cognitive mapping essay

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING & DESIGN Centre for Modern Architecture Studies in Southeast Asia (MASSA) Bachelor of Science (Honours) (Architecture) THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM (ARC2224) (ARC61303) Project Part 2 Lee Qin Ni 0317554 Dr. Lakshimi

Figure 1 Bukit Bintang source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/298599

Bukit Bintang is one of Malaysia’s most popular tourist attractions. It is a popular shopping and entertainment district. During the day, it is flooded with tourists and locals shoppers. As for the night life, it features several pubs and bars which open until the wee hours of the morning.

The convenience of its central location made the site very accessible through public transportation. The site can be easily accessed via monorail, taxis and buses.

Bukit Bintang area features a wide range of goods and services. From highend products like Louis Vuitton, Versace to copy products like brand-inspired handbags and wallets. The vast range of choices available attracts crowds from different social backgrounds, hence, adding diversity to the targeted crowds.

Furthermore, many tourists visit Bukit Bintang for its variety of delicacies too.

To understand the site better, we are assigned to produce and collect cognitive mappings from different users. Cognitive mapping is the mental representations of the physical locations. It is constructed based on our understandings of the site hence, each map produced vary for different user. In the mappings, they generally consist of the landmarks and routes which make lasting impressions in the human’s mind. It can also be understood as a mental map. A mental map is influenced by a person’s personal experience with an area preferably not affected by the indirect information from the media or based upon the reputation of the area. Mental mapping, as a research tool uses perception of different

mappings of the individuals with distinctive characteristics. The participants are people who all somehow having a relation to the area, but in a specific way (e.g. locals, tourists, workers).

Figure 2 example of cognitive mapping by Kevin Lynch source: http://www.wordsinspace.net/wordpress/2015/07/07/maps-as-media-sketching-out-the-syllabus/comment-page1/

In our project, we are required to interview at least two people from different backgrounds. I have interviewed a local, a delivery boy and a foreign visitor. I have chosen to interview a local as he has a strong understanding of the site. The delivery boy visits the site from time to time hence it would provide a different mapping from the local who I interviewed. Finally, a tourist was also asked to produce the mapping as it was his first visit to Bukit Bintang, hence the mapping would capture the ‘fresher’ elements of Bukit Bintang.

Figure 3 cognitive mapping by a local, A

When a local, A, was asked to describe how he navigates from pavilion to lot 10, he highlighted the streets as the reference points. He said, ‘Once you exit

pavilion, you would see the Starhill gallery which takes the form of interesting geometrical shapes. Walk across the street, towards starhill gallery and you would come to a small lane where cars are exiting from your left. Travel towards your north, heading towards the direction where Uniqlo is at. Travel straight, Fahrenheit 88 entrance would be on your left and a taxi station would be on your right. Just keep walking straight and follow the crowd until you see a tall red building at the end of the pedestrian path where cars would be entering from your right so beware. Across the street, keep an eye for pickpockets as I was pickpocketed once when it was crowded at night. Follow the route and after approximately 20 steps or so, you would see a green building. The green building is Lot 10’.

Figure 4 cognitive mapping by delivery boy, B

In another interview, a delivery boy, B, said, ‘Just walk straight all the way from pavilion in the direction of the fountain. Then, you will have to cross 3 streets.

On your journey, you would past through Fahrenheit 88, and a few boutiques. Also, there will be coffee shops at your left. At the end of the third street, follow the walkway and lot 10, a huge green building would be on your left’.

Figure 5 cognitive mapping by tourist, C

A foreign tourist C, said, ‘from Pavilion, walk towards the zebra crossing. It is pretty obvious as you would see constant crowd waiting for the light to turn green.

Then, travel towards the direction of the very interesting black angular building. I assume it is a ladies’ shopping heaven as it is where Sephora is located at. You would need to cross another street again, heading to where Uniqlo is at. As you proceed forward, you would come to Fahrenheit 88’s entrance, and a taxi stand would be at your left. Continue your linear journey, there would be glass restaurants at your left and there’s a really nice shisha shop right before you cross the street.

There are also money changers along the street which gives me a lot of convenience as I did not carry much MYR with me. Most of the buildings here are constructed of glass and I quite like the idea as it appears to be welcoming. After crossing the street, the red building would be on your left, and there is some construction projects going on at you right so that area is sealed and closed. Keep moving forward, and Lot 10, a very noticeable green building could be seen on your left. As you walk along the pathway too, be careful as I notice most crowd here travel at a pretty fast pace.

From the recorded interviews, it is not hard to notice that one of the common features described by the individuals is that how they perceive the path as a single linear journey. In order to travel from Pavilion to Lot 10 or vice versa, the path mapped out is the channel along which the individuals potentially move. It is also the route where they observe the surrounding while travelling through it. Their mappings are strongly influenced by which the path which they took. Hence, in ensuring the accuracy of the data collection for comparative purpose, they are required to map down ‘How would you navigate from Pavilion to Lot 10?’.

Figure 6 Lot 10 source: http://static.asiawebdirect.com/

Figure 7 Pavilion source: http://media.timeout.com/

Figure 8 fahrenheit 88 source http://farm5.static.flickr.com/

All of the interviewees in unison included the boutiques, and the major shopping plazas, example Fahrenheit 88, Pavilion and Lot 10 in their cognitive mappings. This has proven how the media has successful influenced other’s impression on how Bukit Bintang is one of the popular shopping-heaven destinations.

The boutiques are especially eye-catching as they have transparent glass walls which enable visitors to have an easy view of the products on display. Besides, Bukit Bintang is also a spot for leisure activities as it not only provides visitors a good platform to pick up with the latest fashion styles, but it has numerous coffee shops along the street too. Visitors can recover from their exhaustion and take a break at the cafĂŠs.

Figure 9 Street at the opposite

However, the individuals did not note down the street opposite to the linear journey. The street is where the hotels, mostly Arabian shops, offices and banks are located. They paid little attention to the street. When asked, they pointed that they are preoccupied with the activities that are available along the travel path between Pavilion and Lot 10. The glass walls along the linear path from Pavilion to Lot 10 evoked their interests in looking at the products on display, and the restaurants with ample of interesting selections and local cuisines are too overwhelming as well. Also, one of them described that the opposite stretch of street appears to be quiet and isolated. It has not much of crowd and the activities at that street do not interest him.

Thus, the need to explore that end of the street is not convincing enough.

Figure 10 Starhill Gallery source:openbuildings.com

One of the many buildings which caught their attention is the Starhill gallery.

The dark building which contrasts from most of the surrounding buildings on site made it very noticeable. Also, it is placed at a strategic location, between pavilion and Fahrenheit 88 where most crowds would walk past and gather. The area nearby Starhill Gallery is perceived as one of the nodal points by the individuals.The architecture of the building is very unique as well. One of them described it as a building with many angles, unlike most of the common buildings which are squares and rectangles.

When asked to describe the site with only 3 buildings, they agreed upon the buildings would be Pavilion, Fahrenheit 88 and Lot 10. These are some of the landmarks identified by the individuals, which they find represents the site well. What these three buildings have in common is, they are huge, and are some of the major buildings at the area. . They serve as a guidance to navigate people down the path from Pavilion to Lot 10.

Figure 11 fountain in front of Pavilion source: http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/

To my surprise, none of the individuals included the fountain in front of Pavilion’s entrance in their cognitive mappings. I personally thought the fountain was one of the attractions at the site as it could be observed that many crowd taking picture with the fountain at the background. In this instance, the fountain would both serve as a landmark and node, where people could notice its presence easily due to its uniqueness. Crowd would gather around it too, whether to appreciate its beauty or to wait for their turns to take pictures with / of it.

Figure 12 Lot 10 Hutong, the red building source: http://www.placesandfoods.com/

Nonetheless, there are still a few obvious observations by the individual which differ from one another. Notice how local A described the area in front of the red building as an unsafe zone due to his experience of being pickpocketed which is not included in other mappers’ drawings. He can also accurately point out the buildings on site and his mapping is pretty comprehensive.

As for delivery boy B, The linear journey has nothing much of a significance to him as he does not pay attention to his surroundings. He visits the site merely to deliver goods to the shops.

As for the tourist, C, his impression of the site is based upon the architecture, appearance and materials of the surrounding buildings. He especially finds the design of the Starhill Gallery interesting. He likes how it appears to be dark and angular, giving a sense of mystery. It attracts his attention to enter the building. Also, he noted how most of the buildings here are constructed of glass facades. He likes it as it makes it interior filled with daylight during the day. He is also the only interviewee who jotted down the money exchange stalls, due to the fact that he needs to exchange for Malaysian currency. There are also several buildings under construction which caught his attention as he would like to know more about its preconstruction state.

To sum up, the districts identified by the individuals are divided into 3 different categories, which are shopping destinations, restaurants and construction areas.

They are identified based on their aims to be at the areas, which are spilt into the 3 categories, to shop, to eat and to construct. Their differences made the areas distinctive from one another but held by common similarities.

Figure 13 cognitive mapping by me

As for the edges, it is generally at the junctions where they are required to cross in order to move to the next segment of the street. The local also highlighted to be extra careful when crossing the junctions as some cars travel at high speed.

These edges are the boundaries which separate the street into 3 segments, but not discontinued. Crowd also tend to gather at the edges too where they would stop to check for moving vehicles before crossing the street. Thus, the area nearby the edges could also be identified as the nodes where crowd would gather.

Finally, the planning of the route from Pavilion to Lot 10 is done in a well manner. The navigation along the route is easy with minimal, close to none confusions. Along the route, there are a few very strong and identifiable landmarks which serve as a confirmation check for the individuals to make sure they are headed to the right direction. Generally, they also described the buildings based on their colours. To them, this method of explanation is straightforward and easy to be understood. The journey from Lot 10 to Pavilion is also short and easy with the focus mainly on the shops and restaurants. Due to its simplicity, it is hard to get lost while navigating around, hence this encourages more exploration. Last but not least, the characters of urban areas are defined by not only the types of places found there, but also by the people who made the area part of their daily routine.

References: 1.

BENNETT, Andrew T. D. DO ANIMALS HAVE COGNITIVE MAPS?. 1st ed. Bristol: The Company of Biologists Limited, 1996. Print.

2.

Jacobs, Lucia F. Unpacking The Cognitive Map: The Parallel Map Theory Of Hippocampal Function. 1st ed.

American Psychological Association, Inc., 2003. Print.

3.

Jameson, Fredric. Cognitive Mapping. 1st ed. Illinois: Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture University of Illinois Press, 1990. Print.

4.

Lee, Sue-Ann. COGNITIVE MAPPING RESEARCH. 1st ed. Surrey: Architectural Psychology Research Unit. Print.

5.

Sulsters, Willem A. Mental Mapping, Viewing The Urban Landscapes Of The Mind. 1st ed. Rotterdam: N.p. Print.

6.

Thomas, Roamin, and Stephanie Donikan. A Spatial Cognitive Map And A Human-Like Memory Model Dedicated To Pedestrian Navigation In Virtual Urban Environments. 1st ed. France: Campus de Beaulieu, 2015. Print.

7.

TVERSKY, BARBARA. COGNITIVE MAPS, COGNITIVE COLLAGES, AND SPATIAL MENTAL MODELS. 1st ed.

STANFORD: DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY, STANFORD UNIVERSITY. Print.

8.

Lynch, Kevin. The Image Of The City. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1960. Print.