What the
theory taught me
Six ideas I keep returning to, each a lens for reading a place before drawing a line on it. Open any one to read the full review.
Kevin Lynch · Legibility
The Image of the City
How people build a mental map of a place from paths, edges, districts, nodes and landmarks. A landscape is remembered before it is admired.
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Responsive Environments · Access
Permeability
The number of ways through a place, and how visible they are, quietly decides how freely people move and choose.
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Living systems · Remediation
Phyto-remediation
Letting plants do the cleaning: species that draw contaminants out of soil and water. Green infrastructure as a working system, not decoration.
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Public life · Social value
Community Spaces
The social life a well-made public space carries, and the conditions that let people gather, linger and return.
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Site reading · Analysis
Aerial Photography
How aerial imagery reveals grain, drainage and pattern that ground survey misses, and grounds analysis before any concept begins.
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Resource planning · Method
Process & Methods in Resource Planning
Assessing and managing natural and cultural resources across a region so that development and conservation can share one plan.
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