 In Lynch’s view, image can be explained as “a picture especially in the mind”, a sentimental

combination between objective city image and subjective human thoughts. The productions
of environment images are influenced by a two-way process between the observer and the
observed.
 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.
 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.
 Kevin Lynch found that there are five basic elements which people use to construct their
mental image of a city:

Pathways

Districts

Edges

Landmarks

Nodes.

 Paths are the channels along which the observer moves. They may be streets, walkways,
transit lines, canals, railroads.
 Edges are the linear elements not used as paths by the observer. They are the boundaries
and linear breaks in continuity: shores, railroad cuts, edges of development, walls.
 Districts are the medium-to-large sections of the city which the observer mentally enters
"inside of," and which are recognizable as having some common, identifying character.
 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 primarily junctions or
concentrations.
 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 simply defined physical object:
building, sign, store, or mountain.
