Image or artifact?: two views of the role of urban monumentality in the experience of the city

Abstract

This research seeks to identify the role of the monument in the experience of the city. In so doing it attempts to bracket the topic of monumentality, by looking at two diametrically opposed schools of thought. The text compares theories and designs by the well known Italian academic and architect Aldo Rossi, with those of the American urban theorist Kevin Lynch. The study attempts to draw concrete conclusions about the role of the urban monument based on the congruence and opposition in these two views, and suggests a series of guidelines for the qualities requisite of a monument.