THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM PROJECT 2 - AN ILLUSTRATED ESSAY WITH A COGNITIVE MAPPING OF SECTION 2, PETALING JAYA
MAHI ABDUL MUHSIN, 0314421 TUTOR : MR SHEN FEI
SECTION 2, PETALING JAYA The Chosen site of study for this project is located at Section 2 of Petaling Jaya, which is one of the oldest planned cities in Kuala lumpur, Malaysia. Consisting of numerous commercial, residential and business districts, the satellite city remains a popular choice amongst city dwellers and visitors as it flourishes with an abundance of local shopping and dining areas. Section 2 is a mixed development consisting of commercial properties to residential properties. Many new developments are sprouting up in the area, in the midst of decaying, old houses. Modular Rows of shop-houses and shop lots are dotted around the enclave. It proves to be a decent location for most families who desires an urban lifestyle but lack the financial freedom for developments that are much more pricier. Residents of Section 2 mostly live in old single story houses or double story bungalows. Residents are able to enjoy easy access to a wide array of amenities such as hawker stores, mamaks, malay restaurants, banks, and even petrol kiosk. As the area is highly dense, bad traffic congestion along they way is a common scene.
INTRODUCTION Cognitive maps are are mental maps that are drawn by people to represent the personal interpretations of a place. It expresses individual understanding in a visual representation, for people to acquire, store and decode information about locations and attributes of phenomena in their everyday life. In other words, it a pre-conceived and familiar acknowledgement of their living environment Expressed as a metaphorical map. In order to strengthen my recollection of the site and to further strengthen my conclusion for this essay, I approached a few individuals from the site to obtain cognitive maps from ‘mindsets’ who were already familiar with the site, and also a tourist who was unfamiliar with the area. It helped me to understand the mental images created by a diverse demographic of people living in the same environment, however perceive their surroundings differently. The social backgrounds of people certainly alter what they recognize and remember of a certain site but in my opinion, the most prominent factor here is familiarity. Kevin Lynch states that a perception of a city is not only based n physical environments, and people do not always acknowledge tangible elements, but also feelings and memories which are intangible. These may include various emotions, developed impressions and even biased opinions on cultures of the city.
The 3 individuals who were interviewed were carefully approached to gain a more clear understanding in their way of perceiving the environment by different social and working backgrounds and different familiarities and connections with the site. The subjects include a Maldivian tourist who was on her first visit to the site, the uncle at the local Chinese restaurant ( who is also a resident at one of the houses in jalan 2/27 ), and a parent who was waiting by SJK ( C ) CHEN MOH primary school. The mental maps all show obvious similarities and differences, which clearly explain different site perceptions. However the research also depends on the familiarity each individual has grown with the site, which makes the understanding of the site all the more interesting and prompts the analysis of their mental maps. After analyzing their maps, I also asked each subject to draw a sketch-montage of what they can familiarize most with the site, which portrays and expresses their overall idea of the area and to answer the question of why some people notice somethings more than others. This will be later discussed in the paper. The A3 cognitive map contains human facets (memory, identity etc ), spatial and temporal dynamics (traffic, people’s paths, barriers, etc.), architecture (stairs, benches, trees, etc.), microstructures (texture, material). I focused on capturing the essence of the street by drawing out what captured my attention, what disgusted me along the streets, things that overwhelmed me as well as things that disgusted and caused discomfort, whether it be a minor obstruction to circulation etc. As a Person who is not from Malaysia and thoroughly enjoys the culture and diversity of people, food and architecture here, I found the rural feeling of the site quite intriguing, with fragments of urbanism infilled here and there. The residential area, personally seems like a 50% ghost town as it is extremely calm and the streets are pin drop silence during the daytime except for the sound of dogs parking as I passed by the residences.
SIMILAR PERCEPTIONS The imageability of a particular place as explained by Kevin Lynch is the comparison of image with visual reality to learn what forms make for strong images, thus to suggest some principles to urban design. The way the subjects perceive the site are different with regards to their familiarity of the site, but also significantly due to their social backgrounds and experience. Kevin Lynch also discussed about how the image of a given physical reality may occasionally shift depending on the circumstances and how a person views something. According to Lynch, districts are structured with nodes, defined by edges, penetrated by paths and sprinkled with landmarks. Based on the 3 cognitive maps, the primary paths are clearly defined by the 3 subjects which is similar to my mental map as well. The tourist who was on her first visit to the site, the uncle at the local chinese restaurant ( who is also a resident at one of the houses in jalan 2/27 ) and the parent, regardless of how frequent or seldom they lingered in the area, quite vividly realized how prominent these paths are, as they were bustling with people and actitivies. They have all identified Jalan Osthman and Jalan Pasar 1/21 as major paths however their perception of secondary paths become fragmented as they all have different associations with the area from very different points of view. They Have also indicated the 4-junction at Jalan osthman as the major node of the site. All three subjects have indicated the wet market as the landmark of the site.
THE TOURIST All 4 individuals understand the hierarchy and the concept in which the area is planned out, however have different levels of familiarity when it comes to the secondary and tertiary roads and what goes in inside the secondary roads. Another similarity is that all 4 subjects identify Jalan pasar 1/21 as the path with the most nodal points. The tourist, Fadhwa Rasheed, 24, who was a backpacker from Maldives, had a very distinct differentiation between her primary and secondary roads. She identifies This path as a more flamboyant route compared to the Chinese uncle. However she could not identify the secondary paths as separate roads as she associated the area as one entitiy of residence area as she did not see the paths as directional, but merely as a whole, engulfed by a wall of commercial blocks. She had identified Jalan Pasar 1/21 as a flamboyant, vibrant road with little food carts along the way selling fruits and local authentic meals such as dried pork, chicken wings and other delicacies with were completely new to her. As a tourist, instead of finding the crammed, busy street unpleasant, she finds it overwhelming and adds a checkpoint to her travels as the people she meets and the new things she discovered becomes a significant memory, instead of associating the site with old memories as it was her first time visiting the area. She has identified The wet Market along Jalan Osthman as a major landmark, along with the Public Bank and also The mc Donalds adjacent to the public bank, a few blocks away, which was on section 1, petaling jaya. She also indicated the 7 eleven, KK mark and 99 speedmart as landmarks as she probably had pre-coveived ideas of these brands as landmarks and used them to mark her checkpoints in the area. Fadhwa explains how mc Donalds was identified as a landmark as she just started her day with a meal at mcDonalds before she started exploring the area on foot with a group of friends. Below is a mental recollection of the site drawn by Fadhwa.
THE LOCAL UNCLE – JALAN 2 CHINESE RESTAURANT
Based on the cognitive map by the Local uncle working at the Jalan 2 chinese mamak, some of the elements such as landmarks and nodes overlap each other forming his mental image of the area based on his familiarity of the site. The uncle, Melvin Tan, 45, who was born and raised in petaling jaya, and lives in Section 2 currently with his family had grown the most familiarity with the area compared to the others. Uncle Melvin was somewhat fluent in English and was very observant and had an eye for very strict details of the environment. While being interviewed, he publicly advised one of his workers who carelessly left dustbin bags out of the trash bin near some customers who were enjoying their meals. He expressed his concern about not having proper trash facilities in the area which creates some hygiene problem in the restaurant as it Is an open eating place, and creates unpleasant smell issues (despite the inviting and appealing aroma of the chinese cuisines they prepared alround the clock ). Since he is practically native to the area and has been doing his daily business in Jalan 2/27, in the restaurant ( which, according to Mr. Tan is a bustling nodal point for the residents especially at night ) along with the food vendors, he holds a significant reminiscence and memory of the place. He explained how he knew all the workers at the local chinese restaurants that were sprinkled in the midst of the residential districts. Mr Tan also had a very vivid knowledge about the street names and explained the area to me using street names despite the little acknowledgement I personally had with them. Unlike the Tourist perception who indicated every branded convenient store at the area, Mr tan sees Jalan Pasar 1/21 as a nodal entity where he gets his groceries and goods, without indicating any places in general. He Also identified the parks next to the restaurant and the school as a landmark. When questioned why, Mr tan expresses how these green spaces in the area provide solititude and a fresh escape after work everyday.
THE UNFAMILIAR PARENT- ( SJK ( C ) CHEN MOH ) I approached one of the parents who were sitting outside the primary school, Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (C) Chen Moh in Jalan 2/32, watching her son during his P.E session. The school had railings along the side which made it transparent to the outside exposing the interior courtyard and passerby’s can watch the kids engaged in school activities inside the school. The map drawn by the parent is a bit confusing compared to the other individuals as she was not very familiar with the area except for the School and two local restaurants nearby the school, including the restaurant where Mr. Tan worked. She indicated the School and the Restaurant Jin Xuan Hong Kong as a landmark, expressing it as a favorite place for food intake among her peers and children. She also indicated the park and the residential area’s in her cognitive map, however with no indication of the routes that separated them. Her general impression of the site revolved around the school and the adjacent park as a landmark, and she was familiar with them everyday with what she did and associated with during her visits ( random eateries at the nearby local restaurants near the the school, having some fresh air and walking around in the huge public park etc.. ) while she dropped her children off to school and wandered around while waiting for them to finish. She
She has also indicated the greenery around the area, and that the park is engulfed by rows of houses. In her sketch of the park, she also highlighted the ceramic stools, which was an element that I found rather interesting during my visit as well.
DISCUSSION IN RELATION TO KEVIN LYNCH’S IMAGE OF THE CITY
Kevin Lynch discussed about the legibility and imageability of a city. The legibility of the city refers to the ease with which its parts of the fragmented city can be recognized and assembled into a logical and systematic setup. So in theory, a legible city would be one whos districts, landmarks or pathways are easily identified in 3 parts. Namely, the identity, the structure and meaning. Based on the results of the research conducted, the intersection junction between jalan Selangor, Jalan Osthman and Jalan Pasar 1/21 has a high imagebility in the sense that it is easily identified and associated by the locals and foreigners, including tourists alike. In contrary, the secondary paths leading to and in the midst of the residential districts become introverted, turned in upon themselves, with little regard to the urban life outside them. It’s as if you are being transported into a little rural village where the only sounds you hear are from the people at the restaurants and the pets that guard the residentials. Some people might deem the back alleys of the residentials as dodgy, however the greenery lining the residentials eliminate the feeling of poor maintenance and gives it a nice ‘urban decay’ vibe as you can see most buildings with façade’s where the paint and details are worn out and aged by time and weather. The market area’s which are set up by the locals in the area do not have any definite boundaries, including the carts selling fruit and local delicacies. However, the wet market has a very clear boundary line where all the different types of food are categorized. The transition of buildings between the commercial block along Jalan Pasar 1/21 and the residential side are somewhat abrupt, yet the lots are divided into half , with commercial shops zoned facing Jalan Pasar 1/21. Gradually, the lots become secluded as the vehicular traffic abruptly stops as one enters the residential area, and I found myself secluded in peaceful environment where there was no worries about road congestion or traffic noise pollution. Jalan Osthman junction acts as a prominent node as it serves as a focal point from the 4 sections. It serves as a transition point between people coming inform jalan Selangor and Jalan osthman, metaphorically as an arrow pointing into the bustling commercial blocks in Pasar 1/21. This was also proven by the understandings of the 3 subjects. Also vividly due to the Public bank intersection and the Wet market that surrounds it. The junction Is crammed by people, around the clock. The pavement park infront of public bank also act as a concentration node as it gives an opportunity for people to rest there in the midst of the fast paced traffic. These nodes, in turn, are not only strengthened by the presence of these landmarks but welcome people into intersections where districts come together. The paths, again, are given identity and tempo not only by their own form, or by their nodal junctions, but by the regions they pass through, the edges they move along, and the landmarks distributed along their length.
CONCLUSION The interactions that I have developed with the section 2 environment, the architecture and the people over the course of the Research has given me a very definite perception of the area. Section 2 is introverted into one entity of residential blocks which are seemingly ( district wise ), properly planned. however the houses itself are aged and some transform me back into a colonial street, especially the very secondary pathways which are connected to Jalan Pasar 1/21, which are dominated by hawker stalls and eateries lined up along the streets. The densly packed Pasar 1/21 which washes in a packed crowd of pedestrians, cars and motor bikes obstruct the circulation and jam the street junction throughtout most of the day.The street is currently sprawling with vendors and market-goers alike and vies for attention. The KK mart and the 99 Speet mart stands out in the array of low elevated houses in Jalan Pasar 21. This facet is supported by the fact that it was clearly identified as landmark points by the tourist and the Parent that seldom visited this street. Jalan Osthman is the Primary pathway for vehicles and pedestrians alike to enter Section 2 which connect Jalan Sentul, which is a major path spiking through jalan osthman into jalan pasar 1/21. Personally, I feel that Jalan Osthman has low imageability in reference to kevin Lynch’s theory. It Doesn't have its own distinct characteristics as many urban elements are just thrown in without any proper planning, except for the renovated 4-way junction which was previously a T junction which, according to the construction workers in the site, caused many traffic problems. In contrast, Jalan Pasar 1/21 has a high imageability as it proves to be the merging and simultaneously cutting point of two major districts, commercial mixed use and residential. As I walking towards Jalan Pasar 1/21 ALONG Jalan Dispensary, I felt a very vivid contrast and a guided pathway with 1-2 storey residential buildings on two sides and a colourful array of shophouses of the commercial district right infront, inviting people OUT of Jalan dispensary, Section 2, rather than welcoming them in.
One of the major reasons that contributes to a very unwelcoming entrance into section 2 is that, for a person walking INTO Jalan Dispensary ( the very first pathway leading to section 2 from Jalan Pasar 1/21) the visual permeability is extremely low. One negative facet and a daily habit that is developed in the area is that the back alley and kitchen stations of the restaurants in this major road is turned into this Pathway leading to residentials. This created a very negative impression, where the streets were always wet as dishes were being washed on the street, narrowing the usable walking distance. Food and garbage being carried by trucks which left trails of eateries along the road which created sanitary problems and created a pungent scent in the street. This was caused due to improper ground levels and obstructions on the street, which were currently in construction along Pasar 1/21. Nevertheless, as I walked in further, the environment dramatically, yet very abruptly slows down its pace. The fast activities slowly disappear and I was transformed into a more peaceful and quiet ‘neighbourhood’ where I could finally have a moment of silence.