The Contributions of Kevin Lynch
University of Louisville
Site Planning, 3rd Edition
Kevin Lynch and Gary Hack, MIT Press,
Cambndge, MA, 1984 (3d ed.). 499 pp
$5.95
Good City Form
Kevin Lynch, MIT Press, Cambndge, MA,
1984 528 pp $10 95
According to the Introduction of the third
edition, Site Planning is an
introduction to the art of site planning,
an exposition of its principles, and a
condensed technical reference ...
meant for students and practicing
professionals . and for those who
enjoy the urban landscape, or who are
concerned with the social issues it
generates . At the urging of its users,
it has been completely reorganized and
rewritten to follow the normal sequence
of professional work (p. vi).
Site Plannmg has been called a &dquo;classic&dquo;,
that it is. This edition keeps the classic
relevant.
A marked care and devotion to detail is
what has made and still makes Slate
Planning so valuable. It is not a text or
reference that will become dusty on the
shelf. Is there some technical aspect of
site planning that you might have
forgotten? Perhaps - how wide sidewalks
normally are, or the engineenng
characteristics of soil, or cut to fill ratios,
or maximum grade of a highway, or what
trees grow best in the southern United
States, or, or, or. All this information is
found in the text and abstracted in
Appendix L. There are 11 other
appendices with extremely useful
data as well
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Hamid Shirvani
In the main body of the text, Lynch and
Hack challenge us to absorb background
material. They warn, &dquo;No one should
engage m site design who does not have a
passion for the land&dquo; (p. 30). What is site
planning? Lynch and Hack redefine this
process.
Site planning is the art of arranging
structures on the land and shaping the
spaces m between, an art linked to
architecture, engineering, landscape
architecture, and city planning (p. 11.
Site planning is the organization of the
external physical environment to
accommodate human behavior (p 12).
The best site plans are a unique
response to the land and the program
(p. 13)
To have an effect beyond that of an
influential intellectual model, the
process of site planning must follow a
strategy it must organize the analysis,
programming, design, and implementa-
tion so that ideas and decisions are
meshed (p 369).
The authors emphasize the &dquo;habitability&dquo;
of a site and urge that site planners explore
all means of this planning and the
consequences before action.&dquo; What is the
leastI can do to achieve my immediate
aims?&dquo; is the question planners should ask
themselves. Why do Lynch and Hack try
to inspire their readers? They find:
Most site planning in our country is
shallow, careless and ugly, reflecting
lack of skill and the stubborn structural
problems of our society, political,
..
economic and institutional.. The first
step - the most difficult and most
bungled step - is to ask what the
problem is (p 2)
So from the beginning, the authors stress
professionality They decry designers who
&dquo;simply speak for their own values - an
aggravated error&dquo; (p 2) They remind us
that the planner’s may be the only voice
raised in behalf of the unseen users.
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AsI read Site Planning and made notes for
this review, time and time again Jotted
down a sentence worth recalling After all,
Lynch and Hack are giving us the benefit
of their years of experience, their years of
devotion to the best aspects of site
planning, and their joy in their work
If different types of soil are intimately
mixed, assume the characteristics of
the worst (p 38)
Programming and design are never
completely separate activities, nor
should they be (p 107).
Revelations on design go by the inch
and the foot, rarely by the mile (p. 127)
Don’t elevate modular design from a
design convenience to a design principle
(p 131)
Most people are better at recognizing
problems than they are at imagining
ideal solutions, a problem focus is
less risky than utopian dreaming (p
135)
When you read Site Planning, you’ll make
your own list of nuggets, pleasantries,
even guffaws Yes, the authors have a
sense of humor!
There is a bibliography of classic
references in the field and some more
recent and valuable additions. Lynch’s
well-known sketches appear in the
margins to illustrate a point Site Planning,
should be on the desk of all who are
devoted to livable cities

It would be interesting to know precisely
why MIT Press and Kevin Lynch dropped
The Theory of from the title when they
issued the paperback edition and called it
Good City Form I wonder if they didn’t feel
that this volume expounds on a good deal
more than the theory of good city form
Review of Good City Form at the same
time as a review of Site Planning is most
appropriate Put the two volumes in the
hands of those with responsibilities for the
management of city environment, and
they will have the tools for their task
MIT Press describes Good City Form as
&dquo;both a summation of his vision in image
of the City, a high point from which he
views cities past and present&dquo; Lynch tells
us where we are going.
&dquo;What makes a good city&dquo; might be a
meaningless question .. This essay
addresses that naive question, with all
the qualifications, strategems, and
doubts that will soon be apparent .
The purpose of this essay is to make a
general statement about the good
settlement, one relevant and responsive
to any human context, and which
connects general values to specific
actions (p 11.
,
Lynch seeks a connection between human Yet Lynch knows that these speculative
values and city form and finds the existing ideas will require much more thought To ,
theories on good city form wanting in the end he warns us
achieving this linkage He does not simply We must look at the performance of real ,
dismiss other approaches without places for the people who live there
explanation, and he acknowledges their There is much to be done, which is a ,
better aspects. For example, the organic blessing A useful, intellectual engaging
theory contributed the holistic view of city theory of city form is quite possible I
form. However, he leads us to his (pp 323-324)
presentation of his position today and I
admits his biases He proposes his own Though these very different books, one
are
normative theory. on theory and another on practice, they
I
Since decisions about the form of cities share certam valuable characteristics’
affect many people, they must at least good organization, a lightness of touch, ’
appear to be explicit and rational and an acknowledgement of the
Public decisions should be rational m contributions of many persons to the ideas
I
fact (p 107) presented Both volumes have lengthy
appendices filled mth essential ’
It seems appropriateemphasize the
to information relevant to the text but wisely
aims in between, that is, those goals placed at the end so as not to detract from ’
which are as general as possible, and or dilute the message Lynch is not an
thus do not dictate particular physical idealist when discussing theory nor a
I
solutions, and yet whose achievement plodding site planner when presenting the
can be detected and explicitly linked to mynad of details he and Hack want us to
’
physical environment. a foundation apply on the job.
on which to build a general normative
’
theory about cities (p 108) Lynch has left an indelible mark on efforts
to create livable cities
The use of &dquo;human settlement&dquo; is ,
indicative of Lynch’s human approach to
good city form. He never forgets the
humans who must live and work m the
city His five performance criteria and two
meta-criteria reflect that devotion Vitality,
Sense, Fit, Access, Control, and Efficiency
and Justice
He seizes the opportunity to expand on
these seven principles. &dquo;We want
definable elements rather than defined
ones, complex connections, regions to be
explored, and some freedom to
camouflage&dquo; (p 143). The applicability of
these principles to all societies makes
known their universality, but Lynch
speculates on the differences that might
occur with &dquo;fundamental differences&dquo; in
&dquo;the level of resources available, the
homogeneity of values, the degree to
which the power is concentrated, and the
&dquo;
relative stability of society and setting&dquo;
(pp 232-233). He leaves us with some
specific proposals to chew on.
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