Study On References To Orientation Of City Image

The theory about References to Orientation was born along with the study on the Image of theCity.In the appendix of “The Image of the City”,Lynch K. listed many systems of reference usingin different regions roughly.Unfortunately,general attention hasn’t be paid to this theory inacademic circles after that.On the foundation of Linch K.’s this adea,the paper defines the notion of “References toOrientation of the Image of the City”,and does preliminary academic studies from “LocationReference system”and “Direction Reference system”two sides,using two methods:photorecognition and cognitive mapping,with basic softwares:spss and photoshop,taking Jiangbei、Haishu、Jiangdong of Ningbo for example.Then,the paper states “cognitive distance”involved inreference systems.Location Reference system can be classified into three types:East-south-west-north system、Reference object system、In-district system.In the research of the sample regions,the conclusion isthat the East-south-west-north system is used most,then the In-district system,and the Referenceobject system is used least.Direction Reference system is the core content of the paper,the study on which is to proclaimthe relation of reference system with city image elements,and to discuss how the city elementsorganize in reference systems.The conclusion is that path is the city image element which is usedmost in Direction Reference systems,then node and landmark,district is of small limited usage,andedge is almost usless.Based on the types of present city image elements and organization way,Direction Reference system can be classified into three types:Sequence system、Space system、Scatter system.The frame of reference systems could be formulated as follows:One or more arterial roadsrank from origin to destination in the reference system,and a lot of branch roads interlink with eachother.Then,nodes come into being,and these roads and nodes make up a road net,which is theskeleton of the reference system.The landmarks and districts which play verification roles liearound.Besides,in order to enhancing the direction function of the reference system,ifnecessarily,townpeople use suitable districts or edges to locating destinations usually. Reference system is an absolutely new branch theory of city image.Nowadays,humanisticmethod has been widely used in human geography,and city planning theories spread fast.Becauseof that,the reference system theory is of great and great importance.The further study of this theorywill set out a really new visual angle of city planning.