Emily Badger explores the art of environmental graphic design, or wayfinding, and what it takes to strike the right balance between intuitive navigation and individual discovery.
Badger makes a distinction between intuitive older European cities and complex contemporary cities that require guidance to navigate, and the often subconscious ways in which wayfinding should operate on the latter.
"Architectural signage and wayfinding isn't about building a nicely designed sign," says Sue Labouvie, one such expert whom we tapped to explain the science of helping us find our way in the city. "It's about the information content and the analysis of the space or place that you're trying to move people through, and coming up with a strategy of how you make this big complex thing simple and understandable to the user."
FULL STORY: The Surprisingly Complex Art of Urban Wayfinding
California Bill Would Mandate Seamless Transit
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Pittsburgh Pedestrian Wayfinding Program Set to Launch
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'OK Google, How Crowded is the Number 8 Bus?'
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‘Complete Streets’ Webpage Deleted in Federal Purge
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Healing Through Parks: Altadena’s Path to Recovery After the Eaton Fire
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San Diego to Rescind Multi-Unit ADU Rule
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Electric Vehicles for All? Study Finds Disparities in Access and Incentives
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research