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J Child Fam Stud (2017) 26:833–842
DOI 10.1007/s10826-016-0609-0
ORIGINAL PAPER
A Within-Group Analysis of African American Mothers’
Authoritarian Attitudes, Limit-Setting and Children’s
Self-Regulation
Elizabeth A. LeCuyer 1 ● Dena Phillips Swanson2
Published online: 14 November 2016
© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016
Abstract Research suggests that higher levels of author-
itarian parenting exist in African American (AA) families
than in European American (EA) families, and that
authoritarian attitudes may be associated with more positive
outcomes in AA families than EA families. However, less is
known about authoritarian attitudes and children’s devel-
opment within AA families. This within-group study of 50
African American mothers and their 3-year-old children
examined associations between maternal authoritarian atti-
tudes, observed maternal limit-setting strategies, and chil-
dren’s self-regulation during a limit-setting interaction. The
findings indicate that while AA families may hold more
authoritarian attitudes than EA families, the direction of
effect of authoritarian attitudes on children’s outcomes
appears to be the same in both ethnic groups. In this sample,
when examining AA authoritarian attitudes relative to those
of other AA mothers, less or lower authoritarian attitudes
were associated with authoritative limit-setting behavior
(firm limits within the context of overall warmth and
responsiveness) and better children’s self-regulation.

Keywords Ethnic diversity ● African American ● Parenting ●
Authoritarian ● Self-regulation
Introduction
Parenting attitudes, defined as ways parents think or feel about
their children, are based in part on parents’ social cognitions
and beliefs about how their children develop, think, or behave.
Parental attitudes can help shape parenting practices and
behaviors, the emotional tone they set while interacting with
their children, and how they shape their child-rearing envir-
onment (Bornstein et al. 2011; Chen and French 2008; Grusec
and Danyliuk 2014). As social beliefs and social imperatives
can vary across ethnic and cultural contexts, it is expected that
parenting attitudes, behaviors, and practices may vary as well
(Chen and French 2008; LeCuyer and Zhang 2015). AA refers
to persons or families who self-identify as ethnically African
American or Black, and EA to persons or families who
identify as European American or White.
Authoritarian and authoritative parenting patterns were
initially developed by Baumrind (1971, 1993; Baumrind
and Black 1967) and may include patterns of attitudes as
well as behaviors (Baumrind 1967). The patterns are based
on two dimensions, one of control, and one of responsive-
ness, nurturance, sensitivity, and/or warmth. An author-
itarian pattern is characterized by higher levels of control
and lower levels of warmth and responsiveness, and an
authoritative pattern is characterized by higher levels of
control, or “demandingness”, but within an overall context
of warmth and responsiveness (Baumrind 1971, 1993;
Baumrind and Black 1967; Buri 1991). An authoritarian
parenting pattern is generally associated with less optimal
children’s outcomes, and an authoritative parenting pattern
with more optimal children’s outcomes (Baumrind 1971,

1993; Deater-Deckard et al. 2006). Although largely
determined in European-American/White families, these
patterns are often applied cross-culturally (Dekovic et al.
1991; Underwood et al. 2009).
* Elizabeth A. LeCuyer
[email protected]
1 School of Nursing, Oregon Health & Science University, 3455
US
Veterans SN-6S, Portland, OR 97239, USA
2 Counseling and Human Development, University of Rochester
Warner School, Rochester, NY 14627-0425, USA
http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/s10826-016-
0609-0&domain=pdf
0609-0&domain=pdf
0609-0&domain=pdf
0609-0&domain=pdf
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7628-2655
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7628-2655
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7628-2655
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7628-2655
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7628-2655
mailto:[email protected]
When comparing authoritarian parenting between AA
and EA families, several studies have found more author-
itarian parenting in AA families relative to EA families
(Lansford et al. 2011; LeCuyer et al. 2011; Reitman et al.
2002). However, authoritarian parenting in AA families has
also been associated with more positive effects than those

found in EA families, even when controlling for demo-
graphics such as age, education and income. These less
negative or more positive effects of authoritarian parenting
in AA families have included more independence and social
maturity in 3–4 year old girls (Baumrind 1972), more
optimal 3 year-old children’s self-regulation (LeCuyer et al.
2011), reduced suicidal behavior in the context of school-
age children’s depression (Greening et al. 2010), more
respect for parental authority in school-age girls (Dixon
et al. 2008), less deviance and higher academic performance
in adolescents (Lamborn et al. 1996), and decreased inter-
generational transmission of children’s abuse (Valentino
et al. 2012). Again these findings were in comparison with
EA families. The above findings illustrate both differences
in “positioning”—that is, differences in mean levels of
attributes/behaviors when comparing ethnic or cultural
groups, as well as potential differences in association
between attributes/behaviors, when comparing those ethnic
groups (Bond and Van de Vijver 2011).
In contrast with those findings, results of studies exam-
ining associations within AA families have been more
similar to findings within EA samples. That is, authoritarian
parenting has been associated with more negative outcomes,
and authoritative parenting has been associated with more
positive outcomes. Looking just within AA families,
authoritative parenting patterns have been associated with
higher mathematic achievement scores in 7–8th grade
children of single mothers (Humphrey 2014); greater school
engagement, lower levels of depressive symptoms, and less
delinquency in 12.5–15 year old adolescents in Georgia and
Iowa (Simons et al. 2013); and fewer depressive symptoms
in adolescents age 11–16 in inner-city Chicago (Barnes
2002). Querido et al. (2002) also found authoritative par-
enting in AA families predicted fewer behavior problems in
3–6 year-old children (m = 4.66 years).

Within-group studies of African American families in
this area are still relatively few, however, especially with
younger children. In addition, beyond Baumrind’s early
work, parenting patterns and children’s behavior are often
assessed using parental report measures, and with measures
developed primarily in EA populations (Bluestone and
Tamis-LeMonda 1999; Querido et al. 2002), leaving ques-
tions about how AA parents and children may actually
behave, and how their parents’ attitudes may influence those
behaviors.
Development of children’s self-regulation is an important
developmental process, and required of all children across
ethnic and cultural contexts (Kopp 1991; Feldman et al. 2006;
LeCuyer and Zhang 2015). All children must learn to manage
their impulses and emotions, and participate in activities
meaningful within a given culture. Social expectations and
values for self-regulation again may differ, however, across
ethnic and cultural groups. Thus, socializing processes
inherent in parenting attitudes, behaviors and practices, may
also vary in relation to children’s self-regulation (Chen and
French 2008; LeCuyer and Zhang 2015).
In toddlers and pre-school children, self-regulation is
often measured in terms of “compliance” to maternal
requests. This compliance, however, is different from
compliance out of fear, or avoidance of punishment. Opti-
mal compliance at this age has been conceptualized as a
child’s willing, whole hearted compliance to parental
requests or limits, requiring less cuing, and is known as
“committed”, or “autonomous” compliance (Kochanska et al.
2001; LeCuyer-Maus and Houck 2002). Socialization is
integral to this conceptualization of compliance; limit-
setting interactions are a frequent source of socialization in

regard to autonomous compliance and self-regulation in
early childhood (Kochanska et al. 2001; LeCuyer-Maus and
Houck 2002; LeCuyer and Houck 2006). Socio-ecological
and demographic factors such as parental income, age, and
education have also been found to contribute to parenting
processes and effects, including children’s self-regulation
(Bluestone and Tamis-LeMonda 1999; Garcia Coll and
Pachter 2002; Horn et al. 2004; Kelley et al. 1992;
LeCuyer-Maus 2003; LeCuyer-Maus and Houck 2002;
LeCuyer and Swanson 2016; Querido et al. 2002; Swanson
et al. 2003; Tamis-LeMonda et al. 2008).
This article describes a secondary analysis of data from a
larger project about maternal limit-setting and children’s
development of self-regulation (LeCuyer 2014; LeCuyer and
Swanson 2016). The primary aim (Aim 1) of the current
analyses was to examine associations between maternal
authoritarian attitudes, observed maternal behavioral limit-
setting behavior, and children’s observed self-regulation dur-
ing limit-setting, in a sample of AA mothers and their 3-year-
old children. To achieve that aim, the first two hypotheses
focused on the effect of authoritarian attitudes, consistent with
commonly held conceptualizations of authoritarian and
authoritative parenting: Hypothesis (1a) Higher maternal
authoritarian attitudes were expected to associate negatively
with a maternal authoritative limit-setting pattern, and (1b)
Higher maternal authoritarian attitudes were also expected to
associate negatively with more-optimal children’s self-
regulation (autonomous compliant responses to limits).
These hypotheses were consistent with previous findings
within other AA and EA samples. Last, if these hypotheses
were confirmed, a second aim would examine whether
maternal limit-setting behavior would account for the influ-
ence of maternal authoritarian attitudes on children’s observed
834 J Child Fam Stud (2017) 26:833–842

self-regulation during limit-setting. In other words, the second
aim (Aim 2) was to determine whether the presence or
absence of a maternal authoritative limit-setting pattern
mediated the effect of authoritarian attitudes on children’s
self-regulation in a limit-setting context.
Method
Participants
Fifty AA mothers with 36 month-old children were recruited
from a family practice clinic in a U.S. northeastern urban
university. Table 1 shows detailed demographic information
for the mothers and their children; essentially mothers
averaged 28.56 years of age, a high-school education, and a
gross monthly household income of $1500–1699. Seventy-
eight percent of mothers had current partners (married,
common law, or living together). All mothers self-identified
as the primary care-provider for their child; 74 % also
reported other caregivers, and estimated the average hours/
day their children received care from others, including
daycare. These included partners, family members, friends
and/or day care. Twenty mothers (40 %) reported their child
attended daycare (m = 3.17 h/day; SD = 4.23); one mother
reported her child attended preschool. The sample contained
more girls than boys (Table 1). Covariates were included to
account for the following potential sources of influence on
parental attitudes and behavior: maternal age, education,
income, child gender, and hours of non-maternal care.
Procedures
Mothers brought their 36 month-old children to an obser-

vational laboratory at the university. They provided
informed consent, were interviewed for background and
demographic information, and were observed in a series of
interactive tasks with their children, including a limit-setting
task. All procedures were reviewed and approved by the
associated university internal research review board.
Measures
Maternal reported authoritarian attitudes
The Child Rearing Practices Report includes a restrictive
authoritarian scale, which measures attitudes about obedi-
ence, respect for authority, and a relatively narrow range of
acceptable behavior (CRPR; Dekovic et al. 1991; Rickel
and Biasatti 1982; Villaneuva Dixon et al. 2008). Validity
findings include expected relationships between CRPR
restrictive authoritarian scale scores and observed restrictive
control, and with children’s rejection by peers, less per-
ceived helpfulness, and more prosocial behaviors (Dekovic
et al. 1991; Dekovic and Janssens 1992). As “restrictive”
and “authoritarian” are often used synonymously, the term
“authoritarian” will be used for this scale in this report
(Dekovic and Janssens 1992). Because this measure has
been primarily used in EA populations, a confirmatory
factor analysis was conducted in a combined sample of 151
AA and 108 EA mothers with 36 month-old children,
yielding an authoritarian attitudes subscale of 18 items
(a = .86) loading at .4 or higher (LeCuyer et al. 2011). Items
include “I teach my child to keep control of his/her feelings
at all times” and “I do not allow my child to question my
decisions”. In that sample AA mothers reported significantly
higher authoritarian attitudes than EA mothers, controlling
for age, education and income (AA m = 68.15; EA m =
55.52; p < .001, LeCuyer et al. 2011).

Observed behaviors during the limit-setting task
Mother-child dyads were observed during a 3 min limit-
setting task in an observational room with a 2-way mirror.
Table 1 Sample demographics
Child gender N
Boys 15
Girls 35
Attribute M (SD) Range
Maternal age 28.56 (6.55 years) 18–53 years
Maternal years education 12.68 (1.54 years) 9–18 years
Gross monthly household incomea $1500–1699 ($199) <$250–
≥10,000
Hours/day non-maternal careb 12.06 (9.42) 0–48 h
N = 50 mother and children
a Mothers reported their gross monthly income as less than
$250, $250–499, then by increments of $199; i.e.,
$500–699, $700–899, up to greater than or above $10,000
b Non-maternal care included care by partners, family members,
friends, day care, or pre-school
J Child Fam Stud (2017) 26:833–842 835
During the limit-setting task, mothers were asked to prevent
their children from touching or playing with a designated

toy similar to how they might set limits at home. Maternal
limit-setting and children’s self-regulation (responses to
limits) were measured with the Prohibition Coding Scheme-
Revised which has been described in depth elsewhere
(Houck and LeCuyer-Maus 2002; LeCuyer-Maus and
Houck 2002; LeCuyer and Houck 2006; LeCuyer 2014;
LeCuyer and Swanson 2016). Briefly, time spent in
maternal behaviors was observed and coded in seconds of
duration, including commands, distractions, reasoning,
reconstruction of the meaning of the object, sensitive fol-
low, sensitive acknowledgment of the child’s feelings,
sensitive praise, physically removing the child’s hands or
feet from the object, and physical holds. Based on the
pattern of strategies used, mothers were classified into one
of 4 limit-setting classifications: authoritative (teaching-
based), authoritarian (power-based), indirect, or inconsistent
(LeCuyer-Maus and Houck 2002; LeCuyer 2014; LeCuyer
and Swanson 2016). Given the focus in this study on
maternal authoritative behavior, maternal limit-setting was
represented by a dichotomous variable indicating author-
itative or not-authoritative behavior. An authoritative limit-
setting pattern was characterized by firm control and sen-
sitive support of the child’s developing self-regulation.
These mothers were clear about the limit but also utilized
appropriate reasoning, distraction, and expressed empathy
such as sensitive acknowledgment of children’s feeling
state, and followed their children’s expressed interests and
activities. An authoritative limit-setting pattern has been
found to be associated in EA samples with better or more
developed children’s social competence, self-concept, and
observed children’s self-regulation (Houck and LeCuyer-
Maus 2002, 2004; LeCuyer and Houck 2006). In this same
AA sample, an authoritative limit-setting pattern was
associated with more developed children’s self-concept, and
fewer maternal-rated children’s problem behaviors (negative
emotionality, anxiety, and impulsivity), in turn associated

with more developed social competence (LeCuyer and
Swanson 2016). Data coders were one EA female and one
Dominican Republic female. After establishing initial reli-
abilities in another combined EA and AA sample, 30 % of
the current sample was double coded, yielding intra-class
correlations for the constituent (duration) behaviors ranging
from .67 to .99 (m = .88). For the classifications, 60 % of
the AA sample were double-coded (n = 30) with a resulting
Cohen’s k = .85.
Children’s observed behaviors (coded in seconds of
duration) included: follow of maternal commands and dis-
tractions, persistence toward the prohibited object, inhibi-
tion of approach to the object, comfort-seeking, exploration,
and/or calm discussion or questions about the prohibited
object (reliabilities r = .64–.97; m = .83). Based on their
pattern of observed behaviors during limit-setting, children
were classified into one of four different response-to-limits
classifications: persistent disengaged, persistent compliant,
autonomous compliant, or autonomous disengaged. The
autonomous-compliant classification represents more opti-
mal self-regulation, and was found to be the predominant
classification among both AA and EA children at this age
(Houck and LeCuyer-Maus 2002; LeCuyer-Maus and
Houck 2002; LeCuyer 2014; LeCuyer and Swanson 2016).
Because the focus of this study was on more mature
autonomous-compliant self-regulation, children’s self-
regulation was represented by a dichotomous variable
indicating autonomous compliant or not (k = .82–.97).
Toddlers designated as autonomous-compliant may have
persisted mildly toward the prohibited object, but also
showed evidence of processing the limit on their own, such
as shaking their head or finger at the prohibited object, or
saying “no, no”. They willingly engaged with their mothers;
their activities at least did not exclude their mother and

could include calm discussion or questions about the limit
or the object. Non-autonomous compliant children either
did not follow their mothers’ commands or distractions,
excluded or avoided their mothers during the interaction,
persisted excessively toward the prohibited toy, or dis-
played a combination of those behaviors.
Data Analyses
To first examine whether higher maternal authoritarian
attitudes were associated with a maternal authoritative limit-
setting pattern and observed children’s self-regulation
(autonomous compliant response to limits), two separate
logistic regressions were conducted. Two dichotomous
variables, representing the presence or absence of a mater-
nal authoritative limit-setting style, and the presence or
absence of children’s autonomous-compliant response to
limits, were regressed separately on the predictor variable,
maternal authoritarian attitudes. Maternal age, education,
income, child gender, and hours of non-maternal care were
included as covariates in both regressions.
To examine whether a maternal authoritative limit-
setting pattern would account for (mediate) the influence
of maternal authoritarian attitudes on children’s observed
self-regulation, it was first necessary to establish conditions
for a mediation effect. Based on a Sobel (1982) model of
mediation, evidence would be provided for mediation if two
conditions were met: (1) there was a significant association
between the IV (authoritarian attitudes) and the mediator
variable (authoritative limit-setting), and (2) if the associa-
tion between the IV (authoritarian attitudes) and DV (chil-
dren’s autonomous compliant response to limits) was
significantly decreased when the mediator (authoritative
limit-setting) was accounted for (Baron and Kenny 1986;

836 J Child Fam Stud (2017) 26:833–842
Preacher and Hayes 2004; Sobel 1982). The first condition
would be met if maternal authoritarian attitudes associated
significantly with a maternal authoritative limit-setting
pattern (as determined in the first set of analyses above)
and the latter condition was tested using another logistic
regression. In this regression, the dichotomous variable
representing the presence or absence of children’s autono-
mous compliant response to limits was regressed on
maternal authoritative limit-setting (mediator), maternal
authoritarian attitudes, and covariates of maternal age,
education, income, child gender, and hours of non-maternal
care. The Sobel test provides a conservative test of hypo-
thesized mediator effects when accounting for covariates in
observational (descriptive) studies, and is also appropriate
for use with dichotomous outcome measures (Linden and
Karlson 2013; MacKinnon and Dwyer 1993; Zhao et al.
2010).
Results
For demographic information, see Participants and Proce-
dures in the Methods section, and Table 1. In this sample of
50 African American mothers and children, total maternal
authoritarian attitude scores averaged 71.77 (range 41–95;
s.d. = 14.15), similar to other AA mothers of 36 month old
children with comparative demographic profiles (m = 68.15;
LeCuyer et al. 2011). In the current sample, fifty-six percent
of AA mothers (28/50) in the current sample were classified
as authoritative in their pattern of limit-setting behaviors;
fifty percent of children (25/50) were classified as having
autonomous committed/compliant responses to limits.

As first hypothesized under Aim 1a, maternal author-
itarian attitudes were negatively and significantly associated
with an authoritative limit-setting style (logistic regression
X2 (1, 6) = 12.25, p = .05; authoritarian attitudes B = −.06,
Wald = 4.10, OR = .939, p = .04), accounting for maternal
age, education, income, child gender, and hours of non-
maternal care. Mothers who used an authoritative limit-
setting pattern reported a mean authoritarian attitude score
of 67.58, s.e. = 2.60. Mothers who used a non-authoritative
pattern reported authoritarian attitudes that were sig-
nificantly higher (m = 76.60, s.e. = 2.95, p = .03). Maternal
age also was positively associated with an authoritative
limit-setting pattern (B = .133, Wald = 4.35, OR = 1.176,
p = .04).
Also as hypothesized (1b), maternal authoritarian
attitudes negatively and significantly associated with child
autonomous compliant responses to limits (logistic regres-
sion X2 (1, 6) = 16.30, p = .01; authoritarian attitudes
B = −.06, S.E. = .03, Wald = 3.91, OR = .942, p = .05),
accounting for maternal age, education, income, child
gender, and hours of non-maternal care; mean authoritarian
attitudes for autonomous-compliant response to limits =
67.07, S.E. = 2.78; mean attitudes for non-autonomous-
compliant responses to limits = 76.02, S.E. = 2.27. Maternal
age also associated positively with children’s autonomous
compliant responses to limits (B = .23; S.E. = .084,
Wald = 7.35, OR = 1.26, p = .01); older mothers were more
likely to have children with autonomous compliant
responses to limits.
Regarding the mediation hypothesis (Aim 2), the above
finding that maternal authoritarian attitudes were sig-
nificantly associated with an authoritative limit-setting style
satisfied the first condition for mediation. After adding

maternal authoritative limit-setting (mediator) to the
regression equation predicting children’s autonomous
compliant responses to limits (DV), maternal authoritarian
attitudes were no longer significant (B = −.037, s.e. = .04,
Wald = 1.05, OR = .96, p = .31), satisfying with the second
condition for mediation. Authoritative limit-setting sig-
nificantly and strongly predicted children’s autonomous
compliant self-regulation in this context (logistic regression
X2 (2, 7) = 29.47, p = .001; authoritative limit-setting
B = 2.82, s.e. = .87, Wald = 10.46, OR = 16.67, p = .001).
Maternal age again positively predicted child autonomous
compliant responses to limits (self-regulation; B = .179,
s.e. = .09, Wald = 3.89, OR = 1.196, p = .05). A one-tailed
separate Sobel calculation also confirmed a significant
mediation effect (Sobel statistic = −1.73; p = .04; Preacher
and Hayes 2004; Sobel 1982).
Discussion
In this sample of AA mothers and children, results included
that AA mothers’ authoritarian attitudes were associated
with less optimal maternal limit-setting behavior, and with
less optimal children’s self-regulation (responses to their
mothers’ limits). Additionally, maternal limit-setting sig-
nificantly mediated the effects of maternal attitudes on
children’s responses to limits. That is, mothers’ attitudes
appeared to influence their limit-setting behaviors in that
less authoritarian attitudes were associated with more opti-
mal limit-setting behavior, which in turn influenced their
children’s responses to limits. This direction of effects from
authoritarian attitudes to parenting behaviors and children’s
outcomes is similar to other findings within AA families
(e.g., Querido et al. 2002; Tamis-LeMonda et al. 2009), as
well as within EA families.
The direction of effects of authoritarian attitudes on

maternal and child behavior within this group of AA
mothers with 3 year old children are consistent with com-
monly held conceptualizations of authoritarian and author-
itative parenting patterns. This is somewhat puzzling given
other findings showing more positive outcomes from
J Child Fam Stud (2017) 26:833–842 837
authoritarian attitudes in AA families, when compared with
EA families. One explanation may be that while AA
mothers may hold higher authoritarian attitudes relative to
attitudes of EA mothers (LeCuyer et al. 2011), when
looking at AA mothers’ attitudes relative to those of other
AA mothers, higher maternal authoritarian attitudes may still
be associated with less optimal parenting behaviors and less
optimal children’s outcomes, such as found in this sample.
In other words, while the relative positioning of author-
itarian attitudes in these two ethnic groups may differ—that
is, mean authoritarian attitudes may tend to be consistently
higher among AA mothers relative to EA mothers—the
direction of association between maternal attitudes, par-
enting behaviors and children’s outcomes in EA and AA
mothers may be the same, so that when each group is
examined separately, higher authoritarian attitudes have
negative effects in both groups (Bond and Van de Vijver
2011; Burchinal et al. 2010).
If this is the case, what might be reasons for, and
implications of, higher authoritarian attitudes among AA
mothers, relative to EA mothers? When conceptualizing
authoritative and authoritarian patterns of parenting with
pre-school and older children, Baumrind consistently held
that authoritative parents could be as firm as authoritarian
parents, but were more loving and responsive (Baumrind

and Black 1967; Baumrind 1983, 1996; Baumrind et al.
2002). While the amount and nature of control used may
vary with individual children, e.g., the child’s temperament
or age, it must be sufficient enough to allow the child to be
aware of complying with external standards. It cannot,
however, be overly strong or harsh, which may be asso-
ciated with excessive anxiety, lack of compliance, or
rebellion. Following this premise, some parents may use
somewhat higher levels of control, including with pre-
school children, yet with adequate warmth and respon-
siveness to facilitate secure attachments and eventual
internalization of socially appropriate standards and norms
(Baumrind et al. 2002). In support of this view, AA mothers
in the current sample used fewer of some supportive stra-
tegies relative to EA mothers (LeCuyer 2014), and thus
proportionately more directive strategies, but most (56 %)
still used sufficient supportive strategies to be classified as
authoritative. AA mothers used less reasoning and praise,
but used high levels of distraction, sensitive follow, and also
physically held their children more than was observed for
EA mothers. Holding or more prolonged body contact has
also been hypothesized to be functionally equivalent to
warmth, support, and guidance in families and societies
with more hierarchical relationships and emphasis on
interdependence (Feldman et al. 2006; Keller et al. 2004).
Whereas in EA children at 36 months, higher levels of
holding were associated with less optimal parental limit-
setting and diminished self-regulation at 36 months
(LeCuyer and Houck 2006), holding in the context of
proportionately more directive strategies may assist children
to more readily accept prohibitions, regulate their emotions,
and develop the capacity for compliance, such as in these
AA families. Including items to assess parental use of
holding in other observational and attitudinal measures may
further assist to examine the effects of holding in these and

other families.
Reasons for more authoritarian attitudes and directive
strategies in AA families relative to EA families, may
include AA parents’ concern regarding social-economic or
developmental “imperatives”, or children’s safety and
development in the context of unsafe neighborhoods, scarce
resources, or the potential for racially inequitable treatment
(Brody and Flor 1998; Burchinal et al. 2010; Deater-
Deckard and Dodge 1997; Fagan 2000; Horn et al. 2004;
Kelley et al. 1992; McWayne et al. 2008; Nomaguchi and
House 2013). The word “imperative” implies most parents
experiencing these conditions will make concerted efforts to
protect their children from potential negative consequences.
While many studies account for demographic variables such
as age, income, and education (including the current study),
few include variables of perceived or actual neighborhood
safety, racism, or discrimination. African American mothers
may be concerned that their children, or their parenting,
may be judged more harshly in contexts of actual or per-
ceived racism (Hill, 1995; Cauce et al. 1996). They may
want their children to behave properly, stay out of trouble,
and avoid scrutiny, and accordingly their parental expecta-
tions may incorporate narrower ranges of acceptable beha-
vior, firmer limits, and more structure. Items on the CRPR
authoritarian attitude scale with the highest factor loadings
in this sample included “I let my child know how ashamed
and disappointed I am when s/he misbehaves”, “I teach my
child to keep control of his/her feelings at all times”, “I want
my child to make a good impression on others”, and “I don’t
want my child to be looked on as different from others”.
Higher levels of “restrictive” attitudes can be seen as pro-
tective and prudent under socially inequitable conditions.
Data about maternal use of physical strategies, beyond
holding or removing children’s hands or feet from the

prohibited object, were also not gathered for the current
study. Very few mothers will enact physical discipline
strategies while being observed, such as for a research
study. Socio-economic imperatives, however, have also
been implicated in the greater use and acceptance of phy-
sical disciplinary strategies in AA families. Sixty-one per-
cent of AA mothers in a national sample endorsed spanking
as the best response to children’s misbehavior (McLoyd
et al. 2007; n = 890). However, in another study of AA
families in Iowa and Georgia (outside inner-city core areas,
n = 683; Simons et al. 2013), the largest percentage of
families were determined to be authoritative (28.3 %), who
838 J Child Fam Stud (2017) 26:833–842
reported no use of physical discipline. Another 9.8 % were
classified as “no-nonsense”; this pattern was defined simi-
larly to an authoritative pattern, with high levels of both
control and responsiveness, but also with corporal punish-
ment (physical discipline). This pattern was more effective
than other non-authoritative patterns, but was associated
with more delinquency relative to an authoritative pattern
without physical punishment. Other studies have identified
“no-nonsense” parenting patterns in AA families; Brody and
Flor (1998) characterized this pattern as adaptive in
response to dangerous neighborhoods experienced by par-
ents living in lower socioeconomic environments more
generally (in McGroder 2000). While the benefits of an
authoritative pattern seem to be more positive than other
patterns, even with the use of physical strategies, further
study may assist to determine uses/outcomes of physical
strategies within existing patterns to facilitate understanding
of parental choices for limit-setting strategies and their
effects (Baumrind et al. 2002; Simons et al. 2013). Baum-

rind (1996) wrote that physical measures may be perceived
as needed to communicate the urgency and importance of a
limit, and for internalization of compliance. Simons et al.
(2013), however, studying AA families outside inner-city
core areas, found that more parents high on “demanding-
ness” used fewer physical strategies. Demandingness was
defined as maturity demands, supervision, disciplinary
efforts and willingness to confront the child who disobeys.
Perhaps parents comfortable using disciplinary efforts
consistent with the child’s maturity and level of parental
supervision needed, perceive less need for physical mea-
sures. The use of physical measures may also vary based on
factors such as children’s temperament and age, again local
neighborhood characteristics (e.g., safety), perceptions of
racial discrimination, or other social imperatives. Further
inquiry may assist to develop more nuanced hypotheses
about differences in positioning and strength of association
between EA and AA families’ attitudes, limit-setting stra-
tegies, and children’s self-regulation (Bond and Van de
Vijver 2011). Such knowledge is expected to facilitate
further understanding among professionals working with
families seeking assistance.
It is also important to understand the presence of pro-
tective or supportive factors that may balance more
restrictive attitudes or disciplinary practices, in contexts of
unsafe neighborhoods, or racial and social inequity. Within-
group inquiry can provide further data about these factors,
including influences and processes in daily living. Racial
socialization, for example, refers to social experiences or
beliefs through which children develop their sense of ethnic
or racial identity, esteem, and self-worth (Elmore and
Gaylord-Harden 2013; Richardson et al. 2015). Racial
socialization can include parental practices of assisting
children to understand and appreciate their heritage and

ethnic sources of strength, and how to cope with negative
experiences such as racial discrimination. Racial socializa-
tion messages have been found to occur more frequently
with older children (Elmore and Gaylord-Harden 2013),
though parents’ own racial identity may vary (Hughes et al.
2006) and may influence their socializing processes with
children at any age (Halgunseth et al. 2005).
In conclusion, this study contributes to existing infor-
mation about AA mothers’ authoritarian attitudes, limit-
setting, and their 3 year-old children’s responses to limits. A
strength of this study is the use of observational data, and
our findings are consistent with those of several other stu-
dies examining authoritarian attitudes, parenting, and chil-
dren’s outcomes within AA families. Our findings, based on
observational data of limit-setting interactions, suggest that
while the overall level of authoritarian parenting attitudes
held by AA mothers may be higher than those held by EA
mothers, the direction of effects of authoritarian attitudes is
similar, consistent with more traditional conceptualizations
of authoritarian and authoritative constructs. Observational
data indicated that these AA mothers’ use of an author-
itative limit-setting style (firm limits within the context of
overall warmth and responsiveness), was associated with
their children’s better self-regulation. Further study is nee-
ded to develop more nuanced hypotheses regarding
restrictive, authoritarian parenting in a variety of ethnic
groups, to answer questions of “how much is too much?” or
perhaps more clearly, “what combinations of attitudes and
strategies may work best?” for young children’s optimal
development and safety across different child-rearing
contexts.
Limitations
Limitations include the relatively small sample size; and

mothers had relatively low levels of income; these findings
may not apply to families in higher income brackets or with
more resources. In addition, our data is cross-sectional,
which cannot account for longitudinal influences on chil-
dren’s outcomes, such as neighborhood and later educa-
tional experiences. In addition, intergenerational influences
are not accounted for. Another limitation is that while sig-
nificant and conceptually meaningful relationships were
found between maternal attitudes, limit-setting, and chil-
dren’s self-regulation in this AA sample, authoritative and
authoritarian parenting patterns may not capture the most
meaningful dimensions of parenting attitudes or behaviors
in AA families (Bluestone and Tamis-LeMonda 1999). It is
noteworthy that there are still relatively few published stu-
dies examining within-group parenting processes in African
American families in regard to children’s developing self-
regulation (Tamis-LeMonda et al. 2008; McGroder 2000).
At the time this manuscript was written, there were several
J Child Fam Stud (2017) 26:833–842 839
completed dissertation studies not yet published on this
topic; hopefully those studies will be submitted for peer
review and publication, for broader dissemination.
Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank Judy Brasch,
Jahaira Capellan, Jobena Robinson, Christina White, and Kiera
Anderson at the University of Rochester for their assistance
with data
collection, management, and/or coding.
Funding The project described in this publication was supported
in
part by the University of Rochester CTSA award number UL1

RR
024160 from the National Institutes of Health/National Center
for
Research Resources. The content is solely the responsibility of
the
author and does not necessarily represent the official views of
the
National Center for Research Resources or the National
Institutes of
Health.
Compliance with ethical standards
Conflict of Interest The authors declare that they have no
conflict
of interest.
Ethical Approval All procedures performed involving human
participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the
institutional internal research review board and/or national
research
committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later
amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Journal of Child & Family Studies is a copyright of Springer,
2017. All Rights Reserved.

A Within-Group Analysis of African American Mothers’
Authoritarian Attitudes, Limit-Setting and Children’s Self-
RegulationAbstractIntroductionMethodParticipantsProceduresM
easuresMaternal reported authoritarian attitudesObserved
behaviors during the limit-setting taskData
AnalysesResultsDiscussionLimitationsACKNOWLEDGMENTS
References
Architecture. Planning
THE IMAGE OF THE CITY
Kevin Lynch
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,
formu-
lates 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.
What the reviewers have said:

". . . Kevin Lynch has come up with a readable, tautly
organized,
authoritative volume that may prove as important to city
building as
Camillo Sitte's The Art of Building Cities." — Architectural
Forum
"City planners and urban designers everywhere will be taking
account
of his work for years to come . . . The importance of this book
in the
literature of urbanism is obvious. . . . we have lacked a theory
of the
city's visual perception based on objective criteria. Forsome
strange
reason, in the period dating from the late 19th Century in
Germany
and lasting until Lynch's efforts . . . there was no
experimentation in
the matter of how cities are perceived. All of us can be grateful
for the
resumption of this line of thought. The impact of this volume
should
be enormous." — Leonard K. Eaton, Progressive Architecture
"This small and readable book makes one of the most important
modern
contributions to large-scale design theory . . . To understand
Lynch's
audacity, one must go back to 19.53, the year when he l>egan
his
studies in perception with a travel period in Italy. This was
several years
before all the 'urban design' conferences, before the coining of
the phrase,
and at a time when respectable planners were concerned with

anything
but the exploration of urban form. It took a rebellious young
teacher . . .
fired by the inspiration of F. L. Wright (his sometime mentor),
to turn
the tables on thirty years of planners' neglect." — David A.
Crane,
Journal of the American Institute of Planners
Kevin Lynch
The Image of the City
The M.I.T. Press
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England
PUBLICATION OF THE J O I N T CENTER FOR URBAN
STUDIES
This book is one of a series published under the auspices of
the Joint Center for Urban Studies, a cooperative venture
of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard
University. The Joint Center was founded in 1959 to or-
ganize and encourage research on urban and regional prob-
lems. Participants have included scholars from the fields of
anthropology, architecture, business, city planning, econom-
ics, education, engineering, history, law, philosophy, political
science, and sociology.
The findings and conclusions of this book are, as with all
Joint Center publications, solely the responsibility of the

author.
Copyright © 1960 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
and the President and Fellows of Harvard College
Twentieth Printime. 1990
ISBN 0 262 12004 6 (hardcover)
ISBN 0 262 62001 4 (paperback)
Library of Congress Catalog Card N o : 60-7362
Printed in the United States of America
PREFACE
This book is about the look of cities, and whether this
look is of any importance, and whether it can be changed. The
urban landscape, among its many roles, is also something to be
seen, to be remembered, and to delight in. Giving visual form to
the city is a special kind of design problem, and a rather new
one
at that.
In the course of examining this new problem, the book looks
at three American cities: Boston, Jersey City, and Los Angeles.
It suggests a method whereby we might begin to deal with
visual
form at the urban scale, and offers some first principles of city
design.
The work that lies behind this study was done under the
direction of Professor Gyorgy Kepes and myself at the Center
for Urban and Regional Studies of the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology. It was generously supported over several years
by funds from the Rockefeller Foundation. The book itself is
being published as one of a series of volumes of the Joint

Center
for Urban Studies of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
and Harvard University, an agency which has grown out of the
urban research activities of these two institutions.
As in any intellectual work, the content derives from many
sources, difficult to trace. Several research associates
contributed
directly to the development of this study: David Crane, Bernard
v
Frieden, William Alonso, Frank Hotchkiss, Richard Dober,
Mary
Ellen Peters (now Mrs. Alonso). I am very grateful to them all.
One name should be on the title page with my own, if only he
would thereby not be made responsible for the shortcomings of
the book. That name is Gyorgy Kepes. The detailed develop-
ment and concrete studies are my own, but the underlying con-
cepts were generated in many exchanges with Professor Kepes.
I would be at a loss to disentangle my ideas from his. For me
these have been good years of association.
KEVIN LYNCH
M.I.T.
December, 1959
vi
CONTENTS
I The Image of the Environment 1
Legibility, 2; Building the Image, 6; Structure and

Identity, 8; Imageability, 9.
II Three Cities 14
Boston, 16; Jersey City, 25; Los Angeles, 32; Common
Themes, 43.
III The City Image and Its Elements 46
Paths, 49; Edges, 62; Districts, 66; Nodes, 72; Land-
marks, 78; Element Interrelations, 83; The Shifting
Image, 85; Image Quality, 87.
IV City Form 91
Designing the Paths, 95; Design of Other Elements,
99; Form Qualities, 105; The Sense of the Whole,
108; Metropolitan Form, 112; The Process of Design,
115.
V A N e w Scale 118
Appendices
A Some References to Orientation 123
Types of Reference Systems, 128; Formation of the
Image, 131 ; The Role of Form, 133; Disadvantages
of Imageability, 138.
B The Use of the Method 140
The Method as the Basis for Design, 155; Directions
for Future Research, 156.
C Two Examples of Analysis 160
Beacon Hill, 160; Scollay Square, 173.
Bibliography 182

Index 187
vii
I.
THE IMAGE OF THE ENVIRONMENT
Looking at cities can give a special pleasure, however
commonplace the sight may be. Like a piece of architecture, the
city is a construction in space, bur one of vast scale, a thing
perceived only in the course of long spans of time. City design
is therefore a temporal art, but it can rarely use the controlled
and limited sequences of other temporal arts like music. On
different occasions and for different people, the sequences are
reversed, interrupted, abandoned, cut across. It is seen in all
lights and all weathers.
At every instant, there is more than the eye can see, more
than the ear can hear, a setting or a view waiting to be explored.
Nothing is experienced by itself, but always in relation to its
surroundings, the sequences of events leading up to it, the mem-
ory of past experiences. Washington Street set in a farmer's
field might look like the shopping street in the heart of Boston,
and yet it would seem utterly different. Every citizen has had
long associations with some part of his city, and his image is
soaked in memories and meanings.
Moving elements in a city, and in particular the people and
their activities, are as important as the starionary physical parts.
We are not simply observers of this spectacle, but are ourselves
a part of it, on the stage with the other participants. Most often,

our perception of the city is not sustained, but rather partial,
fragmentary, mixed with other concerns. Nearly every sense is
in operation, and the image is the composite of them all.
Nor only is the city an object which is perceived (and perhaps
enjoyed) by millions of people of widely diverse class and char-
acter, but it is the product of many builders who are constantly
modifying the structure for reasons of their own. While it may
be stable in general outlines for some time, it is ever changing
in detail. Only partial control can be exercised over its growth
and form. There is no final result, only a continuous succession
of phases. No wonder, then, that the art of shaping cities for
sensuous enjoyment is an act quite separate from architecture or
music or literature. It may learn a great deal from these other
arts, but it cannot imitate them.
A beautiful and delightful city environment is an oddity, some
would say an impossibility. Not one American city larger than
a village is of consistently fine quality, although a few towns
have
some pleasant fragments. It is hardly surprising, then, that most
Americans have little idea of what it can mean to live in such an
environment. They are clear enough about the ugliness of the
world they live in, and they are quite vocal about the dirt, the
smoke, the heat, and the congestion, the chaos and yet the
monot-
ony of it. But they are hardly aware of the potential value of
harmonious surroundings, a world which they may have briefly
glimpsed only as tourists or as escaped vacationers. They can
have little sense of what a setting can mean in terms of daily
delight, or as a continuous anchor for their lives, or as an exten-
sion of the meaningfulness and richness of the world.
This book will consider the visual quality of the American
city by studying the mental image of that city which is held by
its citizens. It_will concentrate especially on one particular vis-

ual quality: the apparent clarity or "Legibility" of the cityscape.
By this we mean the ease with which its parrs can be recognized
and can be organized into a coherent pattern/Just as this printed
page, if it is legible, can be visually grasped as a related pattern
of recognizable symbols, so a legible.city would be one whose
districts or landmarks or pathways are easily identifiable and
are
easily grouped into an over-all pattern.
This book will assert that legibility is crucial in the city
setting, will analyze it in some detail, and will try to show how
this concept might be used today in rebuilding our cities. As
will
quickly become apparent to the reader, this study is a prelim-
inary exploration, a first word not a last word, an attempt to
capture ideas and to suggest how they might be developed and
tested. Its tone will be speculative and perhaps a little irrespon-
sible: ar once tentative and presumptuous. This first chapter
will
develop some of the basic ideas; later chapters will apply them
to several American cities and discuss their consequences for
urban design.
Although clarity or legibility is by no means the only impor-
tant property of a beautiful city, it is of special importance
when
considering environments at the urban scale of size, time, and
complexity. To understand this, we must consider not just the
city as a thing in itself, but the city being perceived by its
inhab-
itants.
Structuring and identifying the environment is a vital ability
among all mobile animals. Many kinds of cues are used: the
visual sensations of color, shape, motion, or polarization of

light,
as well as other senses such as smell, sound, touch, kinesthesia,
sense of gravity, and perhaps of electric or magnetic fields.
These techniques of orientation, from the polar flight of a tern
to the path-Ending of a limpet over the micro-topography of a
rock, are described and their importance underscored in an
exten-
sive literature.'10-20-31-59' Psychologists have also studied this
ability in man, although rather sketchily or under limited
labora-
tory conditions.'1-5-8-12-37-63-65-76-81' Despite a few
remaining
puzzles, it now seems unlikely that there is any mystic
"instinct"
of way-finding. Rather there is a consistent use and
organization
of definite sensory cues from the external environment. This
organization is fundamental to the efficiency and to the very
survival of free-moving life.
Legibility
2 3
To become completely lost is perhaps a rather rare experience
for most people in the modern city. We are supported by the
presence of others and by special way-finding devices: maps,
street numbers, route signs, bus placards. But let the mishap of
disorientation once occur, and the sense of anxiety and even ter-
ror that accompanies it reveals to us how closely it is linked to
our sense of balance and well-being. The very word "lost" in
our language means much more than simple geographical uncer-
tainty; it carries overtones of utter disaster.

In the process of way-finding, the strategic link is the environ-
mental image, the generalized mental picture of the exterior
phys-
ical world that is held by an individual. This image is the prod-
uct both of immediate sensation and of the memory of past
experience, and it is used to interpret information and to guide
action. The need to recognize and pattern our surroundings is
so crucial, and has such long roots in the past, that this image
has wide practical and emotional importance to the individual.
Obviously a clear image enables one to move about easily and
quickly: to find a friend's house or a policeman or a button
store.
But an ordered environment can do more than this; it may serve
as a broad frame of reference, an organizer of activity or belief
or knowledge. On the basis of a structural understanding of
Manhattan, for example, one can order a substantial quantity of
facts and fancies about the nature of the world we live in. Like
any good framework, such a structure gives the individual a
pos-
sibility of choice and a starting-point for the acquisition of fur-
ther information. A clear image of the surroundings is thus a
useful basis for individual growth.
A vivid and integrated physical setting, capable of producing
a sharp image, plays a social role as well, It can furnish the raw
material for the symbols and collective memories of group com-
munication. A striking landscape is the skeleton upon which
many primitive races erect their socially important myths. Com-
mon memories of the "home town" were often the first and
easiest point of contact between lonely soldiers during the war.
A good environmental image gives its possessor an important
sense of emotional security. He can establish an harmonious
relationship between himself and the outside world. This is the

obverse of the fear that comes with disorientation; it means that
the sweet sense of home is strongest when home is not only
familiar but distinctive as well.
Indeed, a distinctive and legible environment not only offers
security bur also heightens the potential depth and intensity of
human experience. Although life is far from impossible in the
visual chaos of the modern city, the same daily action could
take
on new meaning if carried out in a more vivid setting. Poten-
tially, the city is in itself the powerful symbol of a complex
society. If visually well set forth, it Can also have strong
expres-
sive meaning.
It may be argued against the importance of physical legibility
that the human brain is marvelously adaptable, that with some
experience one can learn to pick one's way through the most
disordered or featureless surroundings. There are abundant
examples of precise navigation over the "trackless" wastes of
sea, sand, or ice, or through a tangled maze of jungle.
Yet even the sea has the sun and stars, the winds, currents,
birds, and sea-colors without which unaided navigation would
be
impossible. The fact that only skilled professionals could navi-
gate among the Polynesian Islands, and this only after extensive
training, indicates the difficulties imposed by this particular
environment. Strain and anxiety accompanied even the best-
prepared expeditions.
In our own world, we might say that almost everyone can, if
attentive. learn to navigate in Jersey City, but only at the cost of
some effort and uncertainty. Moreover, the positive values of
legible surroundings are missing: the emotional satisfaction, the
framework for communication or conceptual organization, the

new depths that it may bring to everyday experience. These
are pleasures we lack, even if our present city environment is
not
so disordered as to impose an intolerable strain on those who
are
familiar with it.
It must be granted that there is some value in mystification,
labyrinth, or surprise in the environment. Many of us enjoy
the House of Mirrors, and there is a certain charm in the
crooked
streets of Boston. This is so, however, only under two condi-
tions. First, there must be no danger of losing basic form or
Jersey City it dis-
cussed in Chapter 2
See Appendix A
5
These points art fur-
ther illustrated in
Appendix A
6
may seem to have strong structure or identity because of strik-
ing physical features which suggest or impose their own pattern.
Thus the sea or a great mountain can rivet the attention of one
coming from the flat plains of the interior, even if he is so
young
or so parochial as to have no name for these great phenomena.

As manipulators of the physical environment, city planners
are primarily interested in the external agent in the interaction
which produces the environmental image. Different environ-
ments resist or facilitate the process of image-making. Any
given form, a fine vase or a lump of clay, will have a high or a
low probability of evoking a strong image among various
observ-
ers. Presumably this probability can be stated with greater and
greater precision as the observers are grouped in mote and more
homogeneous classes of age, sex, culture, occupation, tempera-
ment, or familiarity. Each individual creates and bears his own
image, but there seems to be substantial agreement among mem-
bers of the same group. It is these group images, exhibiting con-
sensus among significant numbers, that interest city planners
who aspire to model an environment that will be used by many
people.
Therefore this study will tend to pass over individual differ-
ences, interesting as they might be to a psychologist. The first
order of business will be what might be called the "public
images," the common mental pictures carried by large numbers
of a city's inhabitants: areas of agreement which might be
expected to appear in the interaction of a single physical reality,
a common culture, and a basic physiological nature.
The systems of orientation which have been used vary widely
throughout the world, changing from culture to culture, and
from
landscape to landscape. Appendix A gives examples of many of
them: the abstract and fixed directional systems, the moving
sys-
tems, and those that are directed to the person, the home, or the
sea. The world may be organized around a set of focal points,
or be broken into named regions, or be linked by remembered
routes. Varied as these methods are, and inexhaustible as seem
to be the potential clues which a man may pick out to differen-

tiate his world, they cast interesting side-lights on the means
that
we use today to locate ourselves in our own city world. For the
7
orientation, of never coming our. The surprise must occur in an
over-all framework; the confusions must be small regions in a
visible whole. Furthermore, the labyrinth or mystery must in
itself have some form that can be explored and in time be appre-
hended. Complete chaos without hint of connection is never
pleasurable.
But these second thoughts point to an important qualification.
The observer himself should play an active role in perceiving
the
world and have a creative part in developing his image. He
should have the power to change that image to fit changing
needs. An environment which is ordered in precise and final
detail may inhibit new patterns of activity. A landscape whose
every rock tells a story may make difficult the creation of fresh
stories. Although this may not seem to be a. critical issue in our
present urban chaos, yet it indicates that what we seek is not a
final but an open-ended order, capable of continuous further
development.
Building the Image
Environmental images are the result of a two-way process
between the observer and his environment. The environment
suggests distinctions and relations, and the observer—with great
adaptability and in the light of his own purposes—selects,
organ-
izes, and endows with meaning what he sees. The image so
developed now limits and emphasizes what is seen, while the
image itself is being tested against the filtered perceptual input

in a constant interacting process. Thus the image of a given
reality may vary significantly between different observers.
The coherence of the image may arise in several ways. There
may be little in the real object that is ordered or remarkable,
and yet its mental picture has gained identity and organization
through long familiarity. One man may find objects easily on
what seems to anyone else to be a totally disordered work table.
Alternatively, an object seen for the first time may be identified
and related not because it is individually familiar but because it
conforms to a stereotype already constructed by the observer.
An
American can always spot the corner drugstore, however indis-
tinguishable it might be to a Bushman. Again, a new object
most part these examples seem to echo, curiously enough, the
formal types of image elements into which we can conveniently
divide the city image: path, landmark, edge, node, and district.
These elements will be defined and discussed in Chapter 3.
8
line may stand for vitality, power, decadence, mystery, conges-
tion, greatness, or what you will, but in each case that sharp
picture crystallizes and reinforces the meaning. So various arc
the individual meanings of a city, even while its form may be
easily communicable, that it appears possible to separate
meaning
from form, at least in the early stages of analysis. This study
will therefore concentrate on the identity and structure of city
images.
If an image is to have value for orientation in the living space,
it must have several qualities. It must be sufficient, true in a

pragmatic sense, allowing the individual to operate within his
environment to the extent desired. The map, whether exact or
not, must be good enough to get one home. It must be suffi-
ciently clear and well integrated to be economical of mental
effort: the map must be readable. It should be safe, with a sur-
plus of clues so that alternative actions are possible and the risk
of failure is not too high. If a blinking light is the only sign for
a critical turn, a power failure may cause disaster. The image
should preferably be open-ended, adaptable to change, allowing
the individual to continue to investigate and organize reality:
there should be blank spaces where he can extend the drawing
for himself. Finally, it should in some measure be
communicable
to other individuals. The relative importance of these criteria
for a "good" image will vary with different persons in different
situations; one will prize an economical and sufficient system,
another an open-ended and communicable one.
Since the emphasis here will be on the physical environment
as the independent variable, this study will look for physical
qualities which relate to the attributes of identity and structure
in the mental image. This leads to the definition of what might
be called image ability; that quality in a physical object which
gives it a high probability of evoking a strong image in any
given observer. It is that shape, color, or arrangement which
facilitates the making of vividly identified, powerfully
structured,
highly useful mental images of the environment. It might also
be called legibility, or perhaps visibilily in a heightened sense,
9
Imageability
Structure and Identity

An environmental image may be analyzed into three compo-
nents: identity, structure, and meaning. It is useful to abstract
these for analysis, if it is remembered that in reality they always
appear together. A workable image requires first the identifica-
tion of an object, which implies its distinction from other
things,
its recognition as a separable entity. This is called identity, not
in the sense of equality with something else, but with the mean-
ing of individuality or oneness. Second, the image must include
the spatial or pattern relation of the object to the observer and
to
other objects. Finally, this object must have some meaning for
the observer, whether practical or emotional. Meaning is also a
relation, but quite a different one from spatial or pattern
relation.
Thus an image useful for making an exit requires the recogni-
tion of a door as a distinct entity, of its spatial relation to the
observer, and its meaning as a hole for getting out. These are
not truly separable. The visual recognition of a door is matted
together with its meaning as a door. It is possible, however, to
analyze the door in terms of its identity of form and clarity of
position, considered as if they were prior to its meaning,
Such an analytic feat might be pointless in the study of a door,
but not in the study of the urban environment. To begin with,
the question of meaning in the city is a complicated one. Group
images of meaning are less likely to be consistent at this level
than are the perceptions of entity and relationship. Meaning,
moreover, is not so easily influenced by physical manipulation
as
are these other two components. If it is our purpose to build
cities for the enjoyment of vast numbers of people of widely
diverse background—and cities which will also be adaptable
to future purposes—we may even be wise to concentrate on the
physical clarity of the image and to allow meaning to develop

without our direct guidance. The image of the Manhattan sky-
where objects are not only able to be seen, but are presented
sharply and intensely to the senses.
Half a century ago, Stern discussed this attribute of an artistic
object and called it apparency.74 While art is not limited to this
single end, he felt that one of its two basic functions was "to
create images which by clarity and harmony of form fulfill the
need for vividly comprehensible appearance." In his mind, this
was an essential first step toward the expression of inner
meaning.
A highly imageable (apparent, legible, or visible) city in this
peculiar sense would seem well formed, distinct, remarkable; it
would invite the eye and the ear to greater attention and partici-
pation. The sensuous grasp upon such surroundings would not
merely be simplified, but also extended and deepened. Such a
city would be one that could be apprehended over time as a pat-
tern of high continuity with many distinctive parts clearly inter-
connected. The perceptive and familiar observer could absorb
new sensuous impacts without disruption of his basic image,
and
each new impact would touch upon many previous elements. He
would be well oriented, and he could move easily. He would be
highly aware of his environment. The city of Venice might be
an example of such a highly imageable environment. In the
United States, one is tempted to cite parts of Manhattan, San
Francisco, Boston, or perhaps the lake front of Chicago.
These are characterizations that flow from our definitions. The
concept of imageability does not necessarily connote something
fixed, limited, precise, unified, or regularly ordered, although it
may sometimes have these qualities. Nor does it mean apparent

at a glance, obvious, patent, or plain. The total environment to
be patterned is highly complex, while the obvious image is soon
boring, and can point to only a few features of the living world.
The imageability of city form will be the center of the study
to follow. There are other basic properties in a beautiful envi-
ronment: meaning or expressiveness, sensuous delight, rhythm,
stimulus, choice. Our concentration on imageability does not
deny their importance. Our purpose is simply to consider the
need for identity and structure in our perceptual world, and to
illustrate the special relevance of this quality to the particular
case of the complex, shifting urban environment.
10
Since image development is a two-way process between
observer and observed, it is possible to strengthen the image
either by symbolic devices, by the retraining of the perceiver, or
by reshaping one's surroundings. You can provide the viewer
with a symbolic diagram of how the world fits together: a map
or a set of written instructions. As long as he can fit reality to
the diagram, he has a clue to the relatedness of things. You can
even install a machine for giving directions, as has recently
been done in New York.49 While such devices are extremely
useful for providing condensed data on interconnections, they
are also precarious, since orientation fails if the device is lost,
and
the device itself must constantly be referred and fitted to
reality.
The cases of brain injury noted in Appendix A illustrate the
anxiety and effort that attend complete reliance on such means.
Moreover, the complete experience of interconnection, the full
depth of a vivid image, is lacking.
You may also train the observer. Brown remarks that a maze
through which subjects were asked to move blindfolded seemed

to them at first to be one unbroken problem. On repetition,
parts of the pattern, particularly the beginning and end, became
familiar and assumed the character of localities. Finally, when
they could tread the maze without error, the whole system
seemed
to have become one locality.8 DeSilva describes the case of a
boy who seemed to have "automatic" directional orientation, but
proved to have been trained from infancy (by a mother who
could not distinguish right from left) to respond to "the east
side of the porch" or "the south end of the dresser."71
Shipton's account of the reconnaissance for the ascent of Ever-
est offers a dramatic case of such learning. Approaching Everest
from a new direction, Shipton immediately recognized the main
peaks and saddles that he knew from the north side. But the
Sherpa guide accompanying him, to whom both sides were long
familiar, had never realized that these were the same features,
and he greeted the revelation with surprise and delight.70
Kilpatrick describes the process of perceptual learning forced
on an observer by new stimuli that no longer At into previous
images.4' It begins with hypothetical forms that explain the new
stimuli conceptually, while the illusion of the old forms
persists.
11
The personal experience of most of us will testify to this per-
sistence of an illusory image long after its inadequacy is
concep-
tually realized. We stare into the jungle and see only the sun-
light on the green leaves, but a warning noise tells us that an
animal is hidden there. The observer then learns to interpret the
scene by singling out "give-away" clues and by reweighting pre-

vious signals. The camouflaged animal may now be picked up
by the reflection of his eyes. Finally by repeated experience the
entire pattern of perception is changed, and the observer need
no
longer consciously search for give-aways, or add new data to an
old framework. He has achieved an image which will operate
successfully in the new situation, seeming natural and right.
Quite suddenly the hidden animal appears among the leaves, "as
plain as day."
In the same way, we must learn to see the hidden forms in the
vast sprawl of our cities. We are not accustomed to organizing
and imaging an artificial environment on such a large scale; yet
our activities are pushing us toward that end. Curt Sachs gives
an example of a failure to make connections beyond a certain
Ievel.66 The voice and drumbeat of the North American Indian
follow entirely different tempos, the two being perceived inde-
pendently. Searching for a musical analogy of Our own, he men-
tions our church services, where we do not think of coordinating
the choir inside with the bells above.
In our vast metropolitan areas we do not connect the choir and
the bells; like the Sherpa, we see only the sides of Everest and
not the mountain. To extend and deepen our perception of the
environment would be to continue a long biological and cultural
development which' has gone from the contact senses to the dis-
tant senses and from the distant senses to symbolic communica-
tions. Our thesis is that we are now able to develop our image
of the environment by operation on the external physical shape
as well as by an internal learning process. Indeed, the complex-
ity of our environment now compels us to do so. Chapter 4 will
discuss how this might be done.
Primitive man was forced to improve his environmental image
by adapting his perception to the given landscape. He could
effect minor changes in his environment with cairns, beacons,

12
or tree blazes, but substantial modifications for visual clarity or
visual interconnection were confined to house sites or religious
enclosures. Only powerful civilizations can begin to act on their
total environment at a significant scale. The conscious remold-
ing of the large-scale physical environment has been possible
only
recently, and so the problem of environmental imageability is a
new one. Technically, we can now make completely new land-
scapes in a brief time, as in the Dutch polders. Here the de-
signers are already at grips with the question of how to form
the total scene so that it is easy for the human observer to
identify its parts and to structure the whole.30
We are rapidly building a new functional unit, the metropoli-
tan region, but we have yet to grasp that this unit, too, should
have its corresponding image. Suzanne Langer sets the problem
in her capsule definition of atchitecture:
"It is the total environment made visible."42
13
III.
THE CITY IMAGE AND ITS ELEMENTS
There seems to be a public image of any given city
which is the overlap of many individual images. Or perhaps
there is a series of public images, each held by some significant
number of citizens. Such group images are necessary if an indi-
vidual is to operate successfully within his environment and to

cooperate with his fellows. Each individual picture is unique.
with some content that is rarely or never communicated, yet it
approximates the public image, which, in different
environments,
is more or less compelling, more or less embracing.
This analysis limits itself to the effects of physical, perceptible
objects. There are other influences on imageability, such as the
social meaning of an area, its function, its history, or even its
name. These will be glossed over, since the objective here is to
uncover the role of form itself. It is taken for granted, that in
actual design form should be used to reinforce meaning, and not
to negate it.
The contents of the city images so far studied, which are refer-
able to physical forms, can conveniently be classified into five
types of elements: paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks.
Indeed, these elements may be of more general application,
since
they seem to reappear in many types of environmental images,
as
may be seen by reference to Appendix A. These elements may
be defined as follows:
1. Paths. Paths are the channels along which the observer
customarily, occasionally, or potentially moves. They may be
streets, walkways, transit lines, canals, railroads. For many peo-
ple, these are the predominant elements in their image. People
observe the city while moving through it, and along these paths
the other environmental elements are arranged and related.
2. Edges. Edges are the linear elements not used or consid-
ered as paths by the observer. They are the boundaries between
two phases, linear breaks in continuity: shores, railroad cuts,
edges of development, walls. They are lateral references rather

than coordinate axes. Such edges may be barriers, more or less
penetrable, which close one region off from another; or they
may
be seams, lines along which two regions are related and joined
together. These edge elements, although probably not as dom-
inant as paths, are for many people important organizing fea-
tures, particularly in the role of holding together generalized
areas, as in the outline of a city by water or wall.
3. Districts. Districts are the medium-to-Iarge sections of the
city, conceived of as having two-dimensional extent, which the
observer mentally enters "inside of," and which are
recognizable
as having some common, identifying character. Always identi-
fiable from the inside, they are also used for exterior reference
if
visible from the outside. Most people structure their city to
some
extent in this way, with individual differences as to whether
paths
Or districts are the dominant elements. It seems to depend not
only upon the individual but also upon the given city.
4. Nodes, Nodes are points, the strategic spots in a city into
which an observer can enter, and which are the intensive foci to
and from which he is traveling. They may be primarily junc-
tions, places of a break in transportation, a crossing or conver-
gence of paths, moments of shift from one structure to another.
Or the nodes may be simply concentrations, which gain their
im-
portance from being the condensation of some use or physical
character, as a street-corner hangout or an enclosed square.
Some
46 41

of these concentration nodes are the focus and epitome of a
district, over which their influence radiates and of which they
stand as a symbol. They may be called cores. Many nodes, of
course, partake of the nature of both junctions and concentra-
tions. The concept of node is related to the concept of path,
since junctions are typically the convergence of paths, events on
the journey. It is similarly related to the concept of district,
since cores are typically the intensive foci of districts, their
polar-
izing center. In any event, some nodal points are to be found in
almost every image, and in certain cases they may be the dom-
inant feature.
5. Landmarks. Landmarks are another type of point-reference,
but in this case the observer does not enter within them, they
are external. They are usually a rather simply defined physical
object: building, sign, store, or mountain. Their use involves
the singling our of one element from a host of possibilities.
Some landmarks are distant ones, typically seen from many
angles
and distances, over the tops of smaller elements, and used as
radial references. They may be within the city or at such a dis-
tance that for all practical purposes they symbolize a constant
direction. Such are isolated towers, golden domes, great hills.
Even a mobile point, like the sun, whose motion is sufficiently
slow and regular, may be employed. Other landmarks are pri-
marily local, being visible only in restricted localities and from
certain approaches. These are the innumerable signs, store
fronts, trees, doorknobs, and other urban derail, which fill in the
image of most observers. They are frequently used clues of
iden-
tity and even of structure, and seem to be increasingly relied
upon
as a journey becomes more and more familiar.

The image of a given physical reality may occasionally shift
its type with different circumstances of viewing. Thus an
expressway may be a path for the driver, and edge for the
pedes-
trian. Or a central area may be a district when a city is
organized
on a medium scale, and a node when the entire metropolitan
area
is considered. But the categories seem to have stability for a
given observer when he is operating at a given level.
None of the element types isolated above exist in isolation in
the real case. Districts are structured with nodes, defined by
edges, penetrated by paths, and sprinkled with landmarks. Ele-
merus regularly overlap and pierce one another. If this analysis
begins with the differentiation of the data into categories, it
must
end with their reintegration into the whole image. Our studies
have furnished much information about the visual character of
the element types. This will be discussed below. Only to a
lesser extent, unfortunately, did the work make revelations
about
the interrelations between elements, or about image levels,
image
qualities, or the development of the image. These latter topics
will be treated at the end of this chapter.
For most people interviewed, paths were the predominant city
elements, although their importance varied according to the
degree of familiarity with the city. People with least knowledge
of Boston tended to think of the city in terms of topography,
large regions, generalized characteristics, and broad directional
relationships. Subjects who knew the city better had usually
mastered part of the path structure; these people thought mote

in
terms of specific paths and their interrelationships. A tendency
also appeared for the people who knew the city best of all to
rely
more upon small landmarks and less upon either regions or
piths.
The potential drama and identification in the highway system
should nor be underestimated. One Jersey City subject, who can
find little worth describing in her surroundings, suddenly lit up
when she described the Holland Tunnel. Another recounted her
pleasure:
You cross Baldwin Avenue, you see all of New York in front
of you, you see the terrific drop of land (the Palisades) . . . and
here's this open panorama of lower Jersey City in front of you
and you're going down hill, and there you know: there's the
tunnel, there's the Hudson River and everything. . . . I always
look to the right to see if I can see the . .. Statue of Liberty. . . .
Then always look up to see the Empire State Building, see how
the weather is. . . . I have a real feeling of happiness because
I'm going someplace, and I love to go places.
Particular paths may become important features in a number
of ways. Customary travel will of course be one of the strongest
Paths
49 48
mon, the visibility from long distances of its bright gold dome,
all make it a key sign for central Boston. It has the satisfying
qualities of recognizability at many levels of reference, and of
coincidence of symbolic with visual importance.

People who used distant landmarks did so only for very general
directional orientation, or, more frequently, in symbolic ways.
For one person, the Custom House lent unity to Atlantic Avenue
because it can be seen from almost any place on that street.
For another, the Custom House set up a rhythm in the financial
district, for it can be seen intermittently at many places in
that area.
The Duomo of Florence is a prime example of a distant land-
mark: visible from near and far, by day or night; unmistakable;
dominant by size and contour; closely related to the city's tradi-
tions; coincident with the religious and transit center; paired
with its campanile in such a way that the direction of view can
be gauged from a distance. It is difficult to conceive of the city
without having this great edifice come to mind.
But local landmarks, visible only in restricted localities, were
much more frequently employed in the three cities studied. They
Figure 33
ran the full range of objects available. The number of local
elements that become landmarks appears to depend as much
upon how familiar the observer is with his surroundings as upon
the elements themselves. Unfamiliar subjects usually mentioned
only a few landmarks in office interviews, although they
managed
to find many more when they went on field trips. Sounds and
smells sometimes reinforced visual landmarks, although they
did
not seem to constitute landmarks by themselves.
Landmarks may be isolated, single events without reinforce-
ment. Except for large or very singular marks, these are weak
references, since they are easy to miss and require sustained

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