How to Navigate in Our Urban Maze
Have you read “The Name of the Rose” by Umberto Eco? In that story, books symbolize knowledge. The mystery revolves around the abbey library, situated in a fortified tower. The high priest made the library challenging to find, so those monks could not easily access that knowledge.
The Myth Of Our Urban Maze
Whether you are a fan of post-modernism or not. Today’s point is to put you in a reader’s shoes and try to understand why we often get lost in our built environment. A common misconception of “being lost” is that people run into a complicated pattern that constitutes many dead ends.
The truth is that we can get lost in a simple plan.
Why they were lost
In other words, “getting lost” is not merely a signage issue but a physical space’s legibility and identity question.
Let’s go back to see the “maze” that Umberto Eco designed in his book. There are several reasons why those monks get lost finding the library.
First, those monks were lost because the floor plan was symmetrical on four sides. They could not tell the direction despite symbols carved on most rooms.
Second, there were no windows to look out from once they entered the corridor. Thus they could not get a point of reference to the outside to orientate themselves.
Third, the alphabet listed on the door did not line up in order. The monks were lost because they did not have a “sequence” to follow. They might not even remember if they passed by a particular alphabet.
The evolution of ‘Way-finding’
In those medieval towns, cathedrals were often the tallest structure in the town. And there is often a great plaza sitting in front of significant buildings. Therefore, pedestrians had a direction indicator when they looked upwards. Moreover, since the transportation was limited, the settlement was within limited parameters. Hence those ‘way-finding’ landmarks were even easier to spot within a distance.
Our urban space became more similar to the “name of the rose” scenario when mass-production and machine-oriented design were predominant in society. You can tell that influence from Le Corbusier’s initial illustrations in “The Radiant City,” that he debuted the idea in 1924.
During that period, planners valued efficiency over human experiences. Their lack of human scale and the straight and often symmetric street planning made people often lose their sense of orientation. The modularized construction materials also became the ultimate cookie cutter for most dwellings, making people lose their identifiable reference to their surroundings.
In 1960, Kevin A Lynch used the term ‘way-finding” for the first time. In his book, “the image of the city,” he identified the city’s frameworks into these five elements: Path, Edge, District, Nodes, and Landmarks. He further delineated that way-finding was “a consistent use and organization of definite sensory cues from the external environment.”
Why ‘Way-Finding’ Matters
Based on county’s public benefit program guidelines, the way finding technique “helps strengthen and promote walkability, helps tie the greater community and neighbors together, and provides direction to new developments and amenities.”
How to make ‘Way-finding’
USGBC’s SITES reference guide offers us identifiable elements to create a wayfinding environment that makes it easier for users to orient and navigate from place to place. I categorize them into four bases here:
Orientation: show visitors where they are. For example:
- Offer orientation devices and systems, such as GPS or Sundial.
- Use marking or pavement to indicate viewpoints or sightlines.
- Display maps, boards, and signs.
- Provide brochures for detailed information.
Navigation decision: ensure visitors were heading towards destinations. For example:
- Identify certain cultural or public facilities as landmarks.
- Highlight decision points or nodes, such as intersections, hubs, or roundabouts.
- Pin down clear entrance and gateways to help choose the route.
- Use the landscape to define the hierarchy of pedestrian and vehicular circulation.
Route narrative: keep visitors stay on the path. For example:
- Use an audio program to inform visitors on the track.
- Use the same style, pattern, or designs throughout the course, such as lighting fixtures, planters, banners, or pavilions.
Destination recognition: recommend stops for visitors and suggest resting points. For example:
- Bring out outdoor seating, eating venues, and amenities for visitors to reset their trip.
- Set a distinct area or region with a specific theme or program.
Additional Sustainable Benefit
By incorporating those design elements, site users will better understand and access outdoor space. These planning components increase a neighborhood’s legibility, accessibility, and safety and further foster the community’s identity.
