Navigating the City: Imageability, Strategy, Tactic

In response to Lynch reading:

The Kevin Lynch reading begins by introducing the idea of viewing the urban environment through the mental projection of the individual. What is being analyzed is the mental image of the city, which is constructed primarily through "immediate sensation" and "memories of past-experiences", within the physical environment. Lynch claims that the mental image of the city directly affects the well-being of the individual. If one is well-oriented with his surroundings, a sense of emotional security is established. 

The mental image is developed through both the observer and that which is being observed. Multiple images are created through multiple individual responses to one physical environment. A "public image" is generalized, or stereotypical, mental image of a group of similar people. The "public image" is primarily used throughout the reading as opposed to the "individual image."

The mental image of the environment is then subdivided into three categories: identity - observing a certain object as separate from others, structure - a type of spacial pattern between the objects, and meaning - the relevancy of the object to the observer. 

Some objects have a greater potential for human response than others because of what Lynch refers to as: imageability. A highly imageable city is considered through its "meaning or expressiveness, sensuous delight, rhythm, stimulus, and choice." 

In chapter 3, we understand the five basic elements that define the image of the city:

Paths - the routes that one makes through the city.

Edges - the boundaries, physical or metaphorical. A large brick wall or the guard rail of a bridge can be a physical edge just as a certain street can be an edge based on the lack of reason to ever cross it.

Districts - While, physically, may not be as distinctive as paths or edges, districts are sections of the city where similar groups of objects, business, or people are generally found.

Nodes - These are the places where one will spend time at, or the destinations which the paths connect.

Landmarks - Identifiable exterior objects.

A city consists of all 5 of these elements often over-lapping each other. To define a physical object as one of these elements would vary between each person. Most physical objects in the city are part of edges, districts, or landmarks, very few are nodes, yet each particular object is a node to somebody.

Finally, Lynch describes the structure of navigation. These structures are once again unique for each individual. Over time, the structure becomes more precise as one lives in the city and acquires more understanding and knowledge of it, along with memorable experiences. 

In Michel de Certeau's Walking in the City, he begins by addressing the difference between the concept of a city and the actual, physical city. The concept of a city approaches "the city" as if it were a stable, singular entity. The city has its own space to construct and deconstruct within. It has a system that is in place. Finally, it takes on its own proper name, "the city", as if it could be obtained or separated from its surroundings. 

Certeau also compares the act of the pedestrian walking within the city to the act of one speaking a language. The walking pedestrian is making use of the system that has already been created for the sole purpose of getting from "here to there." Similarly, when one speaks a language, there are grammatical rhetorical rules that one cannot avoid in bringing his ideas from "here to there." While one can break certain rules within rhetoric, it is still within the confines of the communication of ideas. Just as when one is walking in the city, rules can be broken. One can step off of the designated path set for pedestrians and go through an alley, walk through a parking lot, hop over a fence, etc. Although the rules are being broken, the actions are still set within the system created by urban planners.

In a Critical Inquiry essay, Lev Manovich used these ideas in relation to digital media. The creators of digital software create programs specifically for the purpose of user customization. While Facebook is made up of a strategic system (pictures go in this section, information goes in another section, etc.), it is up to the tactic of the user to fill "their" page with custom information, thus validating the programs existence.