Why Buildings Are Known

If we could predict how well buildings and structures in the city were known, planners and architects would be in possession of a powerful design tool, for we could begin to gain some control over that elusive communications medium, the urban environment. To do this, we have to go beyond Kevin Lynch’s (1960) identification of known urban element types. We must determine the reasons why these elements are known which means discovering the attributes that capture attention and hold a place in the inhabitant’s mental representation of his city. This is the subject of our investigation. During the planning of Ciudad Guayana, the newly growing industrial city in Venezuela, over three hundred interviews were carried out among the existing population of about 30,000 people, related to their perceptions of the city. One of our particular concerns was to check whether the