Searching for legible city form: Kevin Lynch's theory in contemporary perspective

Architects have always wondered about the form of the built environment, searching for concepts of "ideal space," perfect in terms of form as well as in terms of meeting human needs and expectations. Numerous theoretical and design works have made attempts to create an ideal, or at least optimal built environment for human beings. Undertaken with the same purpose in mind, the attempts, characteristically, represent diverse, and sometimes completely different approaches, depending on ideology, fashion, conceptions, and levels of technological, civil, and social development. Nevertheless, most of the concepts almost entirely eliminated man as an individual who perceives and experiences space. In reality, ideas about how to make the human environment better assumed the form of a utopia; however, their implementations often turned harmful. The concept of architectural design based on projections and standards, as well as planned resentment of tradition and humanistic values, resulted in the creation of uniformed space. The effects of modernism, professing the principles of "new order," are still felt. An approach that considers man as an inhabitant of space, as the main actor in the space of town, which makes up his existential space-the world of everyday existence-seems to be much more promising. Morphological and functional analyses regarded as input to the process of planning and designing do not take this component into account. An approach that considers subjective valuations and opinions of the users of space is often treated with reserve and perceived as contrary to a purely creative attitude of an architect. I do not share the attitude of many representatives of the society of architects and urban planners, who, ignoring the results of research, tend to believe, in a naive way, that an ideal place may be created by planning and design activities only.