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Letters and cities: reading the urban environment with the help of perception theoriesCentro Universitário Senac and State University of Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil, annagouveia{at}iar.unicamp.br
Centro Universitário Senac and University of São Paulo, Brazil, prifarias{at}usp.br
Centro Universitário Senac, São Paulo, Brazil, pgatto{at}sp.senac.br When wandering around a city such as São Paulo, we are surrounded by letters, numbers and symbols. These elements form part of an environment full of signs in many shapes and sizes that compete for our attention. Our perception of these elements contributes towards our spatial guidance and sense of place. The idea of `reading' the city, or urban environment, was introduced by Kevin Lynch, for whom reading the urban structure follows on from recognizing or identifying its numerous visual elements, not necessarily verbal ones. Beginning with a brief bibliographic review of perception theories, this article combines concepts from environmental psychology with concerns brought up by the fields of information design and epigraphy studies, setting out the basis of a methodological proposal for the study of typography and lettering in the urban environment.
Key Words: architecture • environment • environmental psychology • lettering • typography • urban perception
Visual Communication, Vol. 8, No. 3,
339-348 (2009) |
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