“Nothing is experienced by itself but with its

surroundings,the sequences of events leading up to

it,the memory of past experiences.”

“We have the opportunity of forming our new city

world into an imaginable landscape: visible,
coherent, and clear. It will require a new attitude on
the part of the city dweller, and a physical reshaping
of his domain into forms which entrance the eye,
which organize themselves from level to level in
time and space, which can stand as symbols of
urban life.”

Kevin Lynch – The Image of the City.

urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 1

KEVIN A. LYNCH (1918-1984)

Born in the 20th century.

Educated at the Yale university, Rensseleaer Polytechnic
Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Gained professorship in MIT in the year 1963. Eventually
earned professor emeritus status from same. Consulted to
the state of Rhode island, new England medical Centre,
Boston redevelopment authority, Puerto Rico industrial
development corp., MIT planning office, and other
organizations.

urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 2

books
1. What time is this place?
2. City sense and city design : writing s and projects
3. Good city form
4. Managing the sense of a region
5. Site Planning
6. Wasting Away
7. Image of the city

urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 3

urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 4
 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
terror 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 uncertainty.

Legibility
The apparent clarity or "Legibility" of the cityscape.
It mean the ease with which its parts 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.

urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 5

Principles for effective wayfinding include:
• Create an identity at each location, different from all others.
• Use landmarks to provide orientation cues and memorable locations.
• Create well-structured paths.
• Create regions of differing visual character.
• Don't give the user too many choices in navigation.
• Use survey views (give navigators a vista or map).
• Provide signs at decision points to help wayfinding decisions.
• Use sight lines to show what's ahead.

Source:
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/infoarch/publications/mfoltzthesis/node8.html

urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 6

Imageability
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.

urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 7

The City and Its Elements

Paths Edges Districts Nodes Landmarks

urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 8

 Paths

“Paths are the

channels along which the Paths are the channels along which the observer moves. They may
observer customarily, be streets, walkways, transit lines, canals, railroads.
occasionally, or potentially
moves. They may be streets,
walkways, transit lines,
canals, railroads. For many
people, 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. “
urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 9
 Edges
“Edges are the linear elements not used or considered 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 from another; or they may be seams, lines along which two regions are related or
joined together. These edge elements, although probably not as dominant as paths, are for many people
important organizing features, particularly in the role of holding together generalized areas, as in the
outline of a city by a water feature.”

urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 10

 Districts

“Districts are the medium-to-large sections of the city conceived as having two-dimensional
extents, which the observer mentally enters “inside of” and which are recognizable as having
some common identifying character. Always identifiable 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.”

urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 11

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 primary junctions, places of a break in transportation, a
crossing or convergence of paths, moments of shift from one structure to
another. Or the nodes may be simply concentrations, which gain their
importance from being the condensation of some use or physical character,
as a street corner hangout or an enclosed square.”

urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 12

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 simple
defined physical object: building, sign, store, or
mountain. Their use involves the singling out 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 distance that for all
practical purposes they symbolize a constant
direction. Such are isolated towers, golden domes,
great hills. “

urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 13

Three Cities
The image of the cities Boston, Jersey Cities and Los Angeles derived from the consensus of
verbal interviews and sketch maps.

Boston

urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 14

Jersey city

urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 15

Los Angeles

urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 16

 Urban design study based on theories presented by Kevin Lynch in The Image of the City. Dublin

Source:
https://www.behance.net/gallery/4980011/Dublin-Urban-Design-Case-Study
urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 17
Park street
Park street is located quite central in Kolkata. It is growing out of the old colonial
town towards east and is surrounded by different districts. To the east there is Salt
Lake City, which was foremost built in the early 60s, and the new developing
Rajarhat. North – east the Kolkata international Airport and the southbound the
mainly residential South Kolkata is situated.

urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 18

A Linear street Parkstreet’s figure ground map
urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 19
 Landmarks
urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 20
Pathways
urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 21
Edge
urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 22
Nodes
urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 23
Nodes & Junctions
urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 24
 Serial Vision
Gordon Cullen (1961) conceived the concept of “serial
vision”. He said:

Urban experience is one of series of revelations, with delight

and interest being stimulated by contrasts.

Gordon Cullen, the concise

townscape

urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 25

urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 26
 Serial Vision
Cullen work showing how movement can be read as
pictorial sequence.
He showed how our perception of time passing and
distance travelled differs from reality.

urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 27

urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 28
urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 29
urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 30
urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 31
urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 32
urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 33
urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 34
urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 35
 urban design studio 36
urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan
 The development of new modes of travel has
provided additional ways of seeing, engaging with
and forming mental images of urban environments:
Seen at different speeds
With different levelsof focus
The pedestrian viewpoint is accompanied by the
freedom to stop and engage with one’s
surroundings

urban design studio S9 / Ar. Sarath mohan 37