Developing an explanatory hypothesis for urban graphic heritage through the observation of physical traces

Urban graphic heritage has recently come to the fore connected to cities’ economic, social, cultural, and environmental development through design. This paper charts the development of urban graphic heritage through a working hypothesis that traces progress from the rough terrain of exploration towards the more nuanced domain of explanation. Graphic heritage is shown to have evolved across several unconnected fields each in need of better designation. At the core of the argument is the importance attached to naming fields to ensure that intellectual histories may be better understood in the service of design research and heritage studies.