Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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
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.