On Euston Road, outside St Pancras station, a very small metal plaque on the pavement caught my eye. It said something like ‘legible london: visit the tfl [Transport for London] website’. What is this ‘legible london’ and how is it connected to transport, I wondered, and on arrival at the British Library did as the sign on the pavement told me and looked up this website:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/microsites/legible-london/default.aspx

Legible London is an initiative to encourage the novel practice of… walking. The government has realised that many people do not walk around this city. We tend to use public transport all the time, especially the London Underground system, when often it would actually be quicker, healthier, more environmentally friendly, and free, to walk.

The website explains that ‘Based on extensive research, the system uses a range of information, including street signs and printed maps, to help people find their way.’  At first I was surprised and somewhat sceptical to read that ‘extensive research’ was undertaken to produce the necessary material texts – signs and maps – which we surely ought take for granted as visible and legible in any urban space, particularly a capital city.

However, the ‘Maps and Signs’ section of the website explains the project in more detail. The material features of the new signs and maps have been thought about very carefully, to encourage a more intuitive interaction with the cityscape. Although I found the tone of the website a little patronising, I was interested by the explanations of how the size, shape, orientation, colour,  and positioning of the new maps and signs have been designed to make it easier to connect the meaning of these material texts with the environment and the routes we want to trace through it. On public transport we are moved passively around the city (particularly in the darkness of the Underground, where we literally cannot see or read the landscape). The Legible London initiative puts a spotlight on the importance of the material text in the context of changing realisations about urban travel, something essential for almost everyone, every day, everywhere.