In general, I am pro the legible city [movement] as it does what it says on the tin. But there are serious problems in the decision-making behind the signs. Like all urban technologies, one has to be very cautious about who is running this, and who it is aimed at. If the legible city only maps shopping malls, car parks and the police station, this seriously reduces what the city has to offer. This can make parts of the city invisible to the visitor. Someone somewhere has made an arbitrary decision that tourists don’t want to go there, or that place is too dangerous so it should be avoided.

There are some interesting thought experiments that could enact a response. What if the community decides what to put on the maps rather than the council planning department? The alternative is to think that every part of the city is worth visiting and that the whole city should be open and legible, not just privileging certain sectors.

Leo Hollis.