Urban Studies

 

Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here for more information

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Yeung, H. W.-c.
Right arrow Articles by Savage, V. R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
Urban Studies, Vol. 33, No. 3, 473-494 (1996)
DOI: 10.1080/00420989650011870
© 1996 Urban Studies Journal Limited

Urban Imagery and the Main Street of the Nation: The Legibility of Orchard Road in the Eyes of Singaporeans

Henry Wai-chung Yeung

Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 0511, geoywc{at}leonis.nus.sg

Victor R. Savage

Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 0511, geoywc{at}leonis.nus.sg

This paper applies Kevin Lynch's famous thesis of legibility to the main street of Singapore—Orchard Road. It is primarily concerned with three issues. How legible is Orchard Road in the eyes of Singaporeans? Who find Orchard Road legible? If Orchard Road is legible to Singaporeans, why is it so? Based upon a combination of comprehensive questionnaire survey of Singaporeans and personal interviews with residents and businessmen operating in Orchard Road, this paper argues that the landscape of Orchard Road, known as the Orchardscape in this paper, is very legible to most Singaporeans. Its legibility is particularly prominent among those with higher education and higher income levels. There is also a distance-decay effect in the Singaporean cognition of the Orchardscape. The legibility of the Orchardscape is explained in relation to the personal and cultural background of individual Singaporeans and landscape cues. We argue that both sets of factors must be taken into consideration in understanding the image of the city. Some practical implications for future city design and planning are offered in the concluding section of the paper.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?