I've never read Gordon Cullen's Townscape, but I'm aware of its influence, much of it happening in the decade following its publication in 1961. I've read The Italian Townscape, which came out in 1963, and now this book by Ian Nairn, the British architect and author who focused on the idea of townscape as one that planners and architects should consider in their projects. The American Landscape documents his 10,0000-mile, year-long trek through USA, via a Rockefeller Foundation grant he received in 1959. It intersperses his photos with his observations, criticisms and ideas on urban design. Actually interspersing is the wrong word, since Nairn treats the photos like words, inserting them into paragraphs and even sentences to make the visuals part of the book's grammar; this technique makes the book easy to read and weds the text and images unlike any other book I've encountered outside of a comic. Fifty years after publication, the places he visited have changed significantly, and I'd wager most not for the better in terms of Nairn's principles; such is the difficulty with espousing a townscape approach (it prioritizes visual experience and movement through space) on a country that values economy over aesthetics. Nevertheless, Nairn's text is enjoyable and eye-opening at times, written with a skill that parallels the care he wants to see in the environment. ( )