The reading “The Image of the Environment” from Kevin
Lynch’s book The Image of the City asserts
that a city is made up of its moving parts – the people – as much as its
physical attributes. It is a self-aware entity, being composed of how its
inhabitants use and view the city. Lynch posits that a city’s image is defined
by its “legibility”, or how the city’s organization affects how people form
memorable patterns that facilitate how the city is experienced. The city is built with structures that are
uniquely identifiable and allow people to create their own meanings from this
urban environment.
Martijn de Waal corroborates Lynch’s ideas on the idea that
the city is built on its organization in the navigator’s mind in his column at http://www.themobilecity.nl/2009/03/29/semantic-wayfinding-mental-maps-and-the-keyhole-problem-of-gps-navigation/#more-440.
He states that people use semantic wayfinding, a process of using notable
memories of city features for navigation. Waal points out the fault in modern
day GPS technology being a lack of these semantic points. While GPS was not a
factor for Lynch at the time of his writing The
Image of the City, he does note that mapmaking is not a two-dimensional
process, but one that relies on the three-dimensional aspect of visiting
certain places and forming meaning.
Among Lynch’s ideas on how the city is perceived by its
inhabitants, was the concept that the city designer had the freedom to
structure the city in his own vision. The designer is not able to select how
his city will be interpreted, but he is able to guide the eyes of the people.
In his article at http://www.rudi.net/node/22332,
Alastair Donald defends the suburbs against claims that they portray moral
corruptibility and lack mobility. He quotes Lynch saying that designers should
have the “criterion of choice” when it comes to city planning, and that
devising a suburb with accessible transportation would be a welcome challenge
to any city planner.
Donald, A.
(n.d.). Moving beyond the suburbs. RUDI - Resource for Urban Design
Information | Resource for Urban Design Information. Retrieved January 31,
2012, from http://www.rudi.net/node/22332
Lynch, K. (1960).
The image of the environment. The image of the city (pp. 1-13).
Cambridge [Mass.: Technology Press ; MIT Press ; Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.
Waal, M. d. (n.d.).
Semantic Wayfinding, mental maps and the keyhole problem of GPS-navigation. The
Mobile City | Mobile Media and Urban Design. Retrieved January 31, 2012,
from
http://www.themobilecity.nl/2009/03/29/semantic-wayfinding-mental-maps-and-the-keyhole-problem-of-gps-navigation/#more-440
