Image of a city-Review

1. NAME: ARCHANA.T
Roll No:4
PROFESSOR NAME : Ar.Deepak,Ar.Mithun,Ar.Kripa
SUBJECT : REVIEW OF A BOOK
28th JULY 2017
BOOK NAME: “-THE IMAGE OF A CITY--”
AUTHOR : KEVIN LYNCH
Kevin Andrew Lynch (1918 Chicago, Illinois - 1984 Martha's Vineyard,
Massachusetts) was an American urban planner and author. Lynch
studied at Yale University, Taliesin (studio) under Frank Lloyd Wright,
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and received a Bachelor's degree in
city planning from MIT in 1947.
This book is actuallythe report of his studies for about five
years on on how users perceive and organize spatial
informationas they navigatethrough cities and the book was
published by MIT in 1960.Through this book he analyses how the living
environment can interfier in a persons physical and mental
development charecteristics. His book explores the presence of time
and history in the urban environmnent affects the childrens and how
they gets formulated to that environment what will it effects them on
future.

2. He also highlited two words mainly “imagebility” and “wayfinding” It is
also having a durable and important influence in the urban planning
ideology still its glory prevails.Book concerned about the look of the city
importance,whether it can be changed.Lynch’s main theory focuses
how humans are getting influenced by the city life ,background of the
city and their living aspects.
“Every citizen has had long association with same part of the
city land his image is soaked in memories and meanings-Kevin Lynch”
He firstly divided the book into 5 topics-The image of
environment,Three cities,The city and its elements,City form,A new
scale.
Image of the environment- He studied the visual qualities of the
American cities and then analysed about the mental image of the same
cities in the citizens.Only focused on the quality of city scape.Legibility
is not only the important property of a beautiful city but also the
importance when environments at the urban scale of size,time and
complexity is considerd.
The city image and its elements-Building image is related mainly to the
observer and environment.It amalgamates the public image about a
city and compares it with individual images about the same.City image
can be divided into path,landmark,nodes,district,and their values are

3. demonstrated.There must be an inter connection inorder to get a
satisfied forms of these all elemntes do exists but not in an organized
manner.Elements are simply the raw materials of the environmental
image of the city scale.Structure and identity:The environmental image
can be divided into three basic components,they are
Identity,Structure,Meaning.These three elements lead to the term
imageability. The physical quality of the object can even affect the
people assumption in a greater manner.
Analysis of three cities-American cities analysis study about the both
vivid in form and full of location difficulties.Jersey city is not organized
were as Los angels is gridiron pattern.And peoples concern were
enquired about the city imageiablity and noted.
City form-It discusses about the tools for designing the paths,design of
other elements form qualities the sense of the whole metropolitian
form.
New scale:Gives vision abouts the encouragement for the development
of a clear and comprehensive vision of the entire metropolitian in a
clear manner.The city is actually the source of daily enjoyment to
millions of the inhabitants in the same.
The reader can learn and understand the element in a legible and easy
manner and its provided with many illustrations.As this is a vast topic

4. the reader will be feeling difficulty to understand the terms in
detail.But still it’s a good planning literature in an urban study context
and very informative too.