2.1.1 Five Physical forms – elements of city

Figure 4 Physical form classified in 5 types of elements Source- Wordpress.com

1) Path- Paths are the channels along which the observer customarily, occasionally, or potentially moves. They may be streets, walkways, transit lines, canals, railroads. 2) Edges -They are the boundaries between two phases, linear breaks in continuity: shores, railroad cuts, edges of development, walls. Such edge s may be barriers, more or less penetrable, which close one region off from another; or they may be seams, lines along which two regions are related and joined together. 3) Districts -Districts are the medium-to-Large sections of the city, conceive d of as having two-dimensional extent, which the observer mentally enters "inside of," and which are recognizable as having some common, identifying character. 4) Nodes-Nodes are points, the strategic spots in a city into which an observer can enter, and which are the intensive foci to and from which he is traveling. The nodes may be simply concentrations, which gain their importance from being the condensation of some use or physical character, as a street-corner hangout or an enclosed square. 5) Landmark- Landmarks are usually the point of references defined by physical form or object: sign, store, building, etc.

These elements are the raw materials for the environmental image at large scale. They need to be patterned together to have a satisfying space. All these elements operate together in a context, where the observer senses the complex as a whole whose parts are interdependent and are relatively fixed in relation to each other.

Figure 5 Interrelation of elements Source—wordpress.com