39 Kevin Lynch

of urban form and structure. A year’s

architectural study at Yale (1935-6) was
Biographical Details and followed by 18 months spent with the
Theoretical Context Fellowship of trainee architects run by
the veteran modern architect Frank
Lloyd Wright, and then by a move to the
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to study
Like many of America’s leading urban- structural engineering and then biology
ists, Kevin Andrew Lynch had close links (1939-40). After briefly being employed
with Chicago – the crucible of urban by a private architectural practice, he
studies – although his associations con- was drafted into the US Army Corps of
cerned his childhood rather than profes- Engineers for the duration of the Second
sional career. Born in 1918 as the third World War, returning to higher education
and youngest child of a family of Irish under a demobilisation scheme in 1946.
descent, he grew up in an ethnically- He earned a Bachelor of City Planning
mixed and modestly affluent area on the from the Massachusetts Institute of Tech-
city’s north side. Educated first by private nology (MIT) in 1947. This would prove
tutors and then at the neighbourhood to be his only degree, since he never
Catholic primary school, Kevin followed undertook postgraduate study.
his two brothers to Francis W. Parker – These repeated changes in direction
a secular high school with a progressive contrasted markedly with the trajectory
curriculum that encouraged students to of the remainder of his career. After a
think about the world around them. Sig- year spent employed as a town planner in
nificantly at a time of economic depres- Greensboro (North Carolina, US), Lynch
sion, this included thinking about social was invited to return to MIT in 1948 as
issues. In later life, he credited his school an instructor in town planning, largely on
experience as instrumental in interesting the strength of his undergraduate disser-
him in architecture and philosophy and in tation – an enthusiastic treatise on urban
stimulating his lifelong interest in human renewal with case-study material from
environments and social justice (Banerjee Cambridge, Massachusetts (Lynch, 1947).
and Southworth, 1990: 11). He worked his way up to full Professor by
By contrast, his higher education and 1963, remaining at MIT until retirement
professional training followed an uncer- in 1978. Subsequently devoting himself
tain path – albeit one that serendipitously to consultancy through the firm that he
allowed him to blend an architect’s three- founded with his colleague Stephen Carr
dimensional and visual design sensi- (Carr, Lynch and Associates), he never-
tivities with a planner’s understanding theless retained his research and teaching

Hubbard_Kitchin-4077-Ch-39.indd 292 15/06/2010 6:05:22 PM

 Kevin Lynch 293

links with MIT until his sudden death in guidelines for his research in future years.
July 1984. An ensuing textbook entitled Site Planning
This stability of employment at MIT (Lynch, 1962) developed the planning
perhaps contributed to the consistency implications of the perceptual analyses
shown in his approach to research, since offered by The Image of the City, with the
themes that he developed in his work dur- jointly-authored A View from the Road
ing the 1950s were continually revisited (Appleyard et al., 1964) considering the
throughout his career. For example, he had role played by road travel in constructing
pondered the question of how people nav- urban imagery. After a fallow period of
igated the streets of big cities as early as critical contemplation (Carr et al., 1984:
1952, when he linked this issue to broader 523), Lynch published a further sequence
questions of aesthetics in a seminar at MIT of four books. What Time is This Place?
(Lynch, 1984: 152). A year abroad funded (Lynch, 1972) reflected on the temporal
by a Ford Foundation grant and largely meaning of places within the city. Its
spent in Florence allowed him to develop strong support for the notion of conser-
a deep appreciation of the significance of vation tied in with his next volume, the
place within a city, to devise principles ambitious Managing the Sense of a Region
of notation through which to record his (Lynch, 1976). Here, Lynch addressed the
observations, and to reflect on the nature question of managing the sensory mean-
of urban form. This abiding fascination ing of the environment, considering:
with urban form (see also Lynch, 1954) ‘what one can see, how it feels underfoot,
led to a five-year research programme, the smell of the air, the sounds of bells
funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, and motorcycles, how patterns of these
which Lynch co-directed with Gyorgy sensations make up the quality of places,
Kepes, the founder and head of MIT’s and how that quality affects our imme-
Centre for Advanced Visual Studies. As diate well-being, our actions, and our
initiated in 1954, the aim was to undertake understandings’ (Lynch, 1976: 8). Grow-
an ‘investigation directed toward devel- ing up in Cities (Lynch, 1977) drew on a
opment of a theoretical concept of city participatory multinational programme
form … and to supply the fundamental funded by UNESCO to investigate chil-
criteria and techniques for conceiving, dren’s perceptions of the city. Finally, A
expressing and controlling our percep- Theory of Good City Form (Lynch, 1981)
tual environment’ (MIT, 2009: np). The considered the relationship between
emphasis inverted, however, as the project fundamental human values and the city,
matured. By 1958-9, it had become ‘an examining how such values should guide
investigation of the individual’s perception the performance dimensions necessary
of the urban landscape … the inhabitant’s for good spatial and physical design.
and the highway traveller’s image of the
city, and the use of the signs and symbols
in the cityscape’. The objective of this work
was ‘the development of new design possi-
bilities and principles for the city’ (ibid.). Spatial Contributions
The principal results of this programme
appeared in The Image of the City (Lynch,
1960), easily the most cited of his seven
books (Pearce and Fagence, 1996: 584) Broadly speaking, Lynch made four major
and the one that effectively laid down the contributions towards developing a more

Hubbard_Kitchin-4077-Ch-39.indd 293 15/06/2010 6:05:22 PM

 294 Key Thinkers on Space and Place

profound understanding of urban spa- and ‘nodes’ (strategic places where navi-
tial cognition. First, he provided insight gational decisions have to be made). The
into citizens’ differential knowledge of results suggested that urban space was
the urban environment and supplied perceived in terms of well-known clus-
an accessible methodology by which it ters of points linked together by clearly
might be studied. Lynch argued that spa- defined paths that traverse less familiar
tial knowledge centres on environmental areas. Perception of districts waned as
‘images’ – mental representations of the residents became more familiar with the
world that people develop through their city, presumably through gaining more
experience and which act as the basis detailed knowledge, whereas landmarks
for their behaviour. This concept, which assumed greater prominence with famili-
mirrored a similar idea developed earlier arity, seemingly because of their role in
by Kenneth Boulding (1956), was made navigation.
relevant to an urban context through the Lynch’s second contribution concerned
concept of ‘legibility’, or the ease with way-finding and the importance of the
which individuals can organise the vari- street in structuring urban experience.
ous ele­ments of urban form into coherent Juxtaposed against the prevailing ideology
‘images’. Lynch (1960) suggested that cit- that saw the significance of streets prima-
ies varied in the extent that they evoked rily in terms of how well they handled
a strong image – a quality that he called flows, Lynch argued that paths – which
‘imageability’ – arguing it was most likely primarily meant streets – were the main
that ‘imageable’ cities were ones that structural element in images of the city
could be apprehended as patterns of high and that the sensory experience gained
continuity with interconnected parts. In from travelling through urban space was
other words, if a city was ‘imageable’, it qualitatively important in image forma-
was also likely to be ‘legible’. tion. Lynch and Rivkin (1959) studied the
The Image of the City reported on how diverse and sometimes unexpected fea-
Lynch and his team tested this idea in three tures that subjects recalled after a walk
American cities: Boston, Los Angeles, and around a block in central Boston. As noted
Jersey City (New Jersey). In brief outline, above, The View from the Road (Appleyard
they interviewed small samples of pre- et al., 1964) extended the analysis to road
dominantly middle-class people in each travel, which was accomplished by stud-
city to investigate residents’ perceptions ying the conscious, aesthetic and largely
of the central city, using such techniques visual experience of motorists travelling
as sketch maps, verbal lists of distinctive along freeways into four American cities
features, directions for making specific (Boston, Hartford, New York and Phila-
trips in the city, and informal questions delphia). This was supplemented with a
about orientation. Findings for individual more detailed study carried out on seven-
respondents were aggregated and com- mile section of the Northeast Expressway
pared with visual surveys carried out by into Boston. The explanatory results sug-
trained observers. The assessments were gested that experience gained from car
made on the basis of a five-fold typology travel could shape urban imagery beyond
of urban elements, namely: ‘paths’ (chan- the realm currently in focus. For exam-
nels along which people moved through ple, the vista of the distant city skyline,
the city), ‘edges’ (boundaries), ‘districts’, the changing impressions of land and
‘landmarks’ (such as familiar stores, pub- water, and a series of notable landmarks
lic buildings, statues or physical features), all served to give clues about the nature

Hubbard_Kitchin-4077-Ch-39.indd 294 15/06/2010 6:05:22 PM

 Kevin Lynch 295

of Boston itself, which the individual place and the formation of community
could use to make inference. identity.
Thirdly, Lynch stressed the importance
of time in the meaning of place. In part,
this was a corrective to earlier emphases.
The 1950s research programme was con-
cerned with the identity and structure
of city images, which effectively sepa- Key Advances and
rated meaning from form. Yet he always Controversies
regarded ‘the image of the spatial envi-
ronment … as a scaffold to which we
attach meanings’ (Lynch, 1972: 241) – a
subject that he partly addressed through As an academic always seeking to be
his multifaceted research on the tempo- actively involved in practice, Lynch’s
ral dimension of the individual’s experi- work needs to be judged through a
ence of the city. Most notably, What Time dual lens. In terms of practice, he ranks
is This Place? (Lynch, 1972) maintained alongside Jane Jacobs, Mark Fried,
that people’s innate sense of time was a Ian Nairn and a handful of others who
vital part of the meaning allotted to place looked beyond the consensual Modern-
and an important ingredient in individual ist approaches guiding urban policy in
well-being. The feelings of attachment the years after the Second World War
and identity so engendered needed to be and resensitised our appreciation of the
respected both in policies for environ- intricacies of the urban mosaic. Although
mental change and when dealing with some have argued that the publication of
issues involving conservation. The Image of the City in 1960 was in tune
Finally, Lynch played an important with the increasing abstraction of the city
part in reassessing the value of neigh- by heralding ‘the transformation of the
bourhood life in children’s development. city into mere signs’ (e.g. Maki, 2009: 91),
One of his first articles dealt with the ele- Lynch’s work undoubtedly contributed
ments of the city’s physical environment to a new agenda that paid attention to the
that left the deepest impression, conclud- human scale. As such, it recognised the
ing that ‘knowledge of how people react realities of individual experience at a time
to their physical environment, and how when urban renewal policies threatened
they invest it with emotional qualities, is to brush such niceties aside in the Olym-
quite as important as knowing the techni- pian pursuit of bringing planned order
cal or economic or sociological resultants to perceived urban chaos. Yet, as Lynch
of a given form’ (Lukashok and Lynch, himself (1984: 159) later recognised, the
1956: 152). Two decades later, Growing impact of his original studies on policy
up in Cities (Lynch, 1977) reported on for city design was rather less than he
the ways in which small groups of ado- had hoped, which he self-deprecatingly
lescents from four countries (Argentina, argued was because ‘they have proved
Australia, Mexico and Poland) used and so difficult to apply’. Certainly, interest
valued the urban environment. In each in direct application of his techniques to
case, the evidence stressed the role of the practical planning issues proved at best
home neighbourhood as an anchor point short-lived.
in the child’s experience of the city, recog- By contrast his writings, and most
nising too the close relationship between notably his books, left a potent legacy for

Hubbard_Kitchin-4077-Ch-39.indd 295 15/06/2010 6:05:22 PM

 296 Key Thinkers on Space and Place

research in a variety of fields. A Theory findings in, inter alia, other cities of the
of Good City Form (Lynch, 1981), a book US, the Netherlands, Lebanon, the Fed-
which straddled the interstices of urban, eral Republic of Germany, Venezuela,
environmental and utopian discourse, has the UK, and Italy (e.g., Jonge, 1962;
retained an enduring appeal for researchers Gulick, 1963; Klein, 1967; Appleyard,
interested in the ideas of cities as expres- 1969; Goodey et al., 1971; Francescato
sions of core human values. The View from and Mebane, 1973; and Orleans, 1973).
the Road (Appleyard et al. 1964) with its His former colleague Donald Appleyard
focus on visual perception and highway (1976) applied Lynch’s ideas to the devel-
travel, was an early study of driving land- opment of a new town (Ciudad Guayana,
scapes (Merriman, 2007: 2) and among Venezuela) and gave credence – at least
the first of a ‘long-running … collection of in the minds of social science researchers –
ethnographies of the ‘road’ (Laurier et al., to the belief that cognitive-behavioural
2008: 3). For its part,Growing up in Cities research might provide direct input into
(Lynch, 1977) was the forerunner of fur- urban policy.
ther international collaborative projects These replications quickly suggested
on the development of children in cities extensions and the need for modification
(Malone, 1999), as well as contributing to (Gold, 1980: 97-106). Use of freehand
the fields of developmental psychology sketch-maps was criticised as possibly
and children’s geographies. indicating more about cartographic abili-
The influence of these writings, how- ties rather than about cognitive represen-
ever, is dwarfed by the lasting impact of tations of the city (Spencer, 1973). There
The Image of the City (Lynch, 1960), which, were criticisms of the emphasis upon
even after half a century, can still be vision as opposed to non-visual compo-
found firmly lodged in the bestseller lists nents of sensory experience (Southworth,
of books about the urban environment. 1969) and of the lack of attention to the
Its success came from a combination of functional and symbolic meanings of
innovative thinking, timeliness, acces- urban space (Steinitz, 1968). Research-
sibility and apparent policy relevance. ers attempting to use the five-fold typol-
Geographers in particular were looking ogy of spatial cognitive elements quickly
for new insights into the relationships realised that the classification system was
between spatial cognition and behav- often difficult to apply and had no specific
iour. In such circumstances, Lynch’s basis in psychological theory (Goodey
work offered an inclusive package that et al., 1971).
blended conceptual clarity (based on the In Lynch’s defence, answers can be
concepts of ‘legi­bility’ and ‘imageabil- offered for most of these criticisms. The
ity’) with ready-made methods of data original studies were avowedly tenta-
collection and analysis that apparently tive and invited extension or modifica-
revealed the cognitive (or mental) maps tion. There was no ready-made body
held by city residents. Not surprisingly, it of theory or methodology that could be
quickly became one of the mainstays of pressed into service for studies of urban
the cognitive-behavioural movement that spatial cognition. Psychologists, the most
flourished within geography in the 1960s likely sources of such insights, were then
and early 1970s, with the basic concepts strongly influenced by Skinnerian behav-
and methods soon adopted and replicated iourism and preferred strict laboratory
by others. Within 15 years, there were control to the vagaries of environmental set-
substantive studies consolidating his tings. Both the conceptual frameworks and

Hubbard_Kitchin-4077-Ch-39.indd 296 15/06/2010 6:05:22 PM

 Kevin Lynch 297

methods, therefore, were derived on an inspiration for researchers within plan-

ad hoc basis from a mixture of intuition, ning and architecture (e.g. Appleyard,
observation and applied commonsense – a 1978; Ellin, 1996: 34-6ff. Bridge and
potent amalgam that has maintained the Watson, 2002: 6), it has declined as an
appeal of Lynch’s approaches despite the active influence upon the research agenda
reservations expressed by researchers. of human geography. This stems primarily
Hence, while many recent citations of The from the close association between Lynch-
Image of the City are contextual and essen- inspired studies of urban imagery and
tially reflect the book’s special status as behavioural geography, which atrophied
the progenitor of an important discourse markedly from 1980 onwards (see entry
about urbanism, a substantial number of on Reg Golledge). Yet, notwithstanding
studies still employ the original research the changing directions and priorities
techniques or conceptual frameworks as of geographical research, it is important
an integral part of their research design even here not to underestimate Lynch’s
regardless of the existing weight of criti- pervasive contribution. Certainly, there is
cism (e.g., see Everitt et al., 2008; Huynh no denying the role that his work played
et al., 2008; Vertesi, 2008). in the recent past as a cornerstone of an
To some extent, these conclusions are impressive corpus of humanely-informed
tempered by recognition that the long- research or its continuing status as a
term legacy of Lynch’s writings varies genuine contribution towards building a
from discipline to discipline. For instance, deeper understanding of the experiential
while his oeuvre remains a source of qualities of urban space and place.

Lynch’s Key Works

Appleyard, D. Lynch, K. and Myer, J.R. (1964) The View from the Road. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Lynch, K. (1960) The Image of the City. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Lynch, K. (1962) Site Planning, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Lynch, K. (1972) What Time is This Place? Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Lynch, K. (1976) Managing the Sense of a Region. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Lynch, K. (ed.) (1977) Growing up in Cities: Studies of the Spatial Environment of Adolescence in Crakow, Melbourne, Mexico City,
Salta, Toluca and Warsaw. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Lynch, K. (1981) A Theory of Good City Form Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Secondary Sources and References

Appleyard, D. (1969) ‘City designers and the pluralistic city’, in L. Rodwin and Associates (eds), Planning, Urban Growth and
Regional Development: The Experience of the Guayana Programme of Venezuela. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. pp. 422–52.
Appleyard, D. (1976) Planning a Pluralist City: Conflicting realities in Ciudad Guayana. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Appleyard, D. (1978) ‘The major published works of Kevin Lynch: an appraisal’, Town Planning Review, 49: 551–7
Banerjee, T. and Southworth, M. (1990) ‘Kevin Lynch: his life and work’, in T. Banerjee and M. Southworth (eds), City Sense and
City Design: Writings and Projects of Kevin Lynch. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. pp. 1–29.
Boulding, K.E. (1956) The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Hubbard_Kitchin-4077-Ch-39.indd 297 15/06/2010 6:05:22 PM

 298 Key Thinkers on Space and Place

Bridge, G. and Watson, S. (2002) ‘Introduction: reading city imaginations’, in G. Bridge and S. Watson (eds) The Blackwell City
Reader. Oxford: Blackwell. Pp. 3–10.
Carr, S., Rodwin, L. and Hack, G. (1984) ‘Kevin Lynch: designing the image of the city’, American Planning Association Journal,
59: 523–5.
Ellin, N. (1996) Postmodern Urbanism. Oxford: Blackwell.
Everitt, J., Massam, B.H., Chávez-Dagostino, R.M., Sánchez, R.E. and Romo, E.A. (2008) ‘The imprints of tourism on Puerto
Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico’, Canadian Geographer, 52, 83–104.
Francescato, D, and Mebane, W. (1973) ‘How citizens view two great cities: Milan and Rome’ in R.M. Downs and D. Stea (eds),
Image and Environment. Chicago: Aldine. pp. 131–47.
Gold, J.R. (1980) An Introduction to Behavioural Geography. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Goodey, B., Duffett, A.W., Gold, J.R. and Spencer, D. (1971) ‘The city scene: an exploration into the image of central Birmingham
as seen by area residents’, Research Memorandum 10. Birmingham: Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, University of
Birmingham.
Gulick, J. (1963) ‘Images of an Arab city’, Journal of the American Institute of Planners, 29: 179–97.
Huynh, N., Hall, G.B., Doherty, S. and Smith, W. (2008) ‘Interpreting urban space through cognitive map sketching and sequence
analysis’, Canadian Geographer, 52: 222–40.
Jonge, D. de (1962) ‘Images of urban areas: their structure and psychological foundations’, Journal of the American Institute of
Planners, 28: 266–76.
Klein, H.J. (1967) ‘The delineation of the town centre in the image of its citizens: a report of methods and preliminary results of
a town-sociological study’, in Sociological Department, University of Amsterdam (eds), Urban Core and Inner City. Leiden:
E.J. Brill. pp. 286–306.
Laurier, E., Lorimer, H., Brown, B., Jones, O., Juhlin, O., Noble, A., Perry, M., Pica, D., Sormani, P., Strebel, I., Swan, L.,
Taylor, A.S., Watts, L. and Weilenmann, A. (2008) ‘Driving and “passengering”: notes on the ordinary organization of car travel’,
Mobilities, 3: 1–23.
Lukashok, A. and Lynch, K. (1956) ‘Some childhood memories of the city’, Journal of the American Institute of Planners, 22:
142–152
Lynch, K. (1947) ‘Controlling the flow of rebuilding and replanning in residential areas’, Unpublished Bachelor of City Plan-
ning thesis, Department of City and Regional Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, available at: hdl.handle.
net/1721.1/12525, Accessed 28 August 2009.
Lynch, K. (1954) ‘The form of cities’, Scientific American, 190 (4): 54–63.
Lynch, K. (1984) ‘Reconsidering The Image of the City’, in L. Rodwin and R. Hollister (eds), Cities of the Mind. New York: Plenum.
pp. 151–62.
Lynch, K. and Rivkin, M. (1959) ‘A walk around the block’, Landscape, 8: 24–34.
Maki, F. (2009) ‘Fragmentation and friction as urban threats in the post-1956 city’, in A. Krieger and W.S. Saunders (eds), Urban
Design. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. pp. 88–109.
Malone, K.E. (1999) ‘Growing up in cities as a model of participatory planning and “place-making” with young people’, Youth Studies
Australia, 18 (2): 17–23.
Merriman, P. (2007) Driving Spaces. Oxford: Blackwell.
MIT (Institute Archives and Special Collections, Massachusetts Institute of Technology) (2009) ‘Perceptual form of the city 1951–1960:
historical note’, libraries.mit.edu/archives/research/collections/collections-mc/mc208.html#toc Accessed 17 August 2009.
Orleans, P. (1973) ‘Differential cognition of urban residents: effects of social scale on mapping’ in R.M. Downs and D. Stea, (eds).
Image and Environment, Chicago: Aldine, pp 115–30.
Pearce, P.L. and Fagence, M. (1996) ‘The legacy of Kevin Lynch: research implications’, Annals of Tourism Research, 23:
576–98.
Southworth, M. (1969) ‘The sonic environment of cities’, Environment and Behaviour, 1: 49-70.
Spencer, D. (1973) ‘An evaluation of cognitive mapping in neighbourhood perception’, Research Memorandum 23. Birmingham:
Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, University of Birmingham.
Steinitz, C. (1968) ‘Meaning and the congruence of urban form and activity’, Journal of the American Institute of Planners,
34: 233–48.
Vertesi, J. (2008) ‘Mind the gap: the London Underground map and users’ representations of urban space’, Social Studies of
Science, 38: 7–33.

John R. Gold, Oxford Brookes University

Hubbard_Kitchin-4077-Ch-39.indd 298 15/06/2010 6:05:23 PM