Urban States of America — Visual Research

Historical timeline of the United States urban development is short comparing to the other parts of the world. Nevertheless, American cities had gone through as many stages of development as, let us say, European ones did. North America has become one of the most well-studied regions in Urban Studies and attracts researchers from all over the world.

What is more interesting about the American cities—as any metropolis of the world, they exist in two realms: physical and mental. These two realities, sometimes hardly distinguishable from one another, shape the city perception. What we call the Sense of Place is the mix of its physical forms (architecture, streets, etc.) and cultural character (media, films).

The goal of the research is to synthesize the parts of what we call «The Sense of Place”—what makes a territory authentic and what constitutes the perception of society? Urban spaces are analyzed from different perspectives: sociological, historical, cultural, and visual.