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Good City Form: by Kevin Lynch

Kevin Lynch tries to understand what makes a city good or better than others in his book Good City Form. He discusses how human motives and values influenced the formation of early settlements. Lynch also examines how inventions like writing and the wheel connected to the emergence of cities with different functions. The second chapter outlines three theories of city form - the planning theory, functional theory, and normative theory - with an emphasis on how form relates to function.

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mohamadghassan-alemam Alemam
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240 views

Good City Form: by Kevin Lynch

Kevin Lynch tries to understand what makes a city good or better than others in his book Good City Form. He discusses how human motives and values influenced the formation of early settlements. Lynch also examines how inventions like writing and the wheel connected to the emergence of cities with different functions. The second chapter outlines three theories of city form - the planning theory, functional theory, and normative theory - with an emphasis on how form relates to function.

Uploaded by

mohamadghassan-alemam Alemam
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Mohamad Ghassan-Alemam

213725544

GOOD CITY FORM


By Kevin Lynch

In his book Good City Form, Kevin Lynch tries to find an answer for a question (that he
believes it is naive) which is: how a good city is formed? And what makes a city better than
another? he tries to discuss these questions using an analysed data such as population, dollars,
and traffic flow, not only by his personal experience.
So, in the first chapter of the book, the writer talks about the creation of cities and how the
motives of human beings play an important role in choosing the right environment in order to
create a settlement, and in my opinion understanding the human beings’ motives is a great
starting point to find out how people connected values to peculiar environment and settled in
it.
Lynch also emphasizes the fact that we do not have physical evidence about the creation of
the first city and that we only can hear or read about it from archology or myths, however, he
states that each city appearing have been accompanied by the sudden jumps to civilizations
(and we know only six or seven jumps in world history).
And in the same chapter the writer defines the creation of cities as the following’ A high
dense settlement of heterogenous people that organize a large rural territory around
themselves.’’ And from this definition he states that (almost) all the cities through the history
were created after agricultural revolution, like keeping animals as pets or in farms as well as
creating a small settlement of cultivators around. And with the examples he mentioned like
the ancient cities of Uruk, Lagash, Kish. Etc, I believe that we as scholars can understand the
reason behind the geographical choice of the location of these cities.
After reading this chapter I can say that the most interesting part was how Lynch made a
connection between the inventions (such as writings or the invention of the wheel) and the
cities, like how cities had different functions from each other’s, as some of them acted as
warehouses for traders, while the others were fortified with strong walls to be ready for wars
As for the second chapter (What Is the Form of a City, And How Is It Made?) Kevin Lynch
explains three different theories that identify the city as a spatial phenomenon.
The first one is the ‘‘planning theory’’ or what he called the ‘‘decision theory’’ which he
defined as a theory that exists the realm of the city and extends beyond it.
And the second one is what the writer called ‘‘functional theory’’ and it is a theory that focus
on the connection between the form of the city and its function, and this theory brings to me
the famous quote of Louis Sullivan ‘‘form follows function’’ which I believe it should be a
starting point in any design.
‘‘Normative theory’’ is the third one that Lynch mentioned, and this theory can be seen in
many of his writings, it focuses on the connections between the people value and the
settlement form.
Mohamad Ghassan-Alemam
213725544

The City Shaped


By Spiro Kostof

Kostof interduces his book (The City Shaped) by giving a quick definition about the urban
design which he says that it is an art that like all other designs must consider the human
behaviour. I personally do not (totally) agree with this definition since the word ‘art’ is
defined as an expression of a human skill or imagination in a visual form such as panting in
order to produce a work that is mainly appreciated for its beauty, and unlike urban design
that focus totally on the users and how they can function in a settlement or a city.
Then the writer explains how architects and city planners get their inspirations most of the
time from the history of the city they are working on, and in this we can sense some
similarities between him and Kevin Lynch theories on city planning and urban design.
Spiro Kostof mentions another common point between him and Lynch which is the
importance of a cognitive map, even though he did not mention the word ‘cognitive’ in which
he said ‘‘walking in an old town centre, sketching it and thinking about it, is instructive in a
direct way’’.
After that we can observe some drawings that in my opinion played an important role in
reflecting the writer’s point of view, which are examples of some urban planning techniques
like the grid or the placement of an open spaces within the grid.
Kostof here adds a very interesting point which is the power of the urban landowners and
how they affect its planning and design, such as when the government takes a private
property for a private use. And in my opinion, this (unfortunately) is a key factor nowadays in
planning any urban land.
Another point that the writer complains about is how the city planning nowadays focuses
mostly on the business that is done within the city rather than the behaviour of the people.
Activities like trade, renting or selling are the main point of designing cities in our era.
In general and after reading the very first chapter of The City Shaped, I can tell how the
writer of this book gives respect to the history of the city and how he thinks that architects
and urban planners should start designing form a perceptual point of view.

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