One of my favorite things about living in an urban environment are the multitude of textures than I come across on a daily basis. Often unseen and unnoticed, the textures of a city form the backdrop in front of which we conduct our lives. Textures makes a significant contribution to the expressive quality of a city. They impact how we relate to specific places, whether it be a distinct address, a neighborhood or an entire metropolitan area.

While individual cities share several common textures, such as asphalt, concrete, gravel and grass they are integrated in diverse ways. On top of this, they are combined with local species of plant and styles off architecture. Combined, this mix of common and distinct textures provides a unique stage on which a city’s story is played out.

These are some of the textures of Phoenix, that provide the backdrop for my daily life. They were taken during walks and bike rides around the downtown core and my uptown Phoenix neighborhood. The full “Textures of Phoenix” set can be found on Flickr.