; new shop/houses that maintain regional character. Examples from U.S., Canada and Europe. |
 |
#21 - Forms of Social Life in Public Urban Places (16 images) Planned and unplanned meetings; extended conversations; affirmation of each other; display of pleasure and affection; shared delight among strangers; cementing social bonds. Children learn social competence with varied others. Collaborative efforts, community festivals, that develop citizenship and community identity. |
 |
#22 - New Public Art in the U.S. (17 images) Community involvement and expression of culture in murals and sculptures (Santa Fe and San Francisco). Mapping the city's history (Charleston, SC). The Piggy Bank (Seattle). Climbable sculptures and paddling figures (Santa Cruz, Yreka, Carmel, Santa Barbara). Works by Seward Johnson, Ruth Asawa, Bonifatius Stirnberg, Bud Bottoms, Susan Cervantez, Gilberto Guzman, etc. |