One of the quantitative tools urban designers use to understand cities is the seemingly simple - perhaps even obvious - street section. Describing a street this way removes everything but the primal elements: things like width, heigth, sun angles, and tree lines. Sections answer the question why, for example, is the experience of walking down University Avenue in Toronto so different than walking down Fifth Avenue in New York? When we strip away materiality and glitter in a street section the skeleton of the city is laid bare.

Not surprisingly, there is a website dedicated to showing sections of the world's great streets. Take a look at Steet Sections. Anyone want to contribute sections from our city?