3.

1 The Image of the City by Kevin

Lynch
Image of the City

"What does the city's form actually mean to the people who live there?"

This question is answered by the theory of Kevin Lynch supported by the studies of Los Angeles, Boston,
and Jersey City. The theory is what they called "imageability", and it shows its potential value as a guide
for the building and rebuilding of cities.

 Imageability means quality in a physical object that evokes a strong image

 Imageability of a city is important to understanding its urban design
 images may be analyzed into 3 components;
a. identity (as a separate entity)
b. Structure (the spatial relationship between elements)
c. Meaning (practical or emotional)

The contents of the city images so far studied, which are referable to physical forms, can conveniently be
classified into five types of elements:

 Path
o Channels along which the observer moves. They may be streets, walkways, transit lines,
canals, and railroads
o String paths are: easily identifiable; have continuity and directional quality; are aligned
with a larger system
 Edge
o Edges are linear elements not used or not considered as paths
o They are boundaries between two phases and linear breaks in continuity
o Examples are shores, railroads, cuts edges of development, and walls
o Lateral references rather than coordinate axes
o They may be barriere, more ofrless peneteratable, which close one region off from
another.
o Not as dominant as paths
o Strong edges are: visually prominent; continuous
o Impeneteratable to cross-movement
 District
o These are medium to large sections of the city
o It conceived of as having a two dimensional extent, which the obderver mentally enters
‘inside of’ and recoegnizable as having some common, identifying character
o Are recognizable as having common identifying character with a variety of components
 Activity and use
 Building types and detail
 Physical characteristics
  Inhabitants
 Node
o Are pounts of strategic spots in a city into which an observer can enter
o Intensive foci in which the observer is travelling
o Nodes may be simply concentrations, gain their importance from being the condensation
of some use or physical character, or as a street-corner hangout or an enclosed square.
o Some 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.
 Landmark
o another point of reference but in this case, the observer does-not enters within them.
o They are physical elements that may vary widely in scale.
o They have been frequently used clues of identity.

3.2 Responsive Environment by Ian

Bentley
Responsive Environment
If the concept of Imageability can answer questions on how the city’s form affects its image, this
theoretical study of Ian Bentley and his colleagues discusses that the built environment should provide
freedom of choices to the people that make a place. This concept is what they called a "responsive
environment". They give emphasis on the idea that planning towards a responsive environment should
be a "product of progressive social and political attitudes".

How does design affect choice?

 it affects where people can go, and where they cannot; the quality we shall call permeability
 it affects the range of uses available to people; the quality we shall call variety
 it affects how easily people can understand what opportunities it offers; the quality we shall call
legibility
 it affects the degree to which people can use a given place for different purposes; the quality we
shall call robustness
 it affects whether the detailed appearance of the place makes people aware of the choices
available; the quality we shall call visual appropriateness
 it affects people's choice of sensory experiences; the quality we shall call richness
 it affects the extent to which people can put their own stamp on a place; we shall call this
personalization

 Permeability
 o the number of alternative ways through an environment - central to making responsive
places.
o Physical and visual permeability depends on how the network of public space divides the
environment into blocks."
o There is a decline in public permeability because of current design trends
 Scale of development
 Hierarchical layout
 segragation
 Variety
o particularly of uses is the second key quality next to permeability.
o Easily accessible places are irrelevant unless they offer a choice of experience.
 Legibility
o considered as the third stage of design.
o the elements that give the perceptual structure to the place should now be brought into the
design process.
 Robustness
o These are places that can be used for many different purposes.
o There are three key factors that support long term robustness.
 Building depth
 Access
 Building Height
o The design of small scale robustness also depends on extra factors:
 hard and soft spaces
 active and passive spaces
 size and shape
 details
 Visual appropriateness
o This stage of design focuses on what the output should look like in more detail. This is
important because it strongly affects the interpretations people put on places - whether
designers want them or not, people do interpret places as having meanings.
o Interpretations can reinforce responsiveness by:
 supporting the place's legibility
 supporting the place's variety
 supporting the place's robustness
 Richness
o dealing with the smallest details of the project.
o For most people, sight is the dominant sense. Most of the information we handle is
channeled through our eyes, so a large part of this stage of design is concerned with
visual richness.
o But richness is not a purely visual matter, other senses also have design implications such
as:
 the sense of motion
 the sense of smell
 the sense of hearing
 the sense of touch
 Personalization
 o allows people to achieve an environment that bears the stamp of their own tastes and
values.
o Users personalize in two ways:
 to improve practical facilities, and
 to change the image of a place.
o Personalization is affected by three main factors:
 Tenure
 The balance of power between user and owner is set by the tenure
system. Tenure affects two key aspects of personalization: [1] the money
spent on it and [2] its permanence.
 building type
 People mainly personalize places they regularly use for long periods. But
public areas which will probably not be personalized because nobody
stays there long enough. These public spaces are often the areas of most
public significance and their lack of personalization will call for extra
richness.
 technology.
 This means that the technology of the design should be well-matched to
the expertise of the likely users.

3.3 Space in Urban Design, Urban

Aesthetics, and Urban Pattern
Urban Space

 Architectural Space – created by the erection of two walls, creating a space in between them
which is separated from the natural space around them
 Urban Space – is wherein streets, squares, parks, playgrounds, and gardens are all “voids” that
have been limited or defined to create an enclosed space
 Internal Space – defined by the building itself (corridors and room)
 External Space – defined by that building and the others around it (streets) and squares)

Typical Function of Urban Spaces

 Structural Frameworks of Urban Spaces

o Understanding urban space with all its dimensions is made possible by tracing the
process of development.
 o It is through this development process that we can relate the physical geometry with
social and symbolic geometries, and relate the world of artifacts with the world of
people
 Looking at urban space from the perspective of individuals and groups
o Understanding urban space means looking at the political economy, where a system of
money and power is at work to create built environments and where scientific inquiry
offers an objective understanding of urban space

Urban Form

 Urban form has been equated with the term townscape – the urban equivalent of a landscape,
comprising the visible forms of the built-up areas
 Urban Form is also defined as the spatial pattern or “arrangement” of individual elements within
a city system. These elements include built environment, buildings, and land uses, as well as
social groups, economic activities, and public institutions.

Three Main Components of Urban Form

 Street plan or layout

 Architectural style
 Land-use

Urban Morphology

Urban Morphology is the systematic study of form, shape, plan, structure, and functions of the built
fabric of towns and cities, and of the origin and the way in which this fabric has evolved over time.

Basic Elements of Urban Space

 Square
o The first-way man discovered using urban space
o Produced by the grouping of houses around an open space facilitating ready defense
against external aggression
o Street - Product of the spread of a settlement once houses have been built on all
available spaces around its central spaces

 Circle
 triangle