History & Theory of Urban Design Application of Kevin Lynch’s Urban Planning Principles from the ‘Image of the City’ to Sheffield City Centre in 2018 ARC6984 Cressy Lopez Year 5 MArch 170204592   2 Intention 3 Image of the City 6 Diagrams 8 Related works 10 Analysis 13 Sheffield City Centre 15 Application 16 Conclusion 23 Bibliography 24   3 Intention In Renaissance Europe the notion of using imagery to create Urban spaces was developed. In the 15th/16th century, Architect and theoretician Sebastian Serlio published a series of books on Architecture and Perspective (1537-47) identifying the connections between the construction of the image and experience. He investigated perspectives through theatre design. Andrea Palladio explored imagery and axis further in his Teatro Olympico (1580-85), through the design of a deep stage with five skewed paths creating notable ‘street’ perspectives. Pope Sixtus V in the 16th/17th century translated Palladio’s principles to Urban planning in the design of the Piazza del Popolo (Tridente), utilising principles of image and order. Order here seen as a deliberate organisation of ancient space to iterate power. He utilised perspective, playing with perception of space, connecting important points in the city through long linear axis. Image and order are intrinsically linked, image associated with human perception and order a determination of rational planning. Earliest expressions of geometric order in Europe, after the Roman era, occurred in Berlin with the Scheulen plan 1757. The expansion of the city of Berlin, carried on the work from the 1652 extensions. Through a systematic approach, strict geometry aligned axis with significant points. Contemporary urban designs catering for order were formulated in Post War Germany by Rob Krier. He recognised modern urban spaces losing sight of the ‘traditional’ physical legibility, ‘It is only through the clear legibility of its geometrical characteristics and aesthetic qualities which allows us consciously to perceive external spaces as urban space’1 To find the essence of urban space he specified two key elements; the square and the street, findings synthesised from a mapping study of the city. This was then translated to a matrix of spatial typologies and their various conceivable arrangements. He formed interesting propositions for space generation, but ultimately they are narrow in their outlook due to simplification. In this study image and order will be examined within the setting of Sheffield City Centre 2018, through Kevin Lynch’s work Image of the City to determine its relevance today.                                                                                                                 1 Rob Krier, Urban Space ( ...

1. History & Theory of Urban Design
Application of Kevin Lynch’s Urban Planning Principles
from the ‘Image of the City’ to Sheffield City Centre in 2018
ARC6984
Cressy Lopez
Year 5 MArch
170204592
2
Intention
3
Image of the City
6
Diagrams

2. 8
Related works
10
Analysis
13
Sheffield City Centre
15
Application
16
Conclusion
23
Bibliography
24
3
Intention
In Renaissance Europe the notion of using imagery to create
Urban spaces was developed. In the 15th/16th

3. century, Architect and theoretician Sebastian Serlio published a
series of books on Architecture and Perspective
(1537-47) identifying the connections between the construction
of the image and experience. He
investigated perspectives through theatre design. Andrea
Palladio explored imagery and axis further in his
Teatro Olympico (1580-85), through the design of a deep stage
with five skewed paths creating notable
‘street’ perspectives. Pope Sixtus V in the 16th/17th century
translated Palladio’s principles to Urban
planning in the design of the Piazza del Popolo (Tridente),
utilising principles of image and order. Order here
seen as a deliberate organisation of ancient space to iterate
power. He utilised perspective, playing with
perception of space, connecting important points in the city
through long linear axis.
Image and order are intrinsically linked, image associated with
human perception and order a
determination of rational planning. Earliest expressions of
geometric order in Europe, after the Roman
era, occurred in Berlin with the Scheulen plan 1757. The
expansion of the city of Berlin, carried on the work
from the 1652 extensions. Through a systematic approach, strict
geometry aligned axis with significant

4. points.
Contemporary urban designs catering for order were formulated
in Post War Germany by Rob
Krier. He recognised modern urban spaces losing sight of the
‘traditional’ physical legibility, ‘It is only
through the clear legibility of its geometrical characteristics and
aesthetic qualities which allows us
consciously to perceive external spaces as urban space’1 To
find the essence of urban space he specified
two key elements; the square and the street, findings
synthesised from a mapping study of the city. This was
then translated to a matrix of spatial typologies and their
various conceivable arrangements. He formed
interesting propositions for space generation, but ultimately
they are narrow in their outlook due to
simplification.
In this study image and order will be examined within the
setting of Sheffield City Centre 2018,
through Kevin Lynch’s work Image of the City to determine its
relevance today.

6. 1 Rob Krier, Urban Space (Rizzoli International Publications,
1979).
4
Fig1. Teatro Olimpico, Andrea Palladio/Vicenzo Scamozzi,
Vicenza 1580-85/1776,
showing the design of imagery through perspective depths 2

7. Fig 2. Piazza del Popolo, order and image achieved through
perspective organisation of streets
translating ideas tested by Palladio in Teatro Olimpico 3

9. 2 ‘Theatre Database / Theatre Architecture - Database, Projects’
<http://www.theatre-architecture.eu/db.html?theatreId=372>
[accessed 11 January 2018].
3 ‘Art 270 Early Modern Architecture’
<http://www2.oberlin.edu/images/Art270/Art270(1).html>
[accessed 11 January 2018].
5
Figs 3 & 4. Sudliche Freidrichstadt-Ideal Plan 1977, Rob Krier,
Application of the principles of the square and the street to
bring order to a war fractured Berlin. Here organisation of
streets follows axial form (perspective views) similar to that
explored in Teatro Olympico and Piazza Del Popolo 4

11. 4 ‘ARC6984_Powerpoint_"Order"_2017 – ARC6984’
<https://vle.shef.ac.uk/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.j
sp?course_id=_60090_1&content_id=_3095082_1>
[accessed 11 January 2018].
6
The Image of the City 1960
Image become prominent in the 20th century, through the works
of Lynch and contemporaries including
Gordan Cullen, Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown.
Lynch’s work was formed around aesthetic principles of form in
cities, concerned about the loss of
identity of American Cities in the 1960s. The investigation was

12. aimed at finding how planners could
enhance the city’s image to make it more memorable for the city
dweller. This was achieved through
studying the US cities; Los Angeles, Boston and New Jersey.
Working to quantify the concept of
imageability;
K.Lynch 5
Lynch’s main motivations were; to interrogate the connections
between psychology and the urban
environment, concentrating on the aesthetics of a city
landscape, challenging the low priority given to
aesthetics, to develop a visual and sympathetic way of
evaluating a city finally bringing to the attention of
planners, the city dwellers and human experience when
conceiving policies 6
His underlying idea is that of ‘The Image of the Environment’
where people understand and mentally
process the form of cities through recognition and utilisation of
key visual elements. Not only do these
elements provide organizational clues and way-finding devices
for people to orient themselves in space,
but they can also help in engendering emotional security and a
sense of place-based ownership that comes

13. from one’s ability to recognize familiar territory.7
To evaluate ‘imageability’ studies were undertaken in Los
Angeles (new city of gridiron plan), Boston
(city of residence/practice and rich in form/identity) and New
Jersey (due to its presumed formlessness).
In each city research was prepared in a central area of 2.5 by
1.5 miles and occurred in two forms:
1. Static interviews of a small group of residents (about 30 in
Boston and roughly half in the other
cities; long term residents or those working in the area) about
their mental picture of the place. This
encouraged the forming of a person's perception of their city;
based on descriptions, sketches and
imaginary trips.8 Combined with street interviews mental
mapping diagrams were produced.

15. 5 Kevin Lynch, The Image of the City (MIT Press, 1960).
6 Kevin Lynch, Reconsidering the Image of the City, 1984,
Matthew Carmona and Steven Tiesdell, Urban Design Reader
(Routledge, 2007).
7 Carmona and Tiesdell.
8 Lynch, The Image of the City.
‘The quality in a physical object which gives it a high
probability of evoking a strong image in any
given observer. It is the shape, colour, or arrangement which
facilitates the making of vividly
identified, powerfully structured, highly useful mental images
of the environment.’
7
2. Observer mapping occurred with trained observers mapping
various elements of visibility,
judging strengths and weaknesses through assumptions made as
responses to components

16. experienced in the field.
Research was then collated into key drawings of the presumed
visual forms of the cities. These found that
though the image conceived for each city was distinctive,
people used the same descriptive elements to form
coherent mental images of a place. The elements convey the city
image and the qualities that make them
strong or weak, they were simplified and categorised into five;
1. Paths- Channels along which an observer moves (e.g. Streets,
walkways, canals)
2. Edges- Linear elements not considered as paths by the
observer, boundaries between two phases
(e.g. railroad cuts, edges of development, city wall, rivers)
3. Districts- Medium-to-large areas within a city with a
distinctive character
4. Nodes- Strategic points in the city which are an intense focus
for travel (e.g. junctions, crossings)
5. Landmarks- References used to identify places, relied upon
by the observer to make familiar
journeys (e.g. specific building, tree, sign)
Through his works Lynch found that the quality of the image of
a city was vital for well-being. With

17. elements as key, aiding way-finding providing a better
experience the stronger they are.
Fig 5. Initially observations were made about the problems with
the Boston Image 9

18. 9 Lynch, The Image of the City.

19. 8
Fig 6. The five key elements as identified by through interviews
and observations made in the field 10
Fig 7. Elements then compiled through research to produce a
visual form of the city, Boston 11

21. 10 Lynch, The Image of the City.
11 Lynch, The Image of the City.
9
Fig 8. Los Angeles Image 12
Fig 9. Jersey City Image 13

23. 12 Lynch, The Image of the City.
13 Lynch, The Image of the City.
10
Related works
In 1961 Cullen published The Concise Townscape. He worked
with image through the notion of a ‘scape’ in a
city, championing Serlio’s ideas of the correlation of different
contextual elements in creating ‘drama’, with
constantly shifting settings forming the urban scene. ‘Serial
Vision’, the way in which pedestrians observe
the city, he sees as a valuable tool when designing effective
spaces. Using ‘a series of jerks and revelations’
sequentially to achieve an emotional response. This correlates
with Lynch’s understanding of the
importance of experience in determining spatial principles.
A different approach to image was taken by Venturi and Scott
Brown, in Learning from Las Vegas

24. 1972. The commercial strip of Las Vegas (urban sprawl) was
seen as designed devoid of traditional design
principles, hence could not be represented through known
methods. The investigation thus developed
suitable graphic representation using modern media, identifying
the prominence of the car journey.
Findings were synthesised into matrixes showing typologies,
depicted through categorisation. Here though
varied in approach, there is a realisation of image as key in
providing the basis of recognition and
experience in the city, overcoming bias associated with
commercial aesthetics.
Krier employed both order and image, in his Design proposal
for a Market Place in Karlsruhe, 1979,
working with post modern principles beyond aesthetics.
Continual conflict left Berlin as a damaged city
lacking legibility in the 1970s. Krier developed an ‘ideal’ plan
(1977) providing a new order, respecting
historical plans. He proposed dividing larger blocks into smaller
ones, working with the phased gridded
developments of Berlin in 1790, 1850, 1900 and 1933, creating
ease of navigation. His studies on the
duality of squares and streets were implemented through
hierarchy, looking at proportions and variations.

25. 11
Figs 10 & 11. Cullen’s notion of the ‘serial vision’ and its
effect on experiencing image within a city 14
Figs 12 & 13. Krier’s studies on different building typologies
and their expression in his 1977 Proposal for Berlin;
with order and ease of navigation achieved through manageable
blocks 15

27. 14 Gordon Cullen, Concise Townscape (Routledge, 2012).
15 ARC6984_Powerpoint_"Order"_2017 – ARC6984’
<https://vle.shef.ac.uk/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.j
sp?course_id=_60090_1&content_id=_3095082_1>
[accessed 11 January 2018].
12
Figs. 14 & 15. Venturi and Scott Brown’s strong visual
representation of Las Vegas giving prominence to the car
journey as primary mode for experiencing the city.
Identification of ‘non architectural’ elements as key in forming
the image of Las Vegas 16

29. 16 Robert Venturi & Denise Scott Brown, Learning from Las
Vegas (Cambridge (Mass.); London: MIT Press, 1972).
13
Analysis
Lynch’s work is effective in its critique of methods both within
the Image of the City and in later works,
especially Reconsidering the image of the city 1984. The initial
aim was to get city planners to consult those who
live within the city when making decisions, instead a

30. diametrically opposite result occurred with planners
using the tools (elements) formulated as a technique to predict
the public image without actual
consultation. This meant that city planning carried on with no
user interaction, allowing the autonomy of
power to remain with policy makers.
Other shortfalls of Lynch’s work include;
1. Absence of literature and training in methods of research
2. Accessibility for the interviewee to engage in research;
unfamiliar methods of investigation used
3. Lack of variation in the sample interviewed, primarily young
and middle class. Class, age,
familiarity, gender and roles have varying affects on the
perception of place. Broader samples
interviewed in Appleyard in Cuidad, Guyana17 found that social
class and habitual use cause
people to see a city with very different eyes.18
4. The city was perceived solely as a transaction between person
and place, not enough
consideration of other aspects which affect image such as order
(city plans) and movement
(traffic).

31. 5. Mind and its workings are elusive and hence hard to
accurately represent. Questions the precision
of mental mapping (variable according to situation) Mental
image is as diverse as human experience.
How to quantify:
a. Pleasure of recognition vs displeasure of being lost, Surprise
and disorder in providing
emotional satisfaction
b. Self-identity reinforced by identity of place, complex
surroundings discriminatory to the
‘less developed’ (e.g. age and mental capacity)
6. Static findings and representation of the city, no recognition
of how it came to develop its form
and how it may evolve
In later critiques Lynch identifies that mental maps are formed
through a recognition of ‘Sensescapes’, not
primarily sight but also through smells and sounds of any given
place.19 Furthermore a recognition of
‘sense of occasion’, formed by a city’s temporary and periodic
activities such as festivals affect the mental

33. 17 Donald Appleyard, Planning a Pluralist City: Conflicting
Realities in Ciudad Guayana (MIT Press, 2003).
18 Carmona and Tiesdell.
19 Kevin Lynch, Managing the Sense of a Region (Mass.,
1976).
14
image and should add to the ‘sense of place’.20 Another
consideration which is lacking is the role of the
media in the 1960s and its affect on the image created within
people’s minds.21

34. A contemporary who effectively raised awareness of the needs
of the city dweller was Jane Jacobs,
through her activism and published works The Death and Life of
Great American Cities 1961. She introduced
ideas of ‘eyes on the street’ and ‘social capital’, highlighting
the communal advantages of the order of lower rise
forms in ‘old’ city spaces. She also explored how elements
within the city could enhance human
experience.
J. Jacobs 22

36. 20 Kevin Lynch, Good City Form (MIT Press, 1984).
21 Gert-Jan Hospers, ‘Lynch’s The Image of the City after 50
Years: City Marketing Lessons from an Urban Planning
Classic’,
European Planning Studies, 18.12 (2010), 2073–81.
22 Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities
(Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2016).
‘Wherever the old city is working successfully, is a marvellous
order for maintaining
the safety of the streets and the freedom of the city. It is a
complex order. Its essence is intricacy
of sidewalk use, bringing with it a constant succession of eyes.
This order is all
composed of movement and change…we may fancifully call it
the art form of the
city and liken it to the dance…The ballet of the good city
sidewalk never repeats

37. itself from place to place, and in any once place is always
replete with new
improvisations.’
15
Sheffield City Centre
Settlements existed in Sheffield from the 9th century, with the
city’s fame for steel making recorded as far
back as the 14th century. Modern day Sheffield however
developed in the 19th century, with innovations in
steel production fuelling growth in industry and population.
Industrial prominence led to the city being
bombed during WWII. Post war Sheffield saw necessary urban
development, including traffic
infrastructure (inner ring road) and greater social housing
provisions (Park Hill estate).
Over the last 15 years Sheffield’s City Centre has experienced
dramatic transformations. A
guiding hand behind this success has been a series of City
Centre Master Plans (1994, 2000 and 2008)
each consistently building on the last, enabling public

38. engagement and informed structural investment
and partnership.23
To determine the appropriateness of Lynch’s early principles,
they will be applied to the context
of the Sheffield city centre in 2018. Sheffield city centre, is
taken to be the area which is around 0.75-mile
radius enclosed by the inner ring road (dual carriageway).
Lynch’s theory was developed in American Cities, with threats
to the loss of identity, as city
planning became driven by traffic infrastructure rather than
satisfying the experiential needs of a city
dweller. 1960s Sheffield would sympathise greater with
planning issues around traffic infrastructure.
Comparatively the urban outlook of 2018 Sheffield differs
dramatically, governed by a set of
contemporary issues; such as the need to define and promote
national identity post Brexit. With the city
centre largely pedestrianized the threat to loss of identity comes
not from transport infrastructure, but
from buildings constructed catering for the demands of
commercialism. Urban planning in city centres
focuses on achieving financial stability and economic
prosperity. In Sheffield this materialises through the

39. development of the ‘retail sector.’ Desire to create healthier
cities means counteraction to new buildings
occurring with provisions of ‘green’ spaces. Furthermore, the
rapid rise of technology has seen a cultural
shift, meaning city dwellers rely more on secondary rather than
primary observations to form experiences.

40. 23 ‘City Centre Master Plan Draft 2013.Pdf’
<https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/content/dam/sheffield/docs/plann
ing-and-
development/city-wide-plans-and-
reports/City%20Centre%20Master%20Plan%20Draft%202013.p

41. df> [accessed 2 January
2018].
16
Application of Lynch’s Theory
Aerial view of Sheffield City Centre from google maps looking
north
Map of Sheffield Inner ring road
17
Photographic study of Elements within the City Centre
LANDMARK – Town Hall

42. EDGE – Inner Ring Road cutting through Netherthorpe
18
PATH- Pinstone Street looking towards the Moor
DISTRICT- Sheffield Hallam University Campus
19
NODE – Junction at St Mary’s Gate
LANDMARK– Moorfoot Council Building
20
Problems with the image of Sheffield City Centre

43. 21
Visual form of Sheffield City Centre
The diagram is useful in highlighting key aspects within the city
centre which dictate experience and the
formation of an ‘image’. The image conceived would be
enhanced if the study was implemented exactly
like Lynch through interviewing the city dwellers. However as
considered in the critique and in the
following pages, there are several shortcomings which
compromise the formation of an accurate image.
22
Following the application of Lynch’s principles to Sheffield, it
is necessary to propose adaptations to make
it more relevant, considering principles of Image and Order:
1. Wider variation in the sample and larger groups to achieve
greater accuracy of experiences
2. More developed categorisation to match complexity of the
contemporary urban realm

44. a. Transportation- Trams, buses, cycle lanes
b. Digital navigation and signage
3. Consider future redevelopment plans, proposals to achieve
order and image as per government and
local council policies
4. Technological advancements (google maps) and its affect on
modern navigation and experience of
a city
5. Beneficial to conduct comparative studies24 with different
cities of scale and character
6. Wider range of outputs need to be produced using modern
media, e.g. videos, time-lapses
7. Mapping over time to document fluid and constantly shifting
nature of the urban realm,
recognising the various factors which affect change
8. Important to supplement experiential information with factual
data, e.g. statistics on seasonal
change in use of spaces, to develop a more wholesome picture
The above adjustments would make the theory more applicable
in Sheffield, however due to the
western centric approach to analysis the appropriateness of the

45. theory would be much less in eastern
contexts where there are less rigid hierarchies and
categorisation in urban planning.

46. 24 Lynch, The Image of the City.
23
Conclusion

47. Through his analysis and diagrammatic representation of the
three cities Lynch showed how people living
in certain cities perceived its form. Despite its shortcomings the
Image of the City remains influential in its
innovative visual approach, integrating human experience with
the built environment. Though it did not
have the desired affect on planning policy the work widened the
scope of urban planning, as well as study
in other areas including anthropology, sociology and
environmental psychology. The elements identified
are useful tools of investigation for architects and planners,
when determining tangible criteria to define
imageabiltiy. Lynch also successfully challenged the taboo
around aesthetics, identifying image as key for
functional design.
However as understood through earlier critiques and disparities
when using it for contemporary
application, there are limitations to the usefulness of his
approach. Representation of cities needs to
handle elements as sequential and interrelated, moving away
from concern with single elements and towards
emphasising how they work to form a complex visual whole,
this can then inform how both image and order are

48. achieved.
Generalisation and forming a set of standardised elements will
always have limitations, as no one
city will have the same image and order. Even if the adaptions
mentioned earlier are made to Lynch’s
theory, though now more suitable in the 21st century, they will
fail to effectively address the issue of the
disparity of perception. To properly understand the construct of
image, there should hence be an
acceptance of discrepancy and the need for methodology to be
constantly evolving with the changing
urban scene parallel with shifts in society and culture,
understanding categorisations as works in progress.
Historic theories are vital in providing foundations for research.
Through their effective critique
they can then be used to form contemporary principles,
addressing not only the tangible notion of order
but also the concept of image. As theoreticians and designers
we need to embrace the iterative nature of
design theory with progress aligning with human development.

49. 24
Bibliography
Appleyard, Donald, Planning a Pluralist City: Conflicting
Realities in Ciudad Guayana (MIT Press, 2003)
Carmona, Matthew, and Steven Tiesdell, Urban Design Reader
(Routledge, 2007)
‘City Centre Master Plan Draft 2013.Pdf’
<https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/content/dam/sheffield/docs/plann
ing-and-development/city-
wide-plans-and-
reports/City%20Centre%20Master%20Plan%20Draft%202013.p
df> [accessed
2 January 2018]
Hospers, Gert-Jan, ‘Lynch’s The Image of the City after 50
Years: City Marketing Lessons from an
Urban Planning Classic’, European Planning Studies, 18 (2010),
2073–81
Jacobs, Jane, The Death and Life of Great American Cities
(Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2016)
Krier, Rob, Urban Space (Rizzoli International Publications,
1979)
Lynch, Kevin, Good City Form (MIT Press, 1984)
Lynch, Kevin, Managing the Sense of a Region (Mass., 1976)

50. Lynch, Kevin, The Image of the City (MIT Press, 1960)
Images
‘ARC6984_Powerpoint_"Order"_2017 – ARC6984 History and
...’
<https://vle.shef.ac.uk/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.j
sp?course_id=_60090_1&con
tent_id=_3095082_1> [accessed 11 January 2018]
‘Art 270 Early Modern Architecture’
<http://www2.oberlin.edu/images/Art270/Art270(1).html>
[accessed 11 January 2018]
Cullen, Gordon, Concise Townscape (Routledge, 2012)
‘Theatre Database / Theatre Architecture - Database, Projects’
<http://www.theatre-
architecture.eu/db.html?theatreId=372> [accessed 11 January
2018]
Venturi, Robert, Scott Brown, Denise, Learning from Las Vegas
(Cambridge (Mass.); London: MIT Press,
1972)