The Image of The City

Image of the environment

He says “Every citizen has had long associations with some part of the says city, and his
image is soaked in memories and meanings.” He also concerned with how we locate ourselves
within the city, how we find our way around. To know where we are within the city, therefore,
we have to build up a workable image of each part. Each of these images will comprise; our
recognition of its “individuality or oneness” within the city as a whole, our recognition of its
spatial or pattern relationships to other parts of the city, its practical meaning for each of us (both
practical and emotional)

Legibility
Definition :The ease by which type characters can be read
According to lynch it is essentially the ease with which people understand the layout of a
place By making questionnaire surveys, Lynch defined a method of analyzing legibility based on
five elements: paths, edges, districts, nodes and landmarks.
Building the image
 Image derived from verbal interviews
 Image derived from sketch maps
 Image derived from distinctive elements
 The visual form as seen in fields
Creating Mental Map
A person's Image person s perception of the world is known as a mental map. A mental
map is an individual's own map of their known world.
Mental maps of individuals can be investigated .
 by asking for directions to a landmark or other location.
 by asking someone to draw a sketch map of an area or describe that area
 by asking a person to name as many places as possible in a short period of time.
Public Image
Each individual holds a unique image of his or her city, a visual representation that guides
through daily life and maps out meaning. Researching a sample of these images can help
planners discern a “public image” of their city.
How to make a Public Image?
The public image of cities was created in two ways:
1. By interviewing several citizens
• Verbal Interview
• Making a quick sketch map
2. By Field study on foot by trained observer
So like these ways four different images were created
 Image derived from verbal interviews
 Image derived from sketch maps
 Image derived from distinctive elements
 The visual form as seen in fields

Structure and identity

An environment may be analyzed into three components:
 -identify
-structure
-meaning
A workable image first requires identification of an object that is called identity.
Secondly the image must have some meaning for the observer, whether practical or
emotional.
Cities that intent to provide enjoyment to vast number of people with diverse background and
that intend to adopt to future may have physical clarity of the image and that can develop without
or direct guidance.
An image must have several qualities if it wants value for orientation in the living space.
eg: a map whether exact or not must be good enough to get one home. It should be
readable.
Thus an image should be open ended, adaptable to change allowing the individual to continue to
investigate and organize reality.

Image-ability
 The quality in a physical object which gives it a high probability of evolving a strong
image in any observer is called image ability.
 It is that shape, colors or arrangement which facilitates the making of identified
powerfully structured highly useful mental images of the environment .
 It may also be termed as legibility or visibility .
 A highly image able city would be well formed distinct and remarkable .
 It would be apprehended over time as a pattern of high continuity.
 Image development that is a two way process between observer and observed can be
strengthened by symbolic device.

The city and its element
The contents of the city images, which are referable to physical forms can conveniently,
be classified into five types of elements:

1. Paths
2. Edges
3. Districts
4. Nodes
5. Landmarks

Paths
Familiar routes followed- “Are the channels along which the observer customarily, occasionally,
or potentially moves.”
E.g.-streets, walkways, transit lines, canals, railroads
The continuity depends on:
• Width
• Gradient
• activity
Edges
dividing lines between districts- "are the linear elements not used or considered as paths by the
observer. They are boundaries between two phases, linear breaks in continuity.”
Edges seem strongest which are not only visually prominent, but also continuous in form and
impenetrable to cross movement
E.g.- shores, railroad cuts, edges of development, walls ...
Districts
areas with perceived internal homogeneity- "are medium-to-large 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“
Texture, space, form, detail, symbol, building type, use, activity, inhabitants, degree of
maintenance, topography
E.g.- center, midtown, its in-town residential areas, organized industrial areas, train yards,
suburbs, college campuses etc.
Landmarks
point of reference- “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 which makes one orient oneself.
E.g.-building, sign, store, or mountain
Nodes
Center of attraction that you can enter- “Are points, the strategic spots in a city into which an
observer can enter. 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 .”
E.g.-primary junctions, places of a break in transportation, a crossing or convergence of
paths, moments of shift from one structure to another.