Book Review Urban Design Process and Imagetic

BOOK SUMMARY
i) The Concise Townscape by Gordon Cullen, 1961

ii) Image of The City by Kevin Lynch, 1960
iii) Urban Design Process by Hamid Shirvani, 1985
Prepared by: Siti Noratiqah Suhaimi

2009973505
The Concise Townscape by Gordon Cullen

Gordon Cullen defined the meaning of certain terminologies he had been
observed during his study around New Delhi, India in 1959. He clearly explained the
term serial vision. Its created through the path we used to go to some places. It is to
manipulate the elements of the town so that an impact on the emotions could be
achieved. It is also mean by the changing views as a person walks along a street, under
an archway, or through a group of buildings. It shows how the townscape unfolds as one
walks and how new buildings and vistas appear in a series of revelations.
Besides serial vision, he also explained about place, which was described as in a
world of black and white, the roads are for movement and the buildings for social and
business purposes. Apparently, Cullen tried to explain that the roads and the buildings
are connected to let some activities to be done. The third term Cullen had been
described in this book is content. The content concerned with the intrinsic quality of
the various subdivisions of the environment, and start with the great landscape
categories of metropolis, town, arcadia, park, industrial, arable and the wild nature.
Besides these three terms, focal point is about the idea of the town as a place of
assembly, meeting and was taken for granted throughout the whole of human
civilization up to the twentieth century. Then there is closure, which may be
differentiated from enclosure, closure is the cutting up of linear town system such as
streets and passages into visually digestible amounts whilst retaining the sense of
progression while enclosure on the other hand, provides a complete private world
which is inward looking, static and yet self-sufficient. The street lighting also was
mentioned by Cullen as it impossible to disassociate the modern public lighting
installation on towns and the design fittings. So, it was concerned that they have
intrinsic design and putting together of things designed. Lastly is the outdoor
publicity, the one contribution to modern townscape which was almost entirely
ignored by the town planner is. This is the most characteristic, most valuable,
contribution of the twentieth century to urban scenery because at night it has created a
new landscape of a kind of never seen in history.
Image of The City by Kevin Lynch

In this book, he described his five year study on Boston, Los Angeles and Jersey
City as his case studies and revealed which elements in the built structure of a city are
important in the popular perception of the city. He also argued that people in urban
situations orient themselves by means of mental maps by comparing those three cities
and looked at how people orient themselves in these cities. He explained the
imageability as a visual perception to recognize and organize the surrounding
environment and also give the understanding of these visual forms in perceiving the city
as whole. A central notion in this book is that of legibility which means the extent to
which the cityscape can be read.
Lynch proposed that these mental maps consist of five elements:
Paths, routes along which people move throughout the city. Examples are streets,
walkways, transit lines, canals, railroads and even bicycle lanes. Fortunately, the
continuity depends on width, gradient and also activity.
Edges, boundaries and breaks in continuity also can be said as dividing lines between
districts which stated through these lines, which are the linear elements not used or
considered as paths by the observer. Examples of edges are shores, railroad cuts, edges
of development, walls and anything that act as barrier.
Districts are the areas characterized by common characteristics or in other words,
areas which perceived internal homogeneity. They are medium-to-large sections of the
city, conceived of as having two-dimensional extent. Lynch, in simplest term states that
districts as areas:
..structured with nodes, defined by edges penetrated by paths, and sprinkled with
landmarks
(K, Lynch. 1960. p49)
Nodes, strategic focus points for orientation or center of attraction that you can enter
like squares and junctions or taxi stops. They are are points, the strategic spots in a city
to which an observer can enter. 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.
Landmarks, external points of orientation or point of reference, usually an easily
identifiable physical object in the urban landscape. Example: building, sign, store, or
mountain.
As a conclusion, all of the elements mentioned above are crucial towards a
successful town and urban planning.
The Urban Design Process by Hamid Shirvani

According to Shirvani. Domain design of cities covers the spaces between
buildings, space created for the publics and relating it to the quality of the physical
environment. Moreover, Shirvani also established eight physical elements in the design
of cities, such as:
Land use, which is a key element of designing cities and act as the basis of a twodimensional plan, which would then formed the three-dimensional space. He suggests a
planning function as a mixture ( mix use) so there will be activities 24 hours a day and
improve urban infrastructure.
Building form and massing, relating to the physical form of certain buildings such as
provision for building height, building solidity, demarcation line, the closure of land or
the building envelope, style of architecture, scale, materials and also the colour of the
building.
Circulation and parking, the ideal criteria of the circulation to be established are roads
should be positive visual open space element. It also should be the orientation to driver
and to make the environment legible to be occupied. Plus, public and private sectors
should combine in partnership to achieve goals. In terms of parking, construction
should be accompanied by regulation mandating establishment of parking and the
ground level of parking garage can be set aside for retailing in order to continue activity
at the street level.
Open space, include all the elements of landscape such as roads, sidewalks and
recreational spaces in urban areas. It also include the trees, benches, planters, fountains,
lightings and sculptures.
Pedestrian ways, as a means for pedestrians and as a means of supporting activities for
informal activities such as street vendors which could lighten the whole city activities.
Activity support, including all of the usage and activities held in the open spaces of the
city.
Signage, signs, billboards and others which act as a visual element that is an invaluable
tool for the user community oriented in urban spaces. It is very necessary to create
harmony through a balance between public interest and private. Not excessive visual
impact, while reducing clutter and competition with traffic signs.
Preservation includes the protection of places or existing city assets, in addition to the
historic buildings.

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BOOK SUMMARY

i) The Concise Townscape by Gordon Cullen, 1961

Prepared by: Siti Noratiqah Suhaimi

The Concise Townscape by Gordon Cullen

Image of The City by Kevin Lynch

The Urban Design Process by Hamid Shirvani

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