Kevin A. Lynch

Kevin Lynch
Black and white headshot of Kevin Lynch.
Born
Kevin Andrew Lynch

(1918-01-07)January 7, 1918
Chicago, Illinois, United States
DiedApril 25, 1984(1984-04-25) (aged 66)
Occupation(s)Urban planner, scholar, writer
AwardsRexford G. Tugwell Award (1984)
Academic background
Alma materMassachusetts Institute of Technology
InfluencesFrank Lloyd Wright
Academic work
InstitutionsMassachusetts Institute of Technology (1949–1978)
Main interestsUrban planning; environmental psychology; urban form
Notable worksThe Image of the City
What Time is This Place?
A Theory of Good Urban Form
Notable ideasMental mapping; wayfinding; imageability

Kevin Andrew Lynch (January 7, 1918 – April 25, 1984) was an American urban planner and author. He is known for his work on the perceptual form of urban environments and was an early proponent of mental mapping. His most influential books include The Image of the City (1960), a seminal work on the perceptual form of urban environments, and What Time is This Place? (1972), which theorizes how the physical environment captures and refigures temporal processes.

A student of architect Frank Lloyd Wright before training in city planning, Lynch spent his academic career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, teaching there from 1948 to 1978. He practiced site planning and urban design professionally with Carr/Lynch Associates, later known as Carr, Lynch, and Sandell.