Newcastle. ⢠Districts â quarters, neighbourhoods and other .... university, the cathedral, and the municipal offices â but it is also photogenic, as, in Lynch's terms, ...
lessons from lynch Kevin Lynch’s The Image of the City, published 50 years ago, has been influential among urban planners, but today place-marketers can also learn a lot from Lynch’s study, says Gert-Jan Hospers
Above Dublin’s Temple Bar – an example of a Lynch ‘district’ with distinctive character that sticks well in people’s minds
For many urban planners The Image of the City,1 written in 1960 by the American planning theorist Kevin Lynch, evokes feelings of nostalgia. It is a book that most will know from introductory planning courses, and, indeed, Lynch’s empirical study on how people perceive the urban landscape has become a classic in the field of urban planning. However, the fate of classic books is that they are often referred to, but seldom read. But half a century after its publication, The Image of the City is still worth revisiting. In recent times cities have heavily invested in place-marketing in an attempt to attract and keep visitors, inhabitants, students and employers. In this respect, although not written with that intention, Lynch’s book offers
today’s city authorities relevant insights on placemarketing. This article briefly reviews key features of the book and demonstrates its contemporary value, illustrated by case studies from two European cities: Helsinki (Finland) and Enschede (the Netherlands). The city’s ‘imageability’ The question Lynch dealt with in The Image of the City was simple: what comes to people’s minds when they are asked about their home cities? For this purpose he interviewed 30 people in Boston, and 15 people each in Los Angeles and Jersey City, asking them to describe the distinctive elements of their city, comment on some pictures, and Town & Country Planning December 2010
553
accompany him on a walking tour in the inner city. In addition he asked the interviewees to sketch a map of their city. Lynch found that the three US cities strongly differed in their ‘imageability’ – the ease with which parts of a city make a strong mental impression on people, or, as Lynch put it (on p. 9), ‘that quality in a physical object which gives it a high probability of evoking a strong image in any given observer ’. From his explorations Lynch concluded that individuals perceive a city predominantly as a built image. The mental maps of the people he interviewed were made up of five distinct elements in the built environment: paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks: ● Paths – the streets, rail tracks, trails and other channels along which people move. Examples include Berlin’s Kurfürstendamm, the Ramblas in Barcelona, and the tram track in Bordeaux. ● Edges – clear transition zones and linear boundaries, for example between water and the city. Here, one may think of Hamburg’s HafenCity, the boulevard in Nice, and the Quayside in Newcastle. ● Districts – quarters, neighbourhoods and other subsections of the city with a distinctive character, such as London’s Soho, Temple Bar in Dublin, and Quartier Latin in Paris. ● Nodes – strategic meeting points, such as city squares, junctions or train stations. Examples include the Dam in Amsterdam, Rome’s Stazione Termini, and the Plaza Mayor in Madrid. ● Landmarks – physical objects that serve as general public reference points. Copenhagen’s Øresund Bridge, Zeche Zollverein in Essen, and the Acropolis in Athens are good examples. Interestingly, these findings are not limited to the three cities explored; they have been confirmed by researchers who replicated Lynch’s study in other American and European cities.2
Above The Hundertwasserhaus – one of Vienna’s major landmarks
554
Town & Country Planning December 2010
In practice, these five elements in the built environment overlap, while their recognisability varies from person to person. Elderly people, for example, usually have a clearer image of their home city than children have. But together the five carriers of the urban image are said to influence the ease with which people know and remember a city in general – that is true not only for residents, but also for visitors. Lynch and his followers found that because of their differing ‘imageability’ some cities stick in people’s minds more than others. Lynch hoped that city authorities would pay more attention to image quality and urban design. In reality, public officials used his work as a way to map the layout of their city, while researchers copied Lynch’s empirical design to study the image of other cities. Over the years, The Image of the City has been criticised. To start with, the focus on inhabitants’ mental maps can itself be questioned. In general, residents will have a clearer image of their city than non-residents. The book also tends to overemphasise the visual and material structure of the city. For example, studies have shown that cities are not only ‘landscapes’, but also ‘sensescapes’: people’s mental maps turn out also to be formed by the smells and sounds of a place.3 Moreover, in his Good City Form (1984), Lynch himself suggested that the mental maps of people are not formed simply by their ‘sense of place’. He recognised the importance of a ‘sense of occasion’, related to the contribution of periodical festivals, events and other temporary activities to a city’s image. Examples include the Oktoberfest in Munich, the Biennale of Venice, and Copenhagen’s Fashion Week. Finally, Lynch did not take into account the major role of the media (television and film – and, since his death in 1984, the internet) in reproducing images of a city in people’s minds. Lessons for place-marketing Today, cities are more than ever concerned with their identity, image and brand value. City authorities have come to realise that in the competition for inhabitants, companies, students and visitors it is not enough to invest in infrastructure, cultural facilities and other amenities. A poor image of a place can devalue its attractiveness and thus its local economic performance in the long run. Consequently many authorities have started rethinking what their city has to offer (its identity), how their city is perceived (its image), and how differences between the two can be overcome. What is the image of the city? And what is so valuable about the city that residents want to stay and outsiders want to come? This gives the city its ‘brand value’. Place-marketing is about showing that
value by means of investments in the city, attraction programmes, and communicative instruments. However, place-marketing itself often has a poor image: it should involve much more than the campaigns and slogans highlighted in colloquial usage (such as ‘Glasgow: Scotland with Style’, ‘Creative Sheffield’, ‘and ‘Be Berlin’). If it is true, as Lynch argued, that five visual elements in the built environment affect our perception of cities, then municipalities should take more advantage of that in the development of their place-marketing strategies. They should be more concerned about the possible ‘imageability’ of their city, and so might ask different questions. For instance, to what extent does the city already stick in people’s minds? What distinctive carriers in the built environment does the city have – if any? What edges or landmarks do tourists photograph or can be put on a postcard or a website? Vienna has its Hundertwasserhaus, London has Big Ben, and Antwerp its harbour. But for outsiders it is less clear what the dominant image carriers of, say, Oslo, Southampton and Toulouse are.
‘Although written for another audience and in another period, The Image of the City offers some useful insights for place-marketers’ Lynch suggests how important it is to think in terms of readily identifiable objects in the urban landscape. The job of marketing a city will be harder if it does not have such scenic features. Brussels is an example of a city that lacks clear highlights that can be marketed to tell the city’s story as ‘the European village’. For example, when asked for spontaneous associations with the Belgian capital, respondents mention the little statue Manneken Pis 20 times more than the headquarters of the European Commission or the Expo 1958 monument, the Atomium.4 At the same time, the image of some large cities (for example Copenhagen and Barcelona) has been blurred following over-investment in iconic buildings. Cities are smart when they explore whether the narrative they want to communicate can be visually symbolised in one or a limited number of places. From this perspective, investments in public art, shorelines, squares and other eye-catching locations have both intrinsic and communicative value. In turn, the stronger imageability that results from these investments improves the image of the city for outsiders – and thus contributes to increasing its economic prospects.
Cases studies – Helsinki and Enschede As examples, the Lynchian framework can be used to explore the place-marketing opportunities of two cities: the Finnish capital of Helsinki, and the old industrial city of Enschede in the Netherlands. Traditionally, Helsinki has marketed itself as the visiting card of Finland. Over the years, citymarketers have emphasised beautiful nature, welfare state values, and advanced high-technology – and through this the story of Finland rather than just of Helsinki. The images used in brochures and
Above The Senate Square in Helsinki – a widely used image, but not one that reflects the city’s narrative of being a ‘hot-spot’ of modern design
websites also stress the position of Helsinki as a capital city: more than half of the pictures depict the Senate Square, which is seen as a strong symbol for both Helsinki and the nation.5 Senate Square certainly hosts Finland’s most important public institutions – the national government, the university, the cathedral, and the municipal offices – but it is also photogenic, as, in Lynch’s terms, it is a ‘node’ that hosts some distinct ‘landmarks’. However, the imageability of Helsinki is not limited to the Senate Square. The Eteläsatama harbour, around which the city centre is built, is a scenic ‘edge’ where land and water meet. More importantly, Helsinki is an architectural ‘hot-spot’, boasting many architectural ‘landmarks’, although they are spread throughout the city. Examples include the Finlandia Hall and Academic bookstore, designed by Aalto, the Stockman department store, by Frosterus, and the main railway station, by Saarinen. Last but not least, Helsinki has accomplished much in modern design. The city has a strong ‘Design District’, hosts well-known design companies like Nokia, Kone and Marimekko and events such as the Helsinki Design week, and has links with famous designers, such as Saarinen and Town & Country Planning December 2010
555
Left The neighbourhood of Roombeek in Enschede attracts a lot of attention thanks to its distinctive architecture
Aalto. In 2009 the city was even designated World Design Capital 2012. Thus the city’s marketers could easily select new pictures for Helsinki’s brochures – the city has far more icons than just the Senate Square. The old industrial city of Enschede in the east of the Netherlands (population of around 155,000 inhabitants) has had a rather poor image. Traditionally, the Dutch associated this former textiles city with adjectives such as ‘boring’ and ‘industrial’. City-marketing had largely failed to improve this perception, but in recent years Enschede has been developing a more modern image. Ironically, this change is rooted in a fireworks disaster that killed 21 people in May 2000. The neighbourhood of Roombeek that was devastated in the catastrophe has been rebuilt in a revolutionary way. Planning and participation methods in the vein of urban thinker Jane Jacobs have been used, and have helped to make Roombeek one of the carriers of Enschede’s new image. The ‘district’ – in Lynch’s terms – has attracted many visitors and much media attention. In 2007 the municipality even won an award for its innovative restructuring approach. But Enschede has more ‘imageability’ than the Roombeek district. The new Van Heek Plein, a redeveloped market square that functions as a ‘node’, has also helped to improve Enschede’s image. The city government hopes that the Nationaal Muziekkwartier, a recently opened music theatre, will grow into a famous ‘landmark’. Interestingly, however, the most distinctive image carrier of Enschede is overlooked in the debate on how the city’s story can be communicated to the outside world – namely Enschede’s ‘edge’, the clear transition zone between the city and the green nature that surrounds it. Recent studies show that in no Dutch city of similar size can people reach the countryside as quickly as in Enschede.6 This suggests that it might be useful to map a city in terms of Lynch’s framework and ensure that the elements making up the place image are fully exploited for the purposes of place-marketing. 556
Town & Country Planning December 2010
New ideas from an old book The Image of the City was intended as a book for urban planners. However, half a century later it is also a good read for today’s place-marketers. Lynch’s empirical study on how people perceive a city in terms of paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks offers useful starting points for modern place-marketing. Cities could make more use of these ‘image carriers’ in visualising their brand value. They can simply do the ‘picture postcard test’ and ask themselves: what built objects in the city are distinctive, and how can they be used to tell the urban narrative? Thus a city can not only ‘prove’ its brand, but also improve its image and its attractiveness to the outside world. Gert-Jan Hospers is Professor of City and Regional Marketing at the Radboud University Nijmegen and teaches economic geography at the University of Twente, in the Netherlands. The views expressed here are personal.
●
Notes 1 K. Lynch: The Image of the City. MIT Press, 1960 2 T. Banerjee and M. Southworth (Eds.): City Sense and City Design: Writing and Projects of Kevin Lynch. MIT Press, 1990 3 C. Landry: The Art of City Making. Earthscan, 2006 4 See S. Anholt: ‘Editorial: place branding: is it marketing, or isn’t it?’. Place Branding & Public Diplomacy, 2008, Vol. 4 (1), 1-6, in which Anholt reports on the brand value of Brussels 5 A. Vanolo: ‘Internationalization in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area: images, discourses and metaphors’. European Planning Studies, 2008, Vol. 16 (2), 229-52 6 See several editions of the Atlas voor Gemeenten (for example 2006 and 2008), an annual comparative study mapping the most important facts and figures of 31 Dutch municipalities
