Hospers, Gert-Jan. “Lynch’s The Image Of The City After 50 Years: City Marketing Lessons

From An Urban Planning Classic.” European Planning Studies 18.12 (2010): 2073-

2081. Business Source Complete. Web. 5 Feb. 2016.

Kevin Lynch is an architect who taught urban planning for thirty years. In the article, Lynch’s The Image of the City after 50 Years: City Marketing Lessons from an Urban Planning Classic, the writer explains the main elements that Lynch concluded that people see in a city.  He also introduces the term “image ability”, which is defined as “that quality in a physical object which gives it a high probability of evoking a strong image in any given observer”.   Lynch concluded that most people see cities as a built image. The five main elements of cities consist of paths (lines of movement), edges (transition zones), districts (distinctive city zones), nodes (strategic meeting zones), and landmarks (singular objects). These five things usually overlap. “Lynch hoped authorities would pay closer attention to urban designs and to “improve the quality-of-life (Lynch 2075)”, of those who live in the area. City marketers are extremely concerned with the image of their city. A poor image could negatively affect economic performance in that area. Lynch concludes that the link between a city’s image and its built environment can be exploited for the purpose of city marketing.

What kind of source did other people use for their annotated bibliography? Did you use multiple  types of sources?

Margaret Morton’s photographs of the homeless people of New York City demonstrates how urban space impacts the psyche and behavior of those who live there. Morton’s photographs capture shanties built in New York City. Morton’s individual pictures come together to reveal that the homeless are actually united and solid human beings. Shelter is a major part of someone’s identity. Being homeless may seem as though their identity is fragile and that their identity is constantly being taken away from them. The homeless indeed have a home just not as stable as other. Having personal space gives room for individuality. When the homeless are discussed they are neglected of self-identity. In capitalist societies people are defined by their shelter and the material things that they have. This is flawed because a home can be taken away or destroyed. Being and homeless is seen as a complete binary compared to being housed but in fact it is not. Spectacles such as these rely on image promotion and mass media. Everything is seen as a representation of what people desire to have. In order for the working class to live comfortably and no longer struggle, capitalism needs to be abolished. Morton’s interviewees use space creatively and use materials that do not treat the environment as a commodity. Morton’s photographs display the conflict between society and the spectacle of the reality of the homeless people’s lives. Riots in the 90’s addressed problems in the oppressive state, education system and social justice. Morton’s photographs also displays the two so called “binaries” as being alike and in the same common place. Mass marketing is formulated to continuously push out certain communities such as the homeless. The Situtationist International’s goals include eliminating division between arts and exploring spaces to understand an environments psychological impact on those that live in that area. Morton understands that imposed inhibitions and prohibitions must be overcome in order to lose oneself. Overcoming inhibition plays a keys role in Morton’s willingness to journey into tunnels and abandoned streets. While Morton captures the transitory lives of the homeless, she also captures the outside attempts to destroy the homes made in the tunnel. One of Morton’s interviewees named Bernard, states that aboveground life distracts people from the individual self. Underground life is not dedicated to images and accumulating commodities. Bernard uses space to achieve a certain level of consciousness he believes is necessary for survival. Another interviewee does receive money from the government but it is not nearly enough to live in a way that is fixated on commercial messages and things not needed for survival. Safety may seem like a major downfall living in the tunnels but it sometimes may be the least of their worries. The darkness of the tunnel prevents strangers of the area from coming into the tunnels which gives them the ultimate level of security. Residents of the tunnels have extensive knowledge of aboveground space which allows them to easily travel above ground to obtain the essentials and necessities they need to survive. The actual label of being homeless has been negatively associated with criminal behavior. The ability to live underground is a result of the lack of use of public space and poor conditions. Homelessness is not defined by having a home but by the lack of stability of their home.

Sarah Schindler describes the architecture exclusion theory and how architecture exclusion is practiced. Architecture regulates human behavior and serves as a physical barrier to poor people and people of color. Sarah Schindler opens up by describing how the “Master Builder” of New York City, Robert Moses, created the city with architectural exclusion in mind. Moses intentionally directed overpasses to be low in order to prevent people of color and poor people from accessing certain areas. Architectural exclusion is considered a built environment. A built environment is characterized by man-made features that make it extremely difficult for certain individuals to have access to certain areas. Wealthy White people have the power to control who enters their community. Wealthy White people have opposed allowing MARTA go through their neighborhood. By doing so wealthy people can decide who has access to their community. The majority of people who live in wealthy neighborhoods own a private vehicle therefore they do not depend on other methods of getting where they need to go. Most poor people rely on public transportation to get to work, school, etc. By excluding MARTA, wealthy white people can prevent poor people from maintaining a suburban job. Most people of a low economic class rely on MARTA Transit. In 1974 affluent Whites requested a street that connected a White neighborhood and a Black neighborhood to be closed off. The United States Supreme Court did not challenge this action. This raised the level of speculation for the Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall. Thurgood Marshall believed that the 1974 decision sent a clear message that Whites did not want poor or people of color in their neighborhood and the academy backed them up. Most individuals fail to realize how urban design or urban architecture, is a form of regulation. Most people are not aware of the types of architectural exclusion because they believe things are not made with an alternate motive in mind. Majority of people are blind to how the law and the lawmakers treat exclusionary acts and how poor people and people of color are detached from society. People tend to believe that the structures of cities are made for general public interest but in fact the structure of cities preserves the United States long history of intentional discrimination and exclusion. Few fail to realize the extent in to which segregation still takes place in the form of architecture. One way streets, the absence of sidewalks, locations of highways, and location of transit stops shape the demographic of a city and how those thing isolate one community from the next. Exclusionary amenities are placed to make generally expensive residential developments not appeal to certain demographic groups. Fichies Homeowner Hypothesis suggests that homeowners are more likely than renters to vote to protect property investments. Landscape is the most overlooked instrument of racism. Walled ghettos are an example of physical segregation because they separate people of color from Whites and make it strenuous for the people confined to get where they need to go. One wall doubled the time needed to arrive at a grocery three miles away from their residence. Walls are built to “calm traffic” and is also known as a “traffic diverter”. These traffic diverters are known by its residents as the “Berlin wall for Black People”. This renaming shows how the people feel like their being kept in and isolated from society. Bridge exits and highway exit ramps are located to filter traffic away from wealthy communities. Locations of highways destroy low income neighborhoods. One-way streets distract and confuse visitors to discourage unknown visitors from coming to that area. Measures have even gone as far as removing directional signs to intimate wealthy people from visiting or going through poor neighborhoods. Architectural exclusion stem from decisions made in the past but continue to persist today.