KEVIN LYNCH -IMAGE OF THE CITY BOOK REVIEW BY ANISHA SAMUEL AND ARCHANA SREENATH, URBAN DESIGN STUDIO

1. BOOK REVIEW
ANISHA SAMUEL ARCHANA SREENATH
SEMESTER 8 BATCH B
‘……the city is a construction in space , but one of
large scale , a thing perceived only in the course of
long spans of time .’ KEVIN ANDREW LYNCH

2. KEVIN ANDREW LYNCH AND THE BOOK
• American urban planner and author . Known for his work on the
perpetual form of urban environment . Most influential books
include: ‘Image of the city’ (1960), ‘A theory of good urban form’
‘What time is this place?’(1972)
• This book is about :
Look of cities
Importance of
this look
Whether it can
be changed
Comparison of three American cities: Boston, Jersey City,
Los Angeles
To reveal outcomes of field reconnaissance.
Paths, elements , nodes,elements and landmarks –
Elements that help distinguishing cities

3. IMAGE OF THE ENVIRONMENT
TWO-WAY
PROCESS
OBSERVER ENVIRONMENT
selects
Endows
meaning
Relations are
made
Helps create distinctions
Some objects are
identifiable since they
conform to a
previously constructed
stereotype
New objects are
identifiable because of
striking physical
features imposing own
patterns .
Common
culture Public
images
Shared
environment
Physiological
factors
associations
Age and
purpose
Building the image thus happens through a perceptual
input via consistent interacting
World is
arranged
around a set of
focal points
Systems of
orientation used
widely
throughout the
world ,changing
form culture to
culture and time
to time
• To understand layout of the city people make mental maps which
contain mental images of the city constraints.
• Elements placed in good form increase human ability to see and remember patterns which makes
it easier for people to learn places.

4. IMAGE OF THE ENVIRONMENT
STRUCTURE AND IDENTITY
OF THE ENVIRONMENT
Unique
And
distinctive
Meaningful
to the
observer
Have
separate
meaning
from
form
PRE-REQUISITES OF A
WORKABLE IMAGE
Open-
ended ,
adaptable
to change
Extendable
blank
spaces
Value for
orientation
IMAGEABLILITY
• Quality in a physical object which gives it high
probability of evoking a strong image in any
observer.
colour
Powerfully structured
shape
arrangement
legible
visible
Well-formed
rhythm
stimulus
choice
expressiveness
Sensuous
delight
Use of symbolic devices to
strengthen the image
Well-designed paths
lighting
Mental map is an individual map of a
person’s mental image of his known world.
Public image-Each individual holds a unique
image of his or her city ,a visual connection
that guides out through the cities and maps
out meaning

5. COMPARISON BETWEEN THREE AMERICAN CITIES
BOSTON
JERSEY CITY LOS ANGELES
• Central peninsula within the line
of Massachusets Avenue
• City of distinctive districts ,
crooked paths , ditty city, red-
brick buildings symbolised by
the Boston common , the state
house with its gold dome,view
across Charles river from
Cambridge side.
• Contains some new structure
among the old.
• Narrow streets are congested
with no parking space, ,striking
contrasts between wide main
streets and narrow streets.
• Boston Common core of their
image city , large planted open-
space , a place full of
associations , accessible to all.
Favourite views
Distant panoramas with the sense
of water and space.
Dry city lights of the night
• Fringe area of Newark and New York
with little central activity.
• Crisscrossed by railroads and elevated highways ,
divided into ethnic neighbourhoods , cut by ramparts
of the Palisades.
• Uncoordinated street system, formlessness of space
and heterogeneity of structure
• More than one city centre
• Drabness ,dirt , smell of the town are overpowering
• Few recognised elements
• Journal square is the most noted structure because
of intensive shopping and entertainment activity
• Paucity of recognisable districts and landmarks, lack
of commonly known centres
• Marked however by railroads ,overhead lines,
isolating boundaries
• Heart of a great metropolitan region
• Comparable in size to Boston and
Jersey city and contains more than
business district
• Heavily charged with meaning and
activity , large and distinctive
buildings with a basic pattern and a
regular grid of streets
• Central activities are spatially
extended and shifting
• Broadway is the most unmistakable
path with the largest shopping
concentration , crowds on the
sidewalks , street cars- shopping
area for most of the middle class
people

8. ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN-
WITH REFERENCE TO THAMPANOOR CONTEXT
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9. ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN-
WITH REFERENCE TO THAMPANOOR CONTEXT
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