Critical Analysis Essay - Urbanism

Critical Analysis Essay 1
CRITICAL ANALYSIS ESSAY
By (Name)
Course
Professor’s name
University name
City, State
Date of submission

Critical Analysis Essay 2
Introduction
Legibility is a concept presented by Kevin lynch as one of the foundations to his theory
on the public image of the city. Legibility refers to the ability of a person to read their
environment and easily find their location towards different addresses within the city.
Theories and concepts on better mapping of urban environment
In the process of navigation within a city, pedestrians depend on the environmental image which
is the mental picture formed by an individual[ CITATION Lan09 \l 1033 ].
Figure 1: Problems of urbanism in Boston image as described by Lynch source:
http://architectureandurbanism.blogspot.com/2014/01/kevin-lynch-image-of-city-1960.html
This image is drawn from both the pedestrian’s immediate context and their past-experiences
and is used to inform action within space. A thoughtful design environment improves the sense

Critical Analysis Essay 3
of security of a place and creates a harmonious relationship between the inhabitants and the
outside world[ CITATION Kev60 \l 1033 ]. An environmental image has three components:
1. Identity – quality of an object or location, which makes it unique
2. Structure – spatial relationships between the observer and the objects around them.
3. Meaning – emotional relationship between the observed and the observer
Figure 2: Different urbanism perspective source: https://www.slideshare.net/rajapukai/image-
of-the-city-kevin-lynch-case-study
Lynch found out that people use of five elements to construct their mental image of a
city[ CITATION Lan09 \l 1033 ]. These elements include:
1. Path – channels along which observer moves
2. Nodes– centers of activity within a city that may be entry and exit points from the city.