Technological Institute of the Philippines

Quezon City
Architecture & Drafting Technology Department

AR413A PLANNING 2
ASSIGNMENT #3
THE IMAGE OF THE CITY
by KEVIN LYNCH

Submitted by:
Coronado, Nerinel M.
AR41FA1
Submitted to:
Arch. Lawrence Dolores II
Instructor
Submitted on:
June 26, 2014 (Thursday)

Significance of the Study:

Kevin Andrew Lynch an American urban planner and author. His most influential
book include The Image of the City. In this book I've learned so many principles and
theories about urban design and planning. The main concept developed in this book is
that the structure of a city exists not only in physical reality but also in the minds of its
inhabitants. The study made me think that the fact that planners/architects should focus
on structure and identity, and work toward enhancing the imageability of the city, which
is the ease in which one can recognize the patterns and meanings of their environment,
the more pleasure and utility they will extract from it and therefore helping citizens orient
themselves within it.

In the book Kevin Lynch had broken down into five categories the interconnected
design elements : paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks. First, paths which are
considered the bloodlines/veins of the city, I learned that they should have well-defined
origins and destinations as well as landmarks along the way. Second, Edges they
should provide a spatially well-defined formation to elements of the city. Third,
Districts they are large areas that have enough identity to be named. Forth, Nodes are
locations that require extra attention from the observer. And lastly, landmark it is
anything that stands out that can help an observer orient himself. The network of
relationships between these basic components builds the framework for the mental
model of a city.
Lynchs five components differentiate the physical environment both in terms of
space and function. Therefore, they will be clear to someone experiencing them, as well
as appropriate for a meaningful symbolic formation of the city. I hope someday I can
experience to plan for a city and apply the principles of Kevin Lynch for the greater good
of the citizens and of the city.

References:

Urban planning for dummies by Jordan Yin

http://discoveringurbanism.blogspot.com/
http://urbanwaterfront.blogspot.com/2011/02/image-of-city.html