Status
Available
Call number
Publication
The MIT Press (1964), Edition: Illustrated, 208 pages
Description
The classic work on the evaluation of city form. What does the city's form actually mean to the people who live there? What can the city planner do to make the city's image more vivid and memorable to the city dweller? To answer these questions, Mr. Lynch, supported by studies of Los Angeles, Boston, and Jersey City, formulates a new criterion--imageability--and shows its potential value as a guide for the building and rebuilding of cities. The wide scope of this study leads to an original and vital method for the evaluation of city form. The architect, the planner, and certainly the city dweller will all want to read this book.
User reviews
LibraryThing member jcbrunner
Kevin Lynch's classic booklet is an excellent primer on public perception of urban space. Lynch distinguishes paths, edges, districts, nodes and landmarks to examine the mental models of our environments, in particular Boston, Jersey City and Los Angeles. The interesting map discussion together
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with illustrated guidebooks helped me familiarize myself with Boston for my upcoming visit. Apparently, more than forty years after publication, the Boston Central Artery still cuts the North End off from the rest of the center. Lynch's advocacy of landmarks to structure is a forerunner of the Bilbao effect, although he recommends simple designs people can grasp and understand. Who could draw an accurate representation of Gehry's various buildings? Only Prague's Dancing House would probably qualify. The methods appendix is thorough and usable. Overall, highly recommended. See Christopher Alexander for further elaboration on patterns and Jan Gehl for the application in real life urban design with examples from Copenhagen. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1960
Physical description
208 p.; 7.94 x 0.41 inches
ISBN
0262620014 / 9780262620017