ABSTRACT
Here guidance is offered for building the good city, the città felice, where buildings that embody the beauty of architecture, open areas, and other urban elements serve and express the dedication to the common good. A civil order builds urbanism, and it always inherits an urbanism that it necessarily amends to serve its ends. In building and maintaining the good city it draws on tradition and introduces the inventions to address new circumstances while honoring the regional character of the realm it governs. Instructive examples in Venice, Florence, Rome, and the United States are followed by details about five necessary qualities for good urbanism: dimensions and edges; quarters; streets, squares, and blocks; sequencing of open areas; and regional characteristics. Also discussed are ancillary elements such as gates, monuments, landscape features, etc., found across time and the globe. Presented as essential is proper dimensioning and configurating of open areas and the relationships of buildings to them and to one another, all requiring balance and proportionality among the many parts achieved through patience and a good eye. A postscript presents recent examples including those of New Urbanism in Europe and North and Central America.
