Urban Studies & Planning: Images

Photos of architectural and other urban design projects.

"The nearly 16,000 photographic negatives in this digital collection illustrate urban renewal in Chicago in its positive, negative and mundane lights. Captured are properties before they were torn down or rehabilitated—both exteriors and interiors—as well as new construction in progress and completed. New development resulted in shopping centers and high-rise housing, university and medical campus expansions, public art installations and rehabilitated homes. Most parts of Chicago appear in this collection, but the areas of Lincoln Park, the Near West Side, Hyde Park/Kenwood and North Lawndale are especially well represented."

Digitized images of buildings and cities drawn from across time and throughout the world.

Images selected for this project focus on architecture, city life, people, transportation and other aspects of urban development, such as neighborhoods, commercial streets, and business districts.

Images of 1000 selected classics of world architecture. (Note: site not connecting 9/23. Archived images available in Internet Archive)

These collections document achievements in architecture, engineering, and landscape design in the U.S. and its territories through a comprehensive range of building types, engineering technologies, and landscapes.

Images of urban planning projects from China, Africa, Europe, and the United States.

Images (1851-1991) featuring American - and some international - cityscapes and landscapes. Subject strengths include: agricultural life; disasters; engineering work such as bridges, canals and dams; fairs and expositions; schools and college campuses; and transportation.

Real-world images relating to walking and bicycling.

Photos depicting the American city. its development, and its people from the early 19th century to recent times. Categories include: Artists' Conceptions of 19th-Century Cities; Skylines and Streets; City Life, Urban Transportation; The City in Turmoil; and 20th-Century Art Reflecting Urban Themes.

International images of people; parks, plazas, & waterfronts; markets; buildings; streets & transit; and amenities & elements. You must register for a free account to access images larger than thumbnails.

Digitized collection of historical photos and documents related to San Diego.

Visual examples of smart growth techniques being used in real places.

Images of a wide variety of transportation methods used in 79 countries.

Historical photos of San Diego landmarks, buildings, streets, etc. Note: the old Google site appears to no longer be available. Current link is to a Facebook page.

Contains nearly 900 images by American photographer William Henry Jackson. In addition to railroads, elephants, camels, horses, sleds and sleighs, sedan chairs, rickshaws, and other types of transportation, Jackson photographed city views, street and harbor scenes, and landscapes of North Africa, Asia, Australia, and Oceania.

Maps that depict individual buildings to panoramic views of large urban areas. These maps record the evolution of cities illustrating the development and nature of economic activities, educational and religious facilities, parks, street patterns and widths, and transportation systems.

Focuses primarily on cartography of the Americas from the 18th and 19th centuries, but also has maps of the World, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania.

Includes maps that typically portray the physical environment and a variety of cultural elements for geographic areas larger than cities or towns.

Allows the user to search for online historical maps across numerous different collections via a geographical search. Search by typing a place-name or by clicking in the map window, and narrow by date.

Panoramic maps are nonphotographic representations of cities portrayed as if viewed from above at an oblique angle. Although not generally drawn to scale, they show street patterns, individual buildings, and major landscape features in perspective.

Extensive collection of scanned maps and links to additional map collections.

Railroad maps represent an important historical record, illustrating the growth of travel and settlement as well as the development of industry and agriculture in the United States.

Fire insurance maps published by the Sanborn Map Company. The online checklist links to existing digital images from the Library of Congress collection.

These maps document the development of transportation and communication systems on the national, state, and local level. Transportation maps can depict canal and river systems, cycling routes, railway lines and systems, roads and road networks, and traffic patterns. Communication maps illustrate the location and distribution of telegraph routes, telephone systems and radio coverage.