Kevin Andrew Lynch (January 7, 1918 – April 25, 1984) was an American
urban planner and author. He is known for his work on the perceptual form of urban environments and was an early proponent of
mental mapping. His most influential books include ''
The Image of the City'' (1960), a seminal work on the perceptual form of urban environments, and ''What Time is This Place?'' (1972), which theorizes how the physical environment captures and refigures temporal processes.
A student of architect
Frank Lloyd Wright before training in city planning, Lynch spent his academic career at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, teaching there from 1948 to 1978. He practiced
site planning
A site plan or a plot plan is a type of drawing used by architects, landscape architects, urban planners, and engineers which shows existing and proposed conditions for a given area, typically a parcel of land which is to be modified. Sites plan ...
and
urban design professionally with Carr/Lynch Associates, later known as Carr, Lynch, and Sandell.
Biography
Early life and education
Lynch was born as the youngest child of an Irish-American family on January 7, 1918. He was raised in the
Hazel Avenue neighborhood in Chicago's North Shore suburbs. After graduating from the
Francis Parker School in 1935, Lynch matriculated at
Yale University intending to study architecture. Finding its pedagogy too conservative, he left to study under
Frank Lloyd Wright at
Taliesin in
Spring Green
Spring green is a color that was traditionally considered to be on the yellow side of green, but in modern computer systems based on the RGB color model is halfway between cyan and green on the color wheel.
The modern spring green, when plott ...
, Wisconsin. Lynch later stated that
Wright
Wright is an occupational surname originating in England. The term 'Wright' comes from the circa 700 AD Old English word 'wryhta' or 'wyrhta', meaning worker or shaper of wood. Later it became any occupational worker (for example, a shipwright is ...
was a great influence, but disagreed with his individualistic social philosophy. Leaving
Wright
Wright is an occupational surname originating in England. The term 'Wright' comes from the circa 700 AD Old English word 'wryhta' or 'wyrhta', meaning worker or shaper of wood. Later it became any occupational worker (for example, a shipwright is ...
after a year and a half, he enrolled at
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...
in
Troy, New York to study engineering in 1939, but did not complete the program and went to work for Chicago architect
Paul Schweikher. In 1941, Lynch married Anne Borders, a fellow graduate of the
Parker School.
Three weeks after his wedding, Lynch was drafted into the
Army Corps of Engineers, serving in the siege of Peleliu, the
Philippines and Japan through January 1946. After the war, he completed his undergraduate education at
MIT and received a Bachelor's degree in
city planning in 1947.
Academic career
After graduation, Lynch began work in
Greensboro, North Carolina as an urban planner but was soon recruited to teach at
MIT by Lloyd Rodwin. He began lecturing at
MIT the following year, becoming an assistant professor in 1949, a tenured associate professor in 1955, and a full professor in 1963.
In 1954, after receiving a grant from the
Ford Foundation to study urban form in Italy, Lynch and his
MIT teaching colleague
György Kepes were awarded a grant from the
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...
to study perceptions of the urban environment and urban form.
[The Rockefeller Foundation grant was the first in a series of awards made during the 1950s and early 1960s to researchers studying urban design. Other recipients included Jane Jacobs, ]Ian McHarg
Ian L. McHarg (20 November 1920 – 5 March 2001) was a Scottish landscape architect and writer on regional planning using natural systems. McHarg was one of the most influential persons in the environmental movement who brought environmental co ...
and Edmund Bacon Edmund Bacon may refer to:
*Sir Edmund Bacon, 2nd Baronet, of Redgrave (c. 1570–1649), English MP for Eye and for Norfolk in 1593 and 1625
*Sir Edmund Bacon, 2nd Baronet, of Gillingham (c. 1660–1683), see Bacon baronets
*Sir Edmund Bacon, 4th B ...
. In 1958 Lynch wrote an essay ‘The theory of urban form’ with Lloyd Rodwin where the city is described through the complementary of two systems – flows and adapted spaces – interpreted starting from a group of descriptive categories of urban form. Lynch and
Kepes' research was published in 1960 as Lynch's book ''The Image of the City''. In 1970, Lynch received funding from
UNESCO to study the use of cities by young people in urban areas of
Salta
Salta () is the capital and largest city in the Argentine province of the same name. With a population of 618,375 according to the 2010 census, it is also the 7th most-populous city in Argentina. The city serves as the cultural and economic ce ...
,
Melbourne,
Toluca, and
Krakow, a project summarized in his book ''Growing Up in Cities'' (1977).
Lynch provided seminal contributions to the field of
City Planning through empirical research on how individuals perceive and navigate the urban landscape.
[ His books explore the presence of time and history in the urban environment, how urban environments affect children, and how to harness human perception of the physical form of cities and regions as the conceptual basis for good urban design.
Parallel to his academic work, Lynch practiced planning and urban design in partnership with Stephen Carr, with whom he founded Carr/Lynch Associates in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
]
Later life
Lynch became professor emeritus in 1978, but continued to write and practice architecture. He died of a heart attack at his summer home at Gay Head on Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, located south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes the s ...
on April 25, 1984.[
]
''The Image of the City''
Lynch's most famous work, '' The Image of the City'' (1960), is the result of a five-year study on how observers take in information of the city. Using three American cities as examples ( Boston, Jersey City
Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.[mental maps
Mental may refer to:
* of or relating to the mind
Films
* ''Mental'' (2012 film), an Australian comedy-drama
* ''Mental'' (2016 film), a Bangladeshi romantic-action movie
* ''Mental'', a 2008 documentary by Kazuhiro Soda
* ''Mental'', a 2014 O ...]
with five elements:
* ''paths'', the streets, sidewalks, trails, and other channels in which people travel;
* ''edges'', perceived boundaries such as walls, buildings, and shorelines;
* ''districts'', relatively large sections of the city distinguished by some identity or character;
* ''nodes'', focal points, intersections or loci;
* ''landmarks'', readily identifiable objects which serve as external reference points.
In the same book, Lynch also coined the words "imageability Imageability is a measure of how easily a physical object, word or environment will evoke a clear mental image in the mind of any person observing it. It is used in architecture and city planning, in psycholinguistics, and in automated computer visi ...
" and " wayfinding". ''Image of the City'' has had important and durable influence in the fields of urban planning and environmental psychology.
Personal life
Anne Borders Lynch and Kevin Lynch were married in 1941 and had four children. The Lynches were long-term residents of Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, located south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes the s ...
, where Anne continued spending her summers until her death in 2011.
See also
* Kevin Lynch Award
Bibliography
Books
*
* (2nd ed. 1971; 3rd ed. 1984)
*
*
* (2nd ed. 1980)
* (2nd ed. ''Good City Form'' 1984)
*
Selected articles
*
*
*
*
*
Book chapters
*
*
Edited volumes
*
Anthologies
*
Notes
References
References
Works Cited
*
External links
"Kevin Andrew Lynch, 1918-1984, Papers, 1934-1988."
at the MIT Institute Archives and Special Collections.
The Perceptual Form of the City
Materials from Kevin Lynch and György Kepes' Rockefeller-funded study of Boston, 1954–1959
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynch, Kevin
1918 births
1984 deaths
Environmental psychologists
Urban theorists
American architecture writers
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni
MIT School of Architecture and Planning alumni
MIT School of Architecture and Planning faculty
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American male writers
American male non-fiction writers
Francis W. Parker School (Chicago) alumni