Unit 3

UNIT III – CITIES AND URBANISM THROUGH TEXTS AND
THEORIES- 10
Introduction to and discussion of key texts and theories of cities and

urbanism…
1. Imageability and Lynch

2. Townscape and Cullen
3. Genius Loci and Schulz
4. Historic city and Rossi
5. Social aspects of urbanism and the works of Jane Jacobs
6. William Whyte
7. Jan Gehl
8. Collage City and Colin Rowe
Current theories and texts.
UNIT III - CITIES & URBANISM, TEXTS &

THEORIES - Ar. SHEEBA J.
IMAGEABILITY & LYNCH
WATCH:
https://youtu.be/yM7QYvyvCuc
https://youtu.be/9oPCGKXQahk UNIT III - CITIES & URBANISM, TEXTS &

LYNCH’S CITY DESIGN THEORY
1. Path – penetrable circulation pattern (street, pedestrian walkway, railroad, transit

line, or river)
2. Edge – solid or penetrable linear break in continuity between two distinct
elements (shoreline, line of buildings against a park, or wall)
3. District – penetrable two-dimensional area having similar characteristics
identifiable as a whole (neighborhood)
4. Node – penetrable strategic center (intersections of paths, intersections of
different modes of transportation, plaza, public square, or a center of district)
5. Landmark – solid or penetrable point of reference (tower, monument, building, or
natural feature)

TOWNSCAPE & CULLEN
WATCH:
https://youtu.be/sJQMnjBCnrk
"People tend to sit most where there are
places to sit"
"What attracts people most, it would

appear, is other people"
W H Whyte - The Social Life of Small

Urban Spaces

https://youtu.be/Bq7dvJbkGUY
Watch: https://vimeo.com/54006451 https://youtu.be/Bq7dvJbkGUY
GENIUS LOCI &
CHRISTIAN NORBERG SCHULZ
Christian Norberg-Schulz
(23 May 1926 – 28 March 2000) was a
Norwegian architect, author,
educator and architectural theorist.
Norberg-Schulz was part of
the Modernist Movement in architecture
and associated with architectural
phenomenology.
Phenomenology is the study of structures of consciousness as experienced from the first-person

point of view.
Phenomenology in architecture can be understood as a discursive and realist attempt to
understand and embody the philosophical insights of phenomenology.
Architectural phenomenology, with its emphasis on human experience, background, intention
and historical reflection, interpretation and poetic and ethical considerations stood in sharp
contrast to the anti-historicism of postwar modernism and the pastiche of postmodernism. It
was never a movement proper because it did not have an immediate aesthetic associated with
it, thus is should be understood as more of an orientation to thinking and making
Towards a Phenomenology of
Architecture: Norberg-Schulz
Phil 314
Philosophy and the City

some terminology
• Dwelling: gaining an existential foothold (5)
• Genius loci: the spirit of the place (5),
• Place: the concrete manifestation of human’s
dwelling
• Concretize: to make the general “visible” as a
concrete, local situation
• Cultural landscape: “an environment where man
has found his meaningful place within the totality.”
(40)

3 steps towards a phenomenology
of place
1. Distinguish between natural (landscape) and
human-made phenomena (settlement) (p. 10)
2. Categories of earth/sky, outside/inside
3. Character: “the basic mode in which the world

is ‘given’” (p. 14)

Possible relationships between natural and
human-made places: gathering
1. Visualize: building demonstrates human
understanding of nature by replicating what is
seen in nature
2. Complement: building adds what is perceived to
be lacking in nature
3. Symbolize: building demonstrates human
understanding of nature and self by translating
that understanding onto built form (Genius Loci,
p. 17)

Genius Loci
• Socio-economic factors are not the most important
in shaping genius loci: “The existential meanings
have deeper roots. They are determined by the
structure of our being-in-the-world.” (6)
• “if the settlements are organically related to their
environment, it implies that they serve as foci
where the environment is condensed and
‘explained.’” (10)
• Protecting and conserving the genius loci means
interpreting it in ever new ways (18)
Cultural Landscapes
“Through the interaction of surface relief, vegetation
and water, characteristic totalities or places are
formed which constitute the basic elements of
landscapes.” (37)
3 archetypes:
• Romantic
• Cosmic
• Classical

Romantic Landscapes
• Original forces strongly

felt
• Rugged with lots of
places
• Dwelling an interaction
between humans and
earth
e.g., Norwegian farm

Cosmic Landscape
• Earth doesn’t provide
foothold
• No individual places
structured
• Sky is structured by the sun
rather than the earth
• Genius loci a manifestation
of absolute
e.g., Ulurul (Australia)

Classical Landscape
• Intelligible composition
of distinct elements
• Meaningful order
• Human scale
• Dwelling by placing as
equal partners—
humans and nature
e.g.,Tuscany

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iCOQr34Mdg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsXtdkdids8

WATCH:
https://vimeo.com/54006451

LIFE BETWEEN BUILDINGS & JAN GEHL
‘Life Between Buildings’ asks the fundamental question “What
has happened to life in cities?”. It persistently investigates why
life has disappeared from the cities, and it provides solutions
on how to invite life back. If we want to create liveable spaces
we need to prioritize people, the human senses, and the human
scale by planning cities in eye level.
"Something happens because WATCH: Life between buildings

something happens because
something happens" https://vimeo.com/151880387
Jan Gehl - Life Between Buildings

https://youtu.be/Cgw9oHDfJ4k

Every time you put any brick down anywhere, you manipulate the quality of life
of people. (...) If you just make form, it's sculpture. But it becomes architecture if
the interaction between form and life is successful.
– Jan Gehl.

COLLAGE CITY & COLIN ROWE
Colin Rowe (27 March 1920 – 5 November 1999),
was a British-born, American-naturalised architectural
historian, critic, theoretician, and teacher; he is
acknowledged to have been a major theoretical and
critical influence, in the second half of the twentieth
century, on world architecture and urbanism.
WATCH:
https://youtu.be/PY24EPURyHw
https://youtu.be/P3RAo3Sd4Jg UNIT III - CITIES & URBANISM, TEXTS &

UNIT-III COMPLETED


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UNIT III – CITIES AND URBANISM THROUGH TEXTS AND

Introduction to and discussion of key texts and theories of cities and

1. Imageability and Lynch

Current theories and texts.

UNIT III - CITIES & URBANISM, TEXTS &

https://youtu.be/9oPCGKXQahk UNIT III - CITIES & URBANISM, TEXTS &

1. Path – penetrable circulation pattern (street, pedestrian walkway, railroad, transit

UNIT III - CITIES & URBANISM, TEXTS &

"What attracts people most, it would

W H Whyte - The Social Life of Small

UNIT III - CITIES & URBANISM, TEXTS &

Phenomenology is the study of structures of consciousness as experienced from the first-person

UNIT III - CITIES & URBANISM, TEXTS &

UNIT III - CITIES & URBANISM, TEXTS &

2. Categories of earth/sky, outside/inside

3. Character: “the basic mode in which the world

UNIT III - CITIES & URBANISM, TEXTS &

UNIT III - CITIES & URBANISM, TEXTS &

UNIT III - CITIES & URBANISM, TEXTS &

• Original forces strongly

UNIT III - CITIES & URBANISM, TEXTS &

UNIT III - CITIES & URBANISM, TEXTS &

UNIT III - CITIES & URBANISM, TEXTS &

UNIT III - CITIES & URBANISM, TEXTS &

UNIT III - CITIES & URBANISM, TEXTS &

"Something happens because WATCH: Life between buildings

Jan Gehl - Life Between Buildings

UNIT III - CITIES & URBANISM, TEXTS &

UNIT III - CITIES & URBANISM, TEXTS &

https://youtu.be/P3RAo3Sd4Jg UNIT III - CITIES & URBANISM, TEXTS &

UNIT III - CITIES & URBANISM, TEXTS &

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