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A review by stashasucks
The Image of the City by Kevin Lynch
Did not finish book. Stopped at 67%.
DNF
The book puts many ideas that we take for granted and undefined, such as that what a city consists of and how all elements intertwines. It offers a different, more technical yet personal analysis of the city™. However, not being from the US, relating to the book and comments about the urbanism of the mentioned North American cities was hard, and although not wrong, the additional examples of how certain elements work better in cities with a more classical history, with mentions of some in Italy, felt generally too simplified. To be fair, the book is described as based on certain parts of a couple cities in the States, so it isn't false advertisement.
I would definitely reccomend it to North Americans that lack the experience of living in a city made for the people, not cars and corporations, and of course those interested in urbanism, as it is a classic of the literature regarding the profession.
The book puts many ideas that we take for granted and undefined, such as that what a city consists of and how all elements intertwines. It offers a different, more technical yet personal analysis of the city™. However, not being from the US, relating to the book and comments about the urbanism of the mentioned North American cities was hard, and although not wrong, the additional examples of how certain elements work better in cities with a more classical history, with mentions of some in Italy, felt generally too simplified. To be fair, the book is described as based on certain parts of a couple cities in the States, so it isn't false advertisement.
I would definitely reccomend it to North Americans that lack the experience of living in a city made for the people, not cars and corporations, and of course those interested in urbanism, as it is a classic of the literature regarding the profession.