Lynch in his work “The image of the city” divided his speech into five sections, the image of the environment, the three cities, the city and its elements , the shape of the city and A new scale. “The image of the environment” lays the foundation for Lynch's urban design theory through discussion of legibility, image construction, structure and identity and imageability the urban forms of Boston, Jersey City, and Los Angeles and identify common themes that they share. Say No to Plagiarism Get a Tailored Essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned" Get an Original Essay First explored how they are affected the characteristics of an urban space and. how people tend to orient themselves and associate with the space through mental maps made up of five elements: (1) routes: paths along which people move through the city (2) edges: boundaries and interruptions in continuity (3) districts: areas characterized by common characteristics; (4) nodes: strategic focal points for orientation such as squares and intersections; and (5) landmarks: external orientation points, usually a physical object easily identifiable in the urban landscape connecting how people orient themselves in the three cities mentioned above. A central concept in this book is that of readability (also called imageability and visibility). Legibility means the extent to which the urban landscape can be “read”. People moving around the city are committed to finding their way. Lynch proposes that these mental maps can then be perceived as stable or constantly changing, which is the most obvious effect of external factors influencing any environment. The search focused on Boston, Jersey City and Los Angeles. As explained, the method undertaken focused on two phases, consisting first of on-site interviews, where the sample citizens were also asked to draw up a map to carry out a quick description of the city. The second phase consisted of a systematic examination of the environmental image evoked by trained observers in the field. It is interesting to realize how the entire interview and field approach was aimed at discovering the social experience of a city, which not only outlines how an urban system works but also how it is perceived by people. This approach reveals a particular compatibility with the nascent experimental psychology of the 1960s, aimed at building methods and theories based on people's actions and reactions. In my opinion this book is an incredibly valuable work for understanding how people perceive, live and move. in the urban landscape. It shows that urban space is not only composed of its physical characteristics but also of representations in mental images. Mobility is not only (the potential for) free-flowing movement, but is highly dependent on structuring and identifying the environment with the help of mental maps. So it is important to consider the opinion of different sectors of society and not just one particular sector which, in my opinion, was one of the disadvantages. Furthermore, Lynch's emphasis on the clear legibility of the urban environment raises some critical questions about the current trend to saturate the urban landscape with information. What happens to the overall legibility of the city when every building, object and place wants to communicate and announce its existence, for example the time square where each advertising display dominates the other leading to tasks and therefore places tend to lose their legibility . Another issue raised by Lynch's work is the eternal question of (the end of) serendipity, so often discussed in relation to mobile media and.