Planners Book Club — February 2008

Learning from Las Vegas

Learning from Las Vegas was the February 2008 selection of APA's Planners Book Club.

In the 1970s, Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour raised a few eyebrows by suggesting, in their book Learning from Las Vegas, that architects and urbanists might be able to learn a thing or two from the haphazard growth and "common" development of Las Vegas. So what can we learn from Las Vegas today? APA will be exploring the lessons the city has to offer at the 100th National Planning Conference in Las Vegas in April with sessions and mobile workshops and in a keynote address by New Yorker architecture critic Paul Goldberger, who will consider Learning from Las Vegas in his talk on the modern American city. Get ready for the conference by discussing Learning from Las Vegas.

Here are some questions to get your discussion started:

Is this the first time you read this book? If not, what is your reaction today versus your reaction when you first read it?

If you were in college or practicing when the book first came out in 1972, do you recall the impact the book had? What was that impact? Was this book assigned reading in a planning, urban history, or architecture class?

The authors write, on p. 52, "Henri Bergson called disorder an order we cannot see." How do the authors bring order to their analysis of Las Vegas? What are the themes they explore?

Exploring the topic of exterior space and how it is shaped, describe some of the spatial experiences that people have in your community. Consider vehicular, pedestrian, and even the spatial experience of flying in and out of your community.

The book also considers monumentality. What do you consider monuments in your community? If you were to do a survey of the residents of your community, what do you think might appear on their lists? Why might their lists differ from yours?

The authors focus on the symbolic aspect of architecture. Is there a parallel in planning? Do planners concern themselves with the symbolic meanings of space, movement, buildings, etc.? If not, why not?

Consider the rise of the Post Modern movement in architecture. How has it shaped the commercial strips in your community? What might the authors say about this Po-Mo aesthetic in your community?

Consider this quote "They (architects, but substitute planners) do not recognize the image of the process city when they see it on the Strip, because it is both too familiar and too different from what they have been trained to accept." Now, consider your own community. Are there landscapes within your community that you simply do not "see" nor consider important because you have been trained not to consider them as acceptably planned spaces? What are they? What does the edge of your community look like?

Las Vegas has changed considerably since Learning From Las Vegas was published in 1972. If you have visited Las Vegas (or consider this question when you visit) how have following been handled or redesigned:

Circulation of pedestrians from casino to casino
Movement along the Strip by car
Parking and what is the spatial experience as you park
New generations of signs; layering of signs
Open and enclosed spaces
Public, commercial space (what is it and where is it?)

Compare Las Vegas to other pleasure cities such as Disneyworld or Venice (or Svannah). What type of landscape is created by multiple commercial interests versus one principle commercial interest? What type of landscape is created by strict preservation and what is created through rapid change and escalating scale? Are there pros and cons to these different landscapes?

Does this book make you think about planning controls differently? If so, in what way? If not, why not?

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