Imageability

Imageability is a measure of how easily a physical object, word or environment will evoke a clear mental image in the mind of any person observing it.[1][2]

History and components

Kevin A. Lynch first introduced the term, "imageability" in his 1960 book, The Image of the City.[1][3] In it, Lynch argues cities contain a key set of physical elements that people use to understand the environment, orient themselves inside of it and assign it meaning.[4]

Lynch argues the five key elements that impact the imageability of a city are Paths, Edges, Districts, Nodes, and Landmarks.

• Paths: channels in which people trave. Examples: streets, sidewalks, trails, canals, railroads.
• Edges: objects that form boundaries around space. Examples: walls, buildings, and shorelines, curbstone, streets and overpasses.
• Districts: medium to large areas people can enter into and out of and have a common set of identifiable characteristics.
• Nodes: large areas people can enter, that serve as the foci of the city, neighborhood, district, etc.
• Landmarks: memorable points of reference people cannot enter into. Examples: signs, mountains and public art.[1]

In 1914, half a century before The Image of the City was published, Paul Stern discussed a concept similar to imageability in the context of art. Stern, in Susan Langer's Reflections on Art, names the attribute that describes how vividly and intensely an artistic object could be experienced apparency. [5]

See also

• Wayfinding
• Mental mapping
• Environmental psychology
• Speech perception
• Experimental psychology

Further reading

• Holahan, Charles J.; Sorenson, Paul F. (1985-09-01). "The role of figural organization in city imageability: An information processing analysis". Journal of Environmental Psychology.
• Smolík Filip (2019-05-21). "Imageability and Neighborhood Density Facilitate the Age of Word Acquisition in Czech". Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research.
• Paivio, Allan; Yuille, John C.; Madigan, Stephen A. (1968). "Concreteness, imagery, and meaningfulness values for 925 nouns". Journal of Experimental Psychology.
• Hansen, Pernille; Holm, Elisabeth; Lind, Marianne; Simonsen, Hanne Gram (2012). "Name relatedness and imageability".
• Richardson, John T. E. (1975-05). "Concreteness and Imageability". Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.
• Silva, Kapila Dharmasena (2015). "Developing Alternative Methods for Urban Imageability Research".
• McCunn, Lindsay J.; Gifford, Robert (2018-04-01). "Spatial navigation and place imageability in sense of place". Cities.
• Caplan, Jeremy B.; Madan, Christopher R. (2016-06-17). "Word Imageability Enhances Association-memory by Increasing Hippocampal Engagement". Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

References

1. Lynch, Kevin, 1918-1984. (1960). The image of the city. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-12004-6. OCLC 230082.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
2. Dellantonio, Sara; Job, Remo; Mulatti, Claudio (2014-04-03). "Imageability: now you see it again (albeit in a different form)". Frontiers in Psychology. 5: 279. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00279. ISSN 1664-1078. PMC 3982064. PMID 24765083.
3. "Analyzing Lynch's City Imageability in the Digital Age". Planetizen - Urban Planning News, Jobs, and Education. Retrieved 2020-02-15.
4. The urban design reader. Larice, Michael, 1962-, Macdonald, Elizabeth, 1959- (Second ed.). London. 2013. ISBN 978-0-203-09423-5. OCLC 1139281591.CS1 maint: others (link)
5. Langer, Susanne K. (Susanne Katherina Knauth), 1895-1985 (1979, ©1958). Reflections on art. New York: Arno Press. ISBN 0-405-10611-4. OCLC 4570406. Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)