What Time is This Place?

by Kevin Lynch

A look at the human sense of time, a biological rhythm that may follow a different beat from that dictated by external, "official," "objective" timepieces. Time and Place—Timeplace—is a continuum of the mind, as fundamental as the spacetime that may be the ultimate reality of the material world.Kevin Lynch's book deals with this human sense of time, a biological rhythm that may follow a different beat from that dictated by external, "official," "objective" timepieces. The center of his interest is on how this innate sense affects the ways we view and change—or conserve, or destroy—our physical environment, especially in the cities.

Genres: Architecture, Urbanism, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Urban Planning, History, Urban Design

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Kevin Andrew Lynch was an American urban planner and author. His most influential books include The Image of the City (1960) and What Time is This Place? (1972).

Lynch studied at Yale University, Taliesin (studio) under Frank Lloyd Wright, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and received a Bachelor's degree in city planning from MIT in 1947.[1] He worked in Greensboro, NC as an urban planner but was recruited to teach at MIT by Lloyd Rodwin. He began lecturing at MIT the following year, became an assistant professor in 1949, was tenured as an associate professor in 1955, and became a full professor in 1963.
Lynch provided seminal contributions to the field of city planning through empirical research on how individuals perceive and navigate the urban landscape. His books explore the presence of time and history in the urban environment, how urban environments affect children, and how to harness human perception of the physical form of cities and regions as the conceptual basis for good urban design.
Parallel to his academic work, Lynch practiced planning and urban design in partnership with Stephen Carr, with whom he founded Carr Lynch Associates in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Lynch died at his summer home in Martha's Vineyard in 1984.

Reviews

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anyone interested in the urban landscape, this study of the ways that a sense of time is expressed (intentionally or inadvertently) within the built environment is a self-recommending classic. Kevin Lynch was an influential thinker in these matters, and this was his own favorite among his works; it is an enjoyable and stimulating read. I give it four instead of five stars for two reasons. First: Although Lynch frequently uses excellent examples to help us visualize what he is talking about, there are places where he simply speculates in a string of abstractions, and it becomes difficult to understand how what he is recommending would work. Second: The book is weak on economics, and I don't think economics can be left entirely out of the discussion. Many of Lynch's design ideas are interesting, pleasing, thoughtful, and cutting-edge. But they cost money, and even when they would not cost that much extra, they require a certain sensitivity.

I worked in commercial real estate for several years; developers are not a sensitive lot. I can tell you what happens when, fully armed with a portfolio of terrific examples, you try talking to developers about interesting, pleasing, thoughtful, and cutting-edge designs for their planned gas stations and strip malls. One in a hundred will be interested (and I love that one person). The other 99 just want to put up their gas station or strip mall on the cheap and start making some money; they don't give a flip what it looks like. When better building actually occurs, it is usually because a well-off community and its planning commission have design guidelines in place, and can hold developers' feet to the fire. So the rich get prettier, greener, more expressive architecture, and the rest of us get the usual thing. This is so far from what a democratic thinker like Kevin Lynch was about; he wanted good design to be for everyone, and not only in the occasional case of a civic or showcase-type building. But dumbing-down is the reality of the marketplace.

[Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe it’s because I read this over a beach vacation so time was weird (funny for this book topic) but I wasn’t that enthralled and it was not what I was expecting. I thought it was going to be more about how to design and build a timeless place and it wasn’t

[Joe Hay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a mostly worthwhile exploration of how time manifests itself in the urban environment and urban design. There are also a few interesting discussions of the experience of time itself. However, as is the case with all the books I've read by Lynch, the approach feels a little disorganized, like he's just piling information on you. One of those professors who likes telling you the cool shit he ran into rather than training you to be self sufficient in the discipline. I happen to find that approach tedious, but it could be relaxing for others. Expect lots of interesting little facts and ideas but no real coherence.

[Carlosfelipe Pardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lynch is wonderful. This book is more oriented towards preservation but anyway addresses issues related to time and time management (something I had never seen in books from that time other than Lefevre's Rythmanalysis. Though some ideas are no longer valid, it's anyway a good read.

[uosɯɐS · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though this book is sometimes referenced in urbanist canon, which is how it got on my list.. I've always been fascinated by the concept of time.

Though not written in rhymes or rhythm, this book felt more like poetry than most books I read.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

a fascinating book that made me think about time and space, the continuum of life, and who i am in this world.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly concerned with normative proposals for planning, but helpful thoughts on the relationship of inner and external time, change as seen in place.