Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6114 in Books
• Published on: 1960-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 202 pages

Customer Reviews

Concepts of Urban Design
An extremely interesting book describing the way in which differing Urban Design principles have been associated to the development of urban settlements in America. Using case studies such as Boston and New Jersey, Lynch describes what is important to each areas image through the eyes of both the public and professionals. A core text for any Urban Design student!

This book is not about the visual culture of the city
This book is written from the point of view of the urban planner and the urban designer in the early 1960s America.

As a consequence, readers looking for scholarship about visual culture of the city, the visual representation of the urban environment or a theoretical approach on the matter will not be engrossed by Lynch's book.

One of the key concepts of the book is the concern for the legibility of the urban space.

The table of contents of the book makes the intention of the author rather crystal-clear.

I. The Image of the Environment, 1;
Legibility, 2;
Building the Image, 6;
Structure and Identity, 8;
Imageability, 9;

II. Three Cities, 14;
Boston, 16;
Jersey City, 25;
Los Angeles, 32;
Common Themes, 43;

III. The City Image and Its Elements, 46;
Paths, 49;
Edges, 62;
Districts, 66;
Nodes, 72;
Landmarks, 78;
Element Interrelations, 83;
The Shifting Image, 85;
Image Quality, 87;

IV. City Form, 91;
Designing the Paths, 95;
Design of Other Elements, 99;
Form Qualities, 105;
The Sense of the Whole, 108;
Metropolitan Form, 112;
The Process of Design, 115;

V. A New Scale, 118

Appendices
A. Some References to Orientation, 123;
Types of Reference Systems, 128;
Formation of the Image, 131;
The Role of Form, 133;
Disadvantages of Imageability, 138;

B. The Use of the Method, 140;
The Method as the Basis for Design, 155;
Directions for Future Research, 156;

C. Two Examples of Analysis, 160
Beacon Hill, 160;
Scollay Square, 173;

Bibliography, 182;

Index, 187