Imageability: IIT Roorkee

Imageability of Urban Areas:

Architecture × User Experience

A Research Project carried out at

Department of Planning and Architecture,

Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee

under Prof. Saptarshi Kolay

June-July 2019

What is Imageability?

Imageability is a measure of how easily a physical object, word, or environment will evoke a clear mental image in the mind of any person observing it.

Imageability of urban areas is not a new concept in the field of urban planning. Kevin A. Lynch first introduced the term, "imageability" in his 1968 book, The Image of the City. The research predominantly focusses on imageability in urban areas by taking various urban parameters into account.

In his book The Image of the City, Lynch argues the five key elements that impact the imageability of a city are Paths, Edges, Districts, Nodes, and Landmarks. But with the advent of globalization and the rise of cosmopolitanism, the focus needs to shift towards the recognition and identity of contemporary cities.

An Overview of the Project

The project aims at gauging the imageability of various parameters associated with people’s perception of urban areas. It involved the following steps:

Identifying various parameters.
Narrowing down user requirements.
Deciding the technical requirements.
Conducting a user survey
Analyzing the results and arriving at a perception index corresponding to the considered parameters.
Forming a ‘House of Quality’ diagram in which the ceiling is formed by the interrelationship matrix of technical requirements while the ‘house’ is formed by the interrelationship between user and technical requirements.

The aforementioned steps are a part of the User Experience design of an application and are very important to decide the features which should be included in it.

Identifying Parameters

This was the first step of the project. It involved brainstorming and coming up with all the possible things that a person might consider when he/she visits a city. This included pattern of pathways, public transport network, distinctive architecture, and signages among others.

Narrowing down User Requirements

This is an inexhaustive list of a few parameters that were finalized after extensive literature review, research about the existing parameters, and brainstorming sessions.

After completing the first step of identifying various parameters of perception, we move on to think of user requirements. User requirements are actually the kind of parameter which is desired for better perception of an urban area. In other words, it is the ideal form of the parameters under consideration. Two parameters may have the same user requirement and hence, some of these were merged, wherever it was possible.

Deciding the Technical Requirements

After deciding on the user requirements, we think of solutions or technical requirements in order to fulfill the user requirements. This can be thought of, as a proposed solution that should be implemented in order to help users in bettering their perception of urban areas.

User Survey and Data Analysis

This step involves framing questions based on various parameters and let potential users rate them. I had used the Likert Scale (1-5) in all parameter-based questions and had conducted the survey using Google forms. I got 80 responses from almost all ages and an array of cities which ranged from Delhi to Dubai and from Chicago to Kolkata. I then calculated the average of responses which was used in further stages to calculate its relative importance.

The Google Form link to the form I created: https://forms.gle/uzVYjmLE7khUjrYv9

'Building' the House of Quality

The House of Quality diagram was made in which the ceiling consisted of a matrix that showed the correlation (negative or positive or neutral) between the technical requirements.

The ‘house’ consisted of a matrix that showed the interrelationship (strong, medium, or weak) between the user and technical requirements. Weighted value of each technical requirement was then calculated using the following formula:

∑ (row Importance x Relationship strength)

A Sample HOQ Diagram

HOQ for the project

(blurred due to non-disclosure agreement)

Note:

This project was taken up as part of a research paper which is currently under review. Due to the non-disclosure policies of academic projects until publication, certain information such as survey results, the list of all the technical requirements, and the House of Quality diagram has been either not included or blurred out.