Kevin Lynch – The Image of the City

-Lynch poses a new way of looking at / experiencing the city itself. He admits that while
there is certainly a public image of any given city, that image may or may not overlap
with our personal and individual impressions. These images he says are necessary for us
to operate successfully in our cities which content wise he breaks down into five types of
elements: paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks.

PATHS: May be considered the predominant element in one’s image of the city. These
are the channels that we move through and use to observe the city such as streets, transit
lines, walk ways, etc. The other elements of the city’s image are arranged and related by
these.

EDGES: A linear element like a path, but it is neither navigated through nor used like a
path and are easier understood as boundaries or breaks in the paths such as shores,
developing areas, or walls. Lynch calls them barriers, closing off one region from another
or seams where two regions are joined together. The edges mostly serve the important
role as the organizing feature of the city and paint the picture of generalized areas and the
city outline.

DISTRICTS: Along with paths, may be the dominant element of one’s image of the city,
depending not only upon the individual, but also the given city. These are large sections
of the city with a two dimensonality, which we as observers of the city enter, physically
“inside of”, and are always identifiable from the inside and outside if visible, when used
for exterior reference. In New York City, the example of the boroughs matches this
concept, as these are spaces that have a specific and common character that we can
mentally describe and go inside of. Many structure their image of the city using districts.

NODES: A dominant feature for many, but different in that nodes are not in abundance
as districts and paths are. They can best be understood as “junctions”, places for a break
in transportation when crossing from path to path --- PORT Authority, coming together
and then going a bunch of other ways, or as “cores”, the focus of a district standing as a
symbol of influence, think like a street corner hangout. A node is like a center for an
image of the city and present in any individual impression.

LANDMARKS: Close to the common notion of “landmark”, it is before anything, a

point of reference, but unlike a district, it is only external and cannot be entered, like a
physical object: sign, store, mountain, etc. They are often radial references because they
can be identified from many angles and distances, over smaller and less important
elements. They symbolize a constant space and direction.

There is also a more local approach to “landmarks” which are employed by a certain
image of the city, one that is very familiar with a very distinct area, divorced from the
public image of the city, think someone who can recognize where they are because of the
Empire State Building versus someone recognizing location by a certain neighborhood
deli. These encompass much smaller urban detail such as a certain tree, houses,
doorknobs, and more frequently become relied upon the more familiar a journey
becomes.