**6. Urban image and components**

The imageability and urban readability (Kevin Lynch) are concepts proposed by Kevin Lynch, which refers to the degree of decipherability of the urban landscape at the level of each individual. Every city has an urban image; like any image, as presented in Lynch's sense, it must be readable, decipherable. A well-thought out and the well-planned city is easy to read, meaning it is legible. Readability is a result of urban design and urban space organization. A readable city provides us with emotional security, while an unreadable city awakens feelings of fear and insecurity. The imageability would be the quality of a city to stimulate the perception of a viewer and to cause strong mental images; more precisely, it refers to the feeling that a city manages to generate (e.g., good places/bad places). Images can generate different perceptions, which means that each of us relates differently to space. A good urban space is a space where people find it meaningful to spend time and experience something. Related to the urban image mechanism [18], there are three connection systems (see **Figure 2**).


#### **6.1 Integration and the specific in urban image**

Formal integration as a cohesive element in spatial differentiation proves to be a certainty in that, in such situations, the space formalized during a long topical selection is nothing more than the sum of the qualities of the component elements taken apart and, at the same time, that it always carries a meaning (civic, esthetic, ethical, etc.), and so it is itself functional. Considered thus, within the limits of its possibilities of affirmation, the association between new and old can no longer start from the (pseudo) idea of principle comparability, in fact envisaging a state

**19**

**Figure 2.**

*City Phenomenon between Urban Structure and Composition*

without comparability relations (because they cannot exist when everything is "at kind"), but from the idea of the natural coexistence of different elements in a state that, without being tired, requires us intensely in defining comparability relationships. By increasing combinatorial solutions, so does the diversity of urban spaces; the spatial differentiation evolves unitary, discovering, restoring, or completing the particular features of the different urban spaces and, at the same time, confirming or perfecting each time their unitary character. The particular value of urban space thus constitutes its qualitative determination, its individuality, incorporating the general—a reflection of the essence—into its own form that can be expressed and

*– Can a differentiation of concept be made between the character and specificity?*

is linked to the quality of the urban space; besides the effect, it is particularly interested in the cause, the means of realization—on which we act, not to forget, a directly objective determination through functionality and possibilities of realization, adaptation to an existing material that causes both the inventiveness, as well as the capacity to assimilate the previous experience and the time as a wrapper and space as a place of the limited selection that tends toward an increasingly complex urban space formation. It should be added here that, in defining the urban space, we do not always have to deal with a single (in the sense of capacity) creative personality, which intervenes more than in art—taken in general—tradition and behavioral habit as a reflection of the requirements of the major. In these conditions, the particular value of the urban space is a result of the interference in the context of the functional generality and the significant forms of some participations of the nature of a restricted generality, conferring character, and of participations of the singular nature, conferring specificity. For the San Marco ensemble and the whole of Venice, the Campanile is an element that gives the ensemble and the urban body, respectively specificity. However, it is unique, and it is precisely through this unique presence that he completes a summit of specificity in a framework that otherwise cannot be accused of being non-specific, and yet, when collapsed, it was restored by the commune's effort, not the functional considerations dictated in this operation, but the subjective significant ones, to which the specificity is in principle related. The central area of Bologna, on the other hand, is specific through the succession of

It is necessary to recognize the differentiation, because, diverse art, in general,

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90443*

can be appreciated by character and specificity.

*Image of urban space in the connection system.*

*City Phenomenon between Urban Structure and Composition DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90443*

*Sustainability in Urban Planning and Design*

mall or a public space.

and stability?

of public space?

and sometimes competent users [20].

**6. Urban image and components**

connection systems (see **Figure 2**).

• The reference space system

• The reflected space system

• The physical space system (reality)

**6.1 Integration and the specific in urban image**

from elsewhere, who go elsewhere. Meetings, in contemporary cities, are temporary and replaced by events. The markets become spaces of the grocery store; the culprits are not to be together; they can wait for their friends to hang out at the

• Why should public spaces be considered permanent, in the context of housing

• Can we link to these new concepts of space and living with the original notion

Some of the writers whose lawyer and a treatise on this discipline are Gordon Cullen, Jane Jacobs, Christopher Alexander, William H. Whyte, Kevin Lynch, Aldo Rossi, Robert Venturi, Colin Rowe, Peter Calthorpe and Jan Gehl. Public spaces are frequently subject to the overlapping responsibilities of multiple agencies or authorities and interests of nearby owners, as well as the requirements of multiple

The imageability and urban readability (Kevin Lynch) are concepts proposed by Kevin Lynch, which refers to the degree of decipherability of the urban landscape at the level of each individual. Every city has an urban image; like any image, as presented in Lynch's sense, it must be readable, decipherable. A well-thought out and the well-planned city is easy to read, meaning it is legible. Readability is a result of urban design and urban space organization. A readable city provides us with emotional security, while an unreadable city awakens feelings of fear and insecurity. The imageability would be the quality of a city to stimulate the perception of a viewer and to cause strong mental images; more precisely, it refers to the feeling that a city manages to generate (e.g., good places/bad places). Images can generate different perceptions, which means that each of us relates differently to space. A good urban space is a space where people find it meaningful to spend time and experience something. Related to the urban image mechanism [18], there are three

Formal integration as a cohesive element in spatial differentiation proves to be a certainty in that, in such situations, the space formalized during a long topical selection is nothing more than the sum of the qualities of the component elements taken apart and, at the same time, that it always carries a meaning (civic, esthetic, ethical, etc.), and so it is itself functional. Considered thus, within the limits of its possibilities of affirmation, the association between new and old can no longer start from the (pseudo) idea of principle comparability, in fact envisaging a state

• Could it become temporary, flexible, mobile, remaining public?

**18**

**Figure 2.** *Image of urban space in the connection system.*

without comparability relations (because they cannot exist when everything is "at kind"), but from the idea of the natural coexistence of different elements in a state that, without being tired, requires us intensely in defining comparability relationships. By increasing combinatorial solutions, so does the diversity of urban spaces; the spatial differentiation evolves unitary, discovering, restoring, or completing the particular features of the different urban spaces and, at the same time, confirming or perfecting each time their unitary character. The particular value of urban space thus constitutes its qualitative determination, its individuality, incorporating the general—a reflection of the essence—into its own form that can be expressed and can be appreciated by character and specificity.

### *– Can a differentiation of concept be made between the character and specificity?*

It is necessary to recognize the differentiation, because, diverse art, in general, is linked to the quality of the urban space; besides the effect, it is particularly interested in the cause, the means of realization—on which we act, not to forget, a directly objective determination through functionality and possibilities of realization, adaptation to an existing material that causes both the inventiveness, as well as the capacity to assimilate the previous experience and the time as a wrapper and space as a place of the limited selection that tends toward an increasingly complex urban space formation. It should be added here that, in defining the urban space, we do not always have to deal with a single (in the sense of capacity) creative personality, which intervenes more than in art—taken in general—tradition and behavioral habit as a reflection of the requirements of the major. In these conditions, the particular value of the urban space is a result of the interference in the context of the functional generality and the significant forms of some participations of the nature of a restricted generality, conferring character, and of participations of the singular nature, conferring specificity. For the San Marco ensemble and the whole of Venice, the Campanile is an element that gives the ensemble and the urban body, respectively specificity. However, it is unique, and it is precisely through this unique presence that he completes a summit of specificity in a framework that otherwise cannot be accused of being non-specific, and yet, when collapsed, it was restored by the commune's effort, not the functional considerations dictated in this operation, but the subjective significant ones, to which the specificity is in principle related. The central area of Bologna, on the other hand, is specific through the succession of

porches along the streets, from the ground floor of the buildings. This is a common element of a multitude of constructions, and it confers specificity precisely through this repetition. Moreover, in one case, and in the other, the specificity elements, unique or common and repeatable, prove for the respective assemblies an efficient common factor (**Figure 3**).

The urban image makes architectural objects to take high values by reading of the urban composition by the harmony between Human being, all site elements, site functions and urban or site framework, which determines urban spaces, configuration, and structure. One of the major problems facing us is how to establish and

**Figure 3.** *San Marco ensemble.*

#### **Figure 4.**

*Urban image and site components.*

**21**

structure is ensured (**Figure 6**).

**7.1 The human being and objectives in urban space**

The city is a relatively numerous, dense, and permanent settlement of heteroge-

neous individuals from a social point of view. It differs from the rural world by:

*City Phenomenon between Urban Structure and Composition*

maintain environments that support human health and at the same time are ecologically sustainable. Green areas seem too important to people. Most people today believe that the green world is beautiful [21]. Green areas are essential for people, where most people believe that it represents a high value in the city configuration

Urban design search for the human experience which contributes to building

Between the elements of the site and the image reader position a relationship that takes time to be significant and increase the quality of the image which is seen at a given time-space—isotopic—unitary, continuous and—heterotopic diversified space, differentiated but not necessarily discontinuous or lack of unity. A utopian image can be isotopic or heterotopic when something "fabulous, fantastic" is cre-

The urban image represents an essential element in the organization of the space

and triggers in new, unexpected resorts regarding the appreciation of the urban reality. It represents also a vital element in the conformation of the public space process within the theoretical and practical analysis (therefore, also fundamental and applied research) of the concept of urban image and its role in the organization of the urban space. The theoretical dimension of the concept consists in its analysis, both in individual (interpretive) value and in the context of the current principles of thinking that have marked the dynamics of urban geography as a science, realizing an entire framework and conceptual context for deepening the urban image [23]. By identifying the typical typologies of the urban image, it can determine their viability and also possibilities of individualizing and customizing them, in order to define strategies to be followed and to establish the specific priorities and attitudes to find the appropriate ways to ensure the natural development, without constraints and contradictions, of the city. The characteristics determined by the precise relations between buildings or plots, courtyards, gardens, streets, and markets define urban pieces' type: grouping of series of buildings and the relationship between buildings and the private or public un-built space. The specific perspectives, their depth, are also characteristic elements that generated the urban space at a given time and which write it down as a consecrated type, with permanence urban value and it represents a good premise for its personalization, for the creation of a new urban identity, either in conformity with the existing one or by replacing it according to the functional approach. Homogeneous parts of urban tissue form a morphological point of view; the sectors have specific compositions of parcels or buildings in identifiable relationships with each other or with the land on which they arise. The analysis of the urban sectors facilitates the appreciation of the elements of physicalspatial identification characteristic of a city, coherent from the urban and architectural point of view, which can become a reference and highlighting elements. This procedure allows the detection of attitudes necessary and possible to be taken means the organization of urban development, the elements of continuity as well as the polarizing ones of the urban image are determined, the coherence of the city

environment within private properties or public areas (**Figure 5**).

ated (e.g., night lighting accentuates or deletes specific characteristics).

**7. Urban image and structural composition and characteristics**

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90443*

(**Figure 4**) [22].

**Figure 5.** *Urban image and site components in a special case.*

#### *City Phenomenon between Urban Structure and Composition DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90443*

*Sustainability in Urban Planning and Design*

common factor (**Figure 3**).

porches along the streets, from the ground floor of the buildings. This is a common element of a multitude of constructions, and it confers specificity precisely through this repetition. Moreover, in one case, and in the other, the specificity elements, unique or common and repeatable, prove for the respective assemblies an efficient

The urban image makes architectural objects to take high values by reading of the urban composition by the harmony between Human being, all site elements, site functions and urban or site framework, which determines urban spaces, configuration, and structure. One of the major problems facing us is how to establish and

**20**

**Figure 5.**

**Figure 4.**

**Figure 3.**

*San Marco ensemble.*

*Urban image and site components.*

*Urban image and site components in a special case.*

maintain environments that support human health and at the same time are ecologically sustainable. Green areas seem too important to people. Most people today believe that the green world is beautiful [21]. Green areas are essential for people, where most people believe that it represents a high value in the city configuration (**Figure 4**) [22].

Urban design search for the human experience which contributes to building environment within private properties or public areas (**Figure 5**).

Between the elements of the site and the image reader position a relationship that takes time to be significant and increase the quality of the image which is seen at a given time-space—isotopic—unitary, continuous and—heterotopic diversified space, differentiated but not necessarily discontinuous or lack of unity. A utopian image can be isotopic or heterotopic when something "fabulous, fantastic" is created (e.g., night lighting accentuates or deletes specific characteristics).
