Legibility
is a term used to describe the
ease with which people can understand the layout of a place. By
making questionnaire surveys, Lynch defined a method of analyzing legibility
based on five elements: paths, edges, districts, nodes and landmarks.
He defined these as follows:
Paths: familiar
routes followed- (1st Kordon) "are the channels along which the observer customarily,
occasionally, or potentially moves. They may be streets, walkways, transit
lines, canals, railroads .."These
are the major and minor routes of circulation that people use to move
out. A city has a network of major routes and a neighborhood network of
minor routes.
Districts- areas with perceived internal
homogeneity(Kemeralti District) "are medium-to-large sections
of the city, conceived of as having two-dimensional extent, which the
observer mentally enters ‘inside of,’ and which are recognizable as having
some common identifying character" A city is composed of component
neighborhoods or districts; (its center, midtown, its in-town residential
areas, organized industrial areas, trainyards, suburbs, college campuses
etc.) Sometime they are districts in form and extent- like Kemeralti District.
Edges- dividing
lines between districts- (Izmir Bay) "are the linear elements not
used or considered as paths by the observer. They are boundaries between
two phases, linear breaks in continuity: shores, railroad cuts, edges of
development, walls ... " The
termination of a district is its edge. Some districts have no edges at all
but gradually taper off (gittikçe incelen) and blend into (karismak) another
district. When two districts are joined at one edge they form a seam. (dikis
yeri)
Landmarks- point of reference- (Clock Tower,
Hilton) "are another type of point-reference, but in this case
the observer does not enter within them, they are external. They are usually
a rather simply defined physical object: building, sign, store, or mountain".
The prominent visual features of the city are its landmarks. Some landmarks
are very large and seen at great distances, like Hilton Hotel in Alsancak.
Some landmarks are very small (e.g. a tree within an urban square) and
can only be seen close up, like a street clock at Konak Plaza, or Atatürk
Statue on Cumhuriyet Square. Landmarks are an important element of urban
form because they help people to orient themselves in the city and help
identify an area.
Nodes- centres of attraction that you can enter<-
(Konak Square) "are points, the strategic spots in a city into which
an observer can enter, and which are intensive foci to and from which he
is traveling. They may be primary junctions, places of a break in transportation,
a crossing or convergence of paths, moments of shift from one structure
to another. Or the nodes may be simply concentrations, which gain their
importance from being the condensation of some use or physical character,
as a street-corner hangout or an enclosed square ... "
A node is a center of activity. Actually it is a type of landmark but
is distinguished from a landmark by virtue of its active function. Where
a landmark is a distinct visual object, a node is a distinct hub (göbek)
of activity.
Having
identified these elements Lynch describes the skeletal elements of city
form. To build a broader vocabulary upon this basic framework we must
consider other natural and man-made urban form determinants.
