Cognitive mapping

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING & DESIGN BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONOURS) IN ARCHITECTURE THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE & URBANISM ( ARC 61303 / ARC 2224)

PROJECT 1B AN ILLUSTRACTED ESSAY WITH A COGNITIVE MAPPING OF PETALING JAYA SECTION 4

NAME : TAN KAI CHONG STUDENT ID : 0314223 TUTOR : MR. LAM SHEN FEI

1.0 INDTRODUCTION Petaling Jaya (PJ) is a major Malaysia city originally developed as a satellite township for Kuala Lumpur. The city was developed during British Malaya on a piece of 1,200 acres rubber estate (Effingham Estate) around Old Klang Road to address the over population of the capital Kuala Lumpur in the 1950s. Since 1952, Petaling Jaya witnessed a dramatic growth in terms of population size and geographical importance. The development of Petaling Jaya commenced in 1952 with the construction of 800 houses centred on the area known as ‘’Old Town’’ today. Petaling Jaya is divided into several sections. Some are subdivided into smaller neighborhoods and some section has their own names such as SS1 as Kampung Tunku. But Section 4 will be the task that this paper going to investigate.

There are 52 sections in Petaling Jaya and Section 4 is one of the residential area with supporting commercial facilities and industrial area. There are speedy direct links from Section 4 with the Federal Highway, whereby one will be able to easily access all other parts of Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur, including Subang and Klang.

Map of Section 4, Petaling Jaya with red line enclosed the studied area of the project

Pasar Besar Section 4

Landmarks - Assunta Hospital - Assumption Church - Chinese Temple - Surau Section 4 - Kuil Sithi Vinayagar

2.0 COGNITIVE MAPPING Based on Cognitive Maps and Spatial Behavior, Wayfinding: People, Signs, and Architecture, in more general terms, a cognitive map may be defined as "an overall mental image or representation of the space and layout of a setting", which means that the act of cognitive mapping is "the mental structuring process leading to the creation of a cognitive map".

(Arthur P, Passinr R, 1992) Cognitive maps are mental representations of physical locations. Humans and animals use them to find their way and to help recall important features of the environment. The term was introduced by psychologist E. C. Tolman to explain how rats learned the locations of rewards in a maze. A cognitive map provided the rat with a useful model of the environment. Irrelevant or unimportant information was excluded from the mental map. Thus, cognitive maps can be very different from an actual place.

The differences between the mental representation and the physical characteristics of a location may reveal what humans and animals consider important. The cognitive map is likely to show where they go and the routes used.

In order to understand the image of Petaling Jaya Section 4, all information was collected from the interviews and analyzed in cognitive mappings. The map created below is based on an interview from an old man who had teatime at hawker stall located at Section 4. He is a Chinese resident who lived here for more than 40 years and telling me about the history, landmarks and nodes here together with the traffic.

Draft Cognitive map drawn by me Finalized Cognitive map drawn by me

From the cognitive map in the draft we can see that residents there noted down their Pasar Besar, Hospital, Church, Bus Stop, Indian Temple and Masjid as their signature spot which means these places could be their landmarks or nodes. From the 4 edges connected with the junctions form the primary path for vehicle and human traffic. From the interview, he said that people also use shortcuts for accessing from Jalan Selangor to Jalan Penchala to avoid the jam which passing through the residential area. There are also a lot of temples located in Section 4 and become their landmarks.

From the district residential area obviously more than other district and there are lacking of commercial area. The public utilities district is their park or playground for children but not that much. Besides, religious district is scatted around the residential district.

Secondary Path in Residential Area

Primary Path at Jalan Penchala

3.0 ANALYSIS OF KEVIN LYCH’S THEORY The primary route (The Path) which lead to the landmarks Assunta Hospital, Pusat Pakr Perubatan Wanita and Pasar Besar Jalan Othman.Based on Kevein Lych’s book, The Image of The City (1960), path is routes along which people move throughout the city. Paths are the transportation routes of the city and are the most common points from which the city is experienced. They can be made distinct and memorable through variation in design and natural setting. To avoid confusion, there ought to be an obvious hierarchy of streets, indicating which carry a higher volume. Each street need not be absolutely straight, but it ought to travel in one general direction and have a directional gradient to communicate where on the line the traveler is. Paths should have well-defined origins and destinations as well as landmarks along the way. Along the primary route, the 3 junctions, which considered the nodes of Section 4 also formed edges dividing Section 51 and Section 3. The secondary path mostly located in the residential area, which allowed residents, access the nodes in Section 4. And then the tertiary route has a lot of dead ends, which led to the medium size houses. Lastly, the pedestrian route is surrounding the edges and there are some shortcuts in the residential zone, which bring conveniences to residents for accessing playground, churchs or temples.

Junction at Jalan Templer

Junction at Jalan Selangor

Edges, which is the boundaries and breaks in continuity. Edges provide a spatially distinct constitution to elements of the city. The more visually obvious they are, like a waterfront (roundabout located at the edge of Jalan Templer) or park side, the better. Edges can be strong, but planners must ensure they are still penetrable enough to allow connections across them.Directly to the west of Section 4 lies Section 51, which separating both sections with the edge also the core industrial and business centre of Petaling Jaya, which provides much of the job opportunities. Every time there is downpour, Section 4, Petaling Jaya is flooded and student is fed up an then the new drain is built in 190s to resolve the problem also form a monsson drain edge. Besides that, the Assunta Hospital’s wall formed a fragmentary edge for blocking human and vehicle access.

District, areas characterized by common characteristics. It’s also relatively large areas that have enough identity to be named. Each district should be set apart from others through thematic, visual clues. Districts often become defined in terms of class or special use as well. Some districts are introverted, with sharp boundaries and an exclusive association, while others are extroverted, tied more closely to the whole pattern of the city. In Section 4, there are more residential areas instead of commercial area. The north eastern corner over at the junction of Jalan Templer and Jalan Selangor is given over to Assunta Hospital and 2 schools. There are a number of religious buildings located in or around Section 4, which includes the Emmanuel Baptist Church, the Masjid Jamik Sultan Abdul Aziz and a Hindu Temple. Educational institutions are quite in abundance around the Section 4 area, allowing parents some peace of mind regarding where their offspring will attend, such as the Assent Primary School and Maktab Kerjasama Malaysia. Other than that, all the temples blend into residential houses for easy access.

Pasar Besar Jalan Othman

Commercial District at Jalan Othman

Playground at Residential Area Nodes, strategic focus points for orientation like squares and junctions. It’s precise locations that require extra attention from the observer, usually junctions along a network of paths or transit stations. They should be limited to a reasonable amount and made distinct through edges and landmarks. In Section 4, all the paths and edges formed some nodes and became community areas. One of the biggest and most happening nodes in the town is the Pasar Besar Jalan Othman, which located right beside the junctions of Jalan Othman. There is a lot of people gather from the morning to the noon and also bring life to the whole Section 4. Transportation for residents of Section 4 is also a breeze with public ones available such as through Rapid KL. The combination of Putraline and Putra LRT brought a relief to many Petaling Jaya residents especially those who had had to rely on public transportation. Residents will also be happy to know that there are public transportation facilities sited in neighbouring areas including a bus terminal on Jalan Othman, the RapidKL of Taman Jaya and Asia Jaya as well as the KTM Seri Setia. For Muslims who require assistance or guidance, there is a branch of the Jabatan Agama Islam (JAIS) office located near the Petaling Jaya Old Town section, ensuring that any Muslim will be able to reach out to them easily. Other than that, 3 playgrounds that located in the residential area, which is opened to public, are also the nodes. There are covered with fences for privacy, which enhanced the safety for children while they are playing. Another node is the Caltex Petrol Station, which is the only petrol station in Section 4 that located on the side of Jalan Selangor and connected with two edges (the junctions) brings a lot of conveniences to the residents because of the easy access. The Masjid Al-Islah Bandar Raya is also one of the happing nodes in the town as it’s located in the residential area but mainly use for Malays. There are some events happened in the Masjid also as there is a signboard in front of the Masjid for announcing the event date and functions.

Assunta Hospital

WDC Chinese Temple

Surau Section 4 Petaling Jaya The landmarks, external points of orientation, usually an easily identifiable physical object in the urban landscape. Landmark is also a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances.

In Section 4, there are a lot of temples blended in into the residential area and because of difference religious, they bring difference culture to this town and make the town more vital and multicultural. The 4 temples, Kuil Sithi Vinayagaor (Indian Temple), Surau Section 4 Petaling Jaya (Muslim Temple), Assumption Church (Christian), WDC (Chinese Temple) and Assunta Hospital are the Landmarks of Section 4. The Assunta Hospital just located right beside the roundabout of Jalan temple, it’s obvious and huge on the roadside and it’s the on and the only hospital in Section 4 which makes it the Biggest landmark at there. From the interview of the residents there, they had also mention if they want to navigate their friends to the town, this will be the spot they will usually mention to get them here. The numbers of the temples here proved that the residents here is holy to their own religion and culture as there are difference religious living here but they can still blend in harmoniously and respecting each other religion, this would be the success of the town. And the entire temple is scatted around the residential area together with the shortcuts in the path, all the residents can easily access to the temple. Also, all the temple is designed with a hall for then to held events or gathering but still open for private use.

4.0 CONCLUSION In conclusion, based on Kevin Lynch’s book, The Image of The City, create a cognitive map using the five elements, path, edges, nodes, district and landmark can get better understanding towards how Section 4 Petaling Jaya is formed. Section 4 Petaling Jaya is a town that consisted of historical value but due to the lack of management, this town had waned compared to the past. Such as the construction zone is not containing any safety consideration and indirectly damaged the pedestrian walkway and main road. Other than that, the because of the development of town, there are not enough green spaces for gathering the community and also causing the area became more depressing. There are serious traffic jam on the main road at the peak hour and the traffic jam will bring the noise and bad atmosphere to the town which harm the children, students and elderly especially there are schools located nearby. Besides, there is no development to improve the town for long time, since there are so many schools and temples, if there will be more public community area then the congregation atmosphere in the town will be more happening.

5.0 REFERENCES 1. Section 4. (n.d.). Retrieved June 1, 2016, from http://www.propwall.my/petaling_jaya/section_4/731?tab=property 2. Review: Kevin Lynch – The Image of the City. (n.d.). Retrieved June 1, 2016, from http://themobilecity.nl/2009/05/08/review-kevin-lynch-the-imageof-the-city/ 3. Cognitive Mapping. (n.d.). Retrieved June 2, 2016, from http://richarddagan.com/cogmap.php 4. Why a Mental Map is Important for Architects to Understand - Sensing Architecture Ž | Maria Lorena Lehman. (2009). Retrieved June 2, 2016, from http://sensingarchitecture.com/2400/why-a-mental-map-is-important-forarchitects-to-understand/ 5. Introduction to Fredric Jameson, Module on Ideology. (n.d.). Retrieved June 5, 2016, from https://www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/marxism/modules/jamesonideolo gy.html