ABSTRACT
A fascinating study of the images of a city that exist in people's minds, and which enable them to orient themselves in urban areas has been made by Kevin Lynch. This chapter looks at the sociological, anthropological, and psychological literature that attempts to relate behavioral studies to some of these classical interests of designers. It examines urban form in the central areas of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and the Hague, as well as in two neighborhoods in Delft. The central shopping area of Amsterdam is situated partly within the old linear city and partly along some of the radial streets intersecting the belt of canals. In Amsterdam and Rotterdam, the paths and nodes that are important for transportation tend to be the primary elements of the pattern. In The Hague there is no wide, straight, and clearly dominant path as in Amsterdam or Rotterdam.
