When Lynch returned from World War II he found a crisis in the American city: there was a great shortage of housing due to the deterioration that occurred during the time of the Great Depression. The abundance of neighborhoods in critical condition produced a city that had little to do with the ideals of a modern and emerging country, victorious in the Second World War.

The reformers:

At this time urban planning in the United States had its roots in the traditions of Burnham, Howard, and Olmstead. According to this paradigm, the city can be designed to produce order and the well-being of its inhabitants. As Banerjee and Southworth say, in the eyes of reforming anti-urbanists, “a good, beautiful city was believed to reflect – indeed, determine – a good society.” As a result, there was a line of thinking that suggested that social problems had their roots in the city and that the only solution was to make a new and different city.

Modern architecture:

As in other places in the world, modern architects (CIAM) had a strong influence on the city. As already mentioned, the postwar North American metropolis faced a major housing shortage problem. With the use of new materials such as reinforced concrete and the elimination of unnecessary details, modern architecture offered a solution to this. The result favored the effectiveness of the reconstruction and the production of new homes with a greater number of apartments and a minimum investment. In short, while European cities destroyed by war were rebuilt according to their traditional schemes, the search for modernity in the United States allowed the execution of some of the most theoretical concepts of modern architecture (Laurence, 145-155).

A reaction:

Since the 1950s, it began to be recognized that there was a lack of knowledge about the city, which caused some planning catastrophes. Many critics took as their starting point the modern architecture projects that were built in the 1940s and 1950s. A consequence of this recognition was the creation of the Rockefeller Foundation, which was not only going to support Lynch, but also many of the city's great thinkers between 1955 and 1965. In ten years the foundation subsidized the famous Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs and several works carried out by Edmund Bacon. and Christopher Alexander, among others.

Towards a new paradigm:

The Rockefeller Foundation paradigm can be characterized as the belief that “the new models of urbanism were fundamentally anti-city, at odds with the multi-layered and multi-modal character of the city” (Laurence, 158-9) and, therefore, there was a need to develop a better understanding of the modern city. In Kevin Lynch and George Kepes the foundation found two people who personified this paradigm. They were given the Foundation's first scholarship in 1954.

Lynch's academic work can be divided into three main stages that generally correspond to a temporal and thematic progression. In the first stage, Lynch focused his research on the common user's experience of space and place. The second stage consists of applying the results of these investigations to various situations and an attempt to perfect them. Ultimately, Lynch attempted to form a coherent vision of the "good city," using his experience from the previous decades.

The investigations:

From 1954, when he received the Rockefeller scholarship, until the mid-1960s, Lynch embarked on various investigations that attempted to describe and understand the city, developing Urban Design as a new discipline. He was fascinated with the built city, the experience of the city, and the interaction between physical space and its use. In this era we can include The Form of Cities (1954), The Pattern of the Metropolis (1961), A Theory of Urban Form (1958) and The City As Environment (1965). However, undoubtedly his most famous publication during this time was The Image of the City (1960).

In this book, Lynch examined three different cities (Boston, Jersey City, and Los Angeles) and, using surveys, interviews, mind maps, and observation, studied the way the average citizen imagined their city. The book defined five critical elements:

1. Path – the channels through which the observer moves.

2. Borders – borders between two places.

3. Districts/neighborhoods – sections of the city that have two-dimensional aspects and a common character.

4. Nodes – points in the city that are the focus of traffic.

5. Landmarks – objects that can be seen from various angles and distances.

From a paradigmatic perspective, the result of this work was to crystallize the idea that the image of the city can vary significantly between observers. Furthermore, Lynch stated that this image can be studied and that designers of urban space can use these images to improve cities.

Applications:

In his second stage, Lynch applied the results of these investigations to various situations. We can include at this stage books such as Site Planning (1962), The View from the Road (1964) and Growing Up in Cities (1977), among others. In The View from the Road, Lynch applied what he learned from his car traffic experience when he wrote The Image of the City. On the other hand, Growing Up in Cities represented a deepening of his previous research with a multicultural study of the way in which children perceived the quality of their environment.

A coherent vision:

The last stage was characterized by an attempt to develop a coherent vision of what a good city is. This can include Where Learning Happens (1968), The Possible City (1968), Grounds for Utopia (1975) and, of course, Good City Form (1981). In all Lynch attempted to define the specific requirements of good city form, proposing what the goals of urban design should be.

His idea had nothing to do with the ostentatiousness and determination that has characterized previous paradigms. Instead, it focused on the experiential quality of place, with the role of meaning in design. Furthermore, he emphasized that design is not only the location of what is built, but also the study of human values ​​and rights (Banerjee and Southworth, 6-7). In the end, Lynch asked some fundamental questions: Is the city good for everyone? How do we know if we have reached the ideal environment? How can planning help answer these questions? (Birch, 197).

From his studies at Yale until his death in 1984, Lynch showed an ability to challenge the status quo. His various publications pushed his readers to develop knowledge about the city based on the common experience of daily factors. He contributed greatly to changing the paradigm of his time. In this way, the discipline was given a push, towards a more human discipline, refocusing it on the experience of the place.

At the time, Lynch was criticized for trying to develop a “science of design,” as a “recipe” for designers and replacing convention with automatic solutions. Other criticisms of his work focused on his view having too superficial aspects, which denied the importance of the quality of space, emotions, and sense of place (Zmudzinska-Nowak, 22). However, there is no doubt that Lynch contributed to some of the most important texts in the academic body of urban planning and design.

When Lynch returned from World War II he found a crisis in the American city: there was a great shortage of housing due to the deterioration that occurred during the time of the Great Depression. The abundance of neighborhoods in critical condition produced a city that had little to do with the ideals of a modern and emerging country, victorious in the Second World War.

The reformers:

At this time urban planning in the United States had its roots in the traditions of Burnham, Howard, and Olmstead. According to this paradigm, the city can be designed to produce order and the well-being of its inhabitants. As Banerjee and Southworth say, in the eyes of reforming anti-urbanists, “a good, beautiful city was believed to reflect – indeed, determine – a good society.” As a result, there was a line of thinking that suggested that social problems had their roots in the city and that the only solution was to make a new and different city.

Modern architecture:

As in other places in the world, modern architects (CIAM) had a strong influence on the city. As already mentioned, the postwar North American metropolis faced a major housing shortage problem. With the use of new materials such as reinforced concrete and the elimination of unnecessary details, modern architecture offered a solution to this. The result favored the effectiveness of the reconstruction and the production of new homes with a greater number of apartments and a minimum investment. In short, while European cities destroyed by war were rebuilt according to their traditional schemes, the search for modernity in the United States allowed the execution of some of the most theoretical concepts of modern architecture (Laurence, 145-155).

A reaction:

Since the 1950s, it began to be recognized that there was a lack of knowledge about the city, which caused some planning catastrophes. Many critics took as their starting point the modern architecture projects that were built in the 1940s and 1950s. A consequence of this recognition was the creation of the Rockefeller Foundation, which was not only going to support Lynch, but also many of the city's great thinkers between 1955 and 1965. In ten years the foundation subsidized the famous Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs and several works carried out by Edmund Bacon. and Christopher Alexander, among others.

Towards a new paradigm:

The Rockefeller Foundation paradigm can be characterized as the belief that “the new models of urbanism were fundamentally anti-city, at odds with the multi-layered and multi-modal character of the city” (Laurence, 158-9) and, therefore, there was a need to develop a better understanding of the modern city. In Kevin Lynch and George Kepes the foundation found two people who personified this paradigm. They were given the Foundation's first scholarship in 1954.

Lynch's academic work can be divided into three main stages that generally correspond to a temporal and thematic progression. In the first stage, Lynch focused his research on the common user's experience of space and place. The second stage consists of applying the results of these investigations to various situations and an attempt to perfect them. Ultimately, Lynch attempted to form a coherent vision of the "good city," using his experience from the previous decades.

The investigations:

From 1954, when he received the Rockefeller scholarship, until the mid-1960s, Lynch embarked on various investigations that attempted to describe and understand the city, developing Urban Design as a new discipline. He was fascinated with the built city, the experience of the city, and the interaction between physical space and its use. In this era we can include The Form of Cities (1954), The Pattern of the Metropolis (1961), A Theory of Urban Form (1958) and The City As Environment (1965). However, undoubtedly his most famous publication during this time was The Image of the City (1960).

In this book, Lynch examined three different cities (Boston, Jersey City, and Los Angeles) and, using surveys, interviews, mind maps, and observation, studied the way the average citizen imagined their city. The book defined five critical elements:

1. Path – the channels through which the observer moves.

2. Borders – borders between two places.

3. Districts/neighborhoods – sections of the city that have two-dimensional aspects and a common character.

4. Nodes – points in the city that are the focus of traffic.

5. Landmarks – objects that can be seen from various angles and distances.

From a paradigmatic perspective, the result of this work was to crystallize the idea that the image of the city can vary significantly between observers. Furthermore, Lynch stated that this image can be studied and that designers of urban space can use these images to improve cities.

Applications:

In his second stage, Lynch applied the results of these investigations to various situations. We can include at this stage books such as Site Planning (1962), The View from the Road (1964) and Growing Up in Cities (1977), among others. In The View from the Road, Lynch applied what he learned from his car traffic experience when he wrote The Image of the City. On the other hand, Growing Up in Cities represented a deepening of his previous research with a multicultural study of the way in which children perceived the quality of their environment.

A coherent vision:

The last stage was characterized by an attempt to develop a coherent vision of what a good city is. This can include Where Learning Happens (1968), The Possible City (1968), Grounds for Utopia (1975) and, of course, Good City Form (1981). In all Lynch attempted to define the specific requirements of good city form, proposing what the goals of urban design should be.

His idea had nothing to do with the ostentatiousness and determination that has characterized previous paradigms. Instead, it focused on the experiential quality of place, with the role of meaning in design. Furthermore, he emphasized that design is not only the location of what is built, but also the study of human values ​​and rights (Banerjee and Southworth, 6-7). In the end, Lynch asked some fundamental questions: Is the city good for everyone? How do we know if we have reached the ideal environment? How can planning help answer these questions? (Birch, 197).

From his studies at Yale until his death in 1984, Lynch showed an ability to challenge the status quo. His various publications pushed his readers to develop knowledge about the city based on the common experience of daily factors. He contributed greatly to changing the paradigm of his time. In this way, the discipline was given a push, towards a more human discipline, refocusing it on the experience of the place.

At the time, Lynch was criticized for trying to develop a “science of design,” as a “recipe” for designers and replacing convention with automatic solutions. Other criticisms of his work focused on his view having too superficial aspects, which denied the importance of the quality of space, emotions, and sense of place (Zmudzinska-Nowak, 22). However, there is no doubt that Lynch contributed to some of the most important texts in the academic body of urban planning and design.