Urban Condition of Leicester – City Reading in line with Kevin Lynch’s Image of the City

Table of Contents

1     Introduction. 3

2     Main Body. 3

3     Conclusion. 5

4     References. 6

1         Introduction

The growth of a city landscape is the amalgamation of the people, their needs and the way they seek prefer to view their abode within the city. Architecture that is erected in the town is the crux of highlighting how the world previews culture and the people within it. A vast number of readings have been phased out in this regard with the selected translation being authored by Kevin Lynch and titled The Image of the City. Further during its course, the case discussed in of the urban condition of Leicester.

2         Main Body

Reading a city is often considered like reading book. Not one but multiple factors formulate the readability of the town. Considering the book authored by Lynch (1960), the various areas which can be included within the readability of town are “legibility, building the image, structure and identity and imageability.” The city image becomes adequately readable with the paths, the edges, nodes and landmarks to be named a few. The picture becomes littered with different structures that the inhabitants erect according to their perception which dweller might link with the city and its readability. The cityscape becomes highly readable as people focus on not just structures and architecture but the way people move through the winding and straight paths, the culture attached with the city and its sounds as well. In the same aspects, Jones the Planner (2011) mentioned that Leicester city has “an image problem”. In the reading, it becomes evident that the city stands as a stark contrast within the dwellings. The city amalgamates history and urbanisation at its core. With glass buildings towering at one hand and the next-door neighbour being the 19^th-century architectural beauty. This has been displayed in the picture below where the engineering building made with ultimacy of modern-day urban architecture shares its rear with a lunatic asylum.

The architectural culture embedded within Leicester City makes its image more confusing and halts a person to develop this one particular image for it. Readability becomes further confusing as issues become also pressing where the city derives its architectural influence from England itself, the Americans and hosts a contrasting surprise of Germany in its heart. Buildings become ever-changing with the town hosting modern architecture with technological culture and have equally boasted the crux of English literature of terracotta entrances to buildings like those in Bradford.

If one is to read through the excerpt by Hamid (2010), the cultural heritage becomes the crux of readability within the city image. Exemplifying the Islamic structures in Cairo with the image of truly Islamic essence added to its image, the readability of the city becomes attached to its cultural heritage. Even as the city accepts modernisation it holds the architecture of Islam at its core with new urbanisation dwelling within the old culture. If one is to consider the image of Leicester City, the image is filled with contrast making it rather difficult to read and comprehend. Legibility, as mentioned by Lynch, is the ability of the person to identify objects and buildings and people with their essence to the culture and thus read the city for its cultural heritage and belonging. The culture is more profoundly developed for a town with a majority of its inhabitants hailing from that particular culture. In consideration of the report by McGill (2019), the city of Leicester has a vast majority of Kenyans and Ugandans who flocked as a Post WW2 migration. Thus making the city as a houseful for ethnic diversity, and humongous cultural diversions with such immigrant formulating nearly 40% of the total population.

Considering the walk through the city streets in Leicester as presented by Jones the Planner (2011) highlights the city to be littered with its pieces of evidence that it highlights industrialisation and residences to be tightly knit. This increases the prevalence of the image that the town housed a more definite sense of industries which was contrary to the rest of England where industrial areas remained engulfed with smoke and residences were separated from them. Lynch (1960) in his description of the three subject cities focused on how the areas differed from their construction, and it thus remarked the cultural heritage and the inhabitants to have a differing sense added to the city centres, commercial spaces and the downtown. The same has been observed in the description of the 19^th century and the 21^st century Leicester. The small terraced abodes and impeccably artistic red houses and stoned walkaways become mortared roads in the city blending into each other yet standing as the description of the history for Leicester.

The city stands with multiple locks and heritage buildings that display its historical significance. Marked as a heritage the town holds a number of different structures which are a depiction of urbanisation seeping into its form and planning. The above-mentioned lock is amongst one of the further Roman and Norman cultures also marks its presence in distinguishing the city image. The reading of the city image is considered quite important with respect to the fact that Leicester is an amalgamation of modern and ancient planning seeking to blend in each other.

3         Conclusion

The above essay highlights Leicester and the readability of its image in light of specifics determined by   Lynch (1960). Leicester has derived its model from numerous historical events ranging from the WW2 immigration to different city planning efforts made. The readability for city image in case of Leicester is considered quite eminent with respect to its diversity in architecture from multitudes of various aspects added to it. Its broad sense of attachment to ethnic diversity and urbanisation amalgamated is beyond a short essay. Discussion over streets and their walks, the locks and the culture all are derailed and challenging to comprehend.

4         References

Lynch, K., 1960. The image of the city (Vol. 11). MIT press.

Hamid, A., 2010. Hassan Fathy and continuity in Islamic Architecture: the birth of a new modern. American Univ in Cairo Press.

Jones the Planner (2011). Urban Impressions: Leicester City. [Online] Available at < www.jonestheplanner.co.uk/2011/02/urban-impressions-leicester-city.html

> (Accessed on 19 December 2019)

McGill (2019). Leicester. [Online] Available at < https://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/wikispeedia/wpcd/wp/l/Leicester.htm > (Accessed on 19 December 2019)

Leicester Gov. (2016). Local Heritage Asset Register. [Online] Available at < https://www.leicester.gov.uk/media/182084/local-heritage-asset-register-2016-redacted.pdf

> (Accessed on 19 December 2019)