City planners are to form their strategy for the future of Brighton and Hove by asking the population: "If it were a person, who would it be?"

The answer could determine how everything from major developments to road signs and rubbish bins are designed in the future.

Brighton and Hove City Council has hired designers Gehl Architects and Landscape Projects to help it create a "legibility strategy" - a new concept in urban planning which involves defining a city's identity through the physical environment.

Legibility can have a crucial effect on how many signs there are telling people what to do, how wide pavements are, which areas are poorly-lit and make people fear crime, to what extent residents feel they belong to the city and how easy it is for visitors to find a cinema.

City councillor Paul Elgood said if Brighton and Hove were a person it would be Barbara Windsor - "A national treasure, slightly saucy, with a sting in its tail."

His colleague Bill Randall suggested Jeffrey Barnard, the notorious alcoholic journalist played by Peter O'Toole in the West End show - "Raffish, amusing, not entirely trustworthy but always entertaining."

The people of Bristol, which underwent a major legibility transformation in 2002 and is considered the benchmark, decided if the city were a person it would be Michael Palin - "quirky but classy; an explorer; distinguished but with an edge".

Walkways, street furniture, flowerbeds, lighting and more are now all designed with that brief in mind. Brighton and Hove councillors want residents, businesses and community organisations to help define the city's identity and create a vision which will shape all city planning in the future.

The council and Gehl Architects see New Road, which is undergoing a £1 million transformation, as an example of the kind of thinking needed for the whole city in the future.

The road is being levelled out and there will be no pavements or road markings designating where cars, bicycles or pedestrians should be.

All unnecessary signs and street furniture are being removed and the shrubbery around Pavilion Gardens is being cut back to make the space visible from the street.

The council hopes new lighting and benches will add to the atmosphere of an attractive, pedestrian-friendly and safe place to be.

An architect from Gehl will talk about what has been achieved with legibility in other cities at a public lecture on March 28 and this will be followed by workshops for people to start contributing ideas.

Who do you think Brighton and Hove might be? Please text SUARGUS followed by a space and your idea and your name to 88010.

A text will cost your normal network rate only.

The closing date is March 15.

To get more details on the workshop or to book a place, call Ross Tan at the council on 01273 294164 or email him at ross.tan@brightonhove.gov.uk