Kevin Lynch's The Image Of The Environment

Over the years, the global environment has become more and more corrupt. In the book, The Image of the Environment (1960), author Kevin Lynch examines how observers take in information of the city. He uses Boston, Jersey City and Los Angeles as examples of this. Lynch disclosed that users understood their surroundings in consistent and predictable ways. They form mental maps with five elements such as, paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks. Many people are not aware of what is surrounding them. They do not see their environment as anything special or different. They just see it as something that is there, rather than something that was built for us. That we, humans, built for us. For example, Lynch states, “they are hardly aware of the potential value of harmonious surroundings, a world which they may have briefly glimpsed only as tourists or as escaped vacationers.” In other words, we are so accustomed to what we see every day such as, buildings, houses, signs and cars, that people do not stop to think why or how all of this is around us came about.
We have devices such as, maps, street numbers, and route signs to help us find our way around the city. Lynch explains the process of way-finding as “the strategic link is the environmental image, the generalized mental picture of the exterior physical world that is held by an individual.” This has to do with the immediate sensation and past experiences that one remembers, therefore it is easier to “interpret information and to guide action.” The ability to remember a certain place can tiger an emotional connection for that person towards that particular place. Lynch argues that “a clear image of the surroundings is thus a useful basis for individual