SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING & DESIGN Modern Architecture Studies in Southeast Asia (MASSA) Research Unit Bachelor of Science (Honours) (Architecture)
THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE URBANISM [ARD 3413] PROJECT 2: ESSAY AND COGNITIVE MAPPING
NAME: TAN WEI HOW STUDENT ID: 0310707 TUTOR: MR. NICHOLAS NG
Table Content 1.0
Introduction
3
1.1
Introduction to Site
3
1.2
Introduction of Cognitive Map
4
1.3
Methodology
4
2.0
Cognitive Map
5-7
3.0
Similarities
4.0
Dissimilarities
5.0
Discussion
6.0
Conclusion
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7.0
Reference
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8 9 - 10 11 - 12
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Introduction
1.1
Introduction of Site
The site that has been chosen is the junction of Jalan Pudu, Jalan Tun Perak and Jalan Tan Cheng Lock, which are considered located at Pudu town in Kuala Lumpur. The site is a highly congested area where houses the Pudu Sentral (Kuala Lumpur's oldest bus station), Plaza Rakyat LRT Station, Petaling Street, Maybank Tower and so on. Pudu Sentral as one of the most symbolic landmark of Jalan Pudu is the main bus station terminus in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was opened in 1976 by the late former Prime Minister Tun Hussein Onn, who developed that area to be one of the most congested human nodes of Kuala Lumpur. Besides, the Ampang LRT line between Plaze Rakyat and Masjid Jamek is an elevated railway, running along the Gombak River between Bandaraya and Titiwangsa towards Sentul Timur. It brings people all around Kuala Lumpur across that area. Petaling Street is a Chinatown located around the site, and usually crowded with locals as well as tourists. Traders there are mainly Chinese but there are also Malay, Indian and Bangladeshi traders. Maybank Tower is a major skyscraper and dominant landmark in the junction while it is the tallest building located there. The building is the headquarters of Maybank and houses the Maybank Numismatic Museum. With all these intersection of different activities and elements happening there, it makes the junction of the three main roads became the huge node of tourists, traders, workers and residents.
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1.2
Introduction of Cognitive Map
The perceptual quality of the environment reflects on the human mind in several senses. Humans recognize an environment (space) by identifying the elements and patterns of the environment, making a mental interpretation by memorizing and retrieving elements and patterns in their brains. This process is defined as cognitive maps. A cognitive map is an association of the cognition of environmental structure and properties of subjective meanings of the environment. Three of the main characteristics of environmental perception are: 1. Size and complexity – time is required to gain the full experience of the space due to its complexity. 2. Surrounding – humans have to move around the space to experience it, in and through the scene and surrounding. 3. Purposive Connection – Human generally interact with the environment with a specific goal or plan in mind.
1.3
Methodology
An interview was held with several residents of the site regarding their perception and memories of the city. Requesting them to draw a cognitive mapping of the site based on their perception and memories. Observation technique was used to study the relationship between the residents’ perception and the actual situation in the study area. The observation includes the landmark, paths, nodes, edges, districts, activities and culture of the study area.
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2.0
Cognitive Mapping
My name is Tan Wei How, a 21 years old architecture student and a totally outsider to the site. For me, the junction of Jalan Pudu is a totally strange environment and I think it is good to show my very first impression of the environment through my cognitive mapping in terms of an outsider perception and architecture ways.
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Hamda bin Amal, a 39 years old policeman who guards at the Maybank Tower for 7 years. The reason for selection of his cognitive map is he knows very well of the safety issues of the site and also has a deeper understanding of the incidents that happened within the site for the past 7 years.
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Uja Mathai, a 55 years old taxi driver and a resident who lives in that environment for nearly 30 years. The reason for choosing his cognitive map is he has the deepest understanding of the entire Pudu area and the development of it. Besides, he knows very well about the culture and intangible elements of the site through his memories over that environment.
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3.0
Similarities
Based on the interview with Mr. Hamda and Mr. Uja, I found that there are some similarities among our perception of this city, which are the building landmark and the human node of the city. The most identical building landmark that shown in our cognitive map are the Maybank Tower and Pudu Sentral building. One of the reasons that we felt these two building are the most identical landmark is the huge size of the building and the attractive appearance of it. Besides, three of us treats the buildings as a landmark for that place nor just because of their appearance but based on our own memories. For Mr. Hamda, he remembers about Maybank Tower because he is the one that guarding the people inside the building everyday as his daily job. He knows every single detail about the building including the plan and the architecture of it. For Mr. Uja, he remembers about Pudu Sentral because it is a biggest bus station where he has to send his customer to there everyday as a taxi driver. As a resident who lived for 30 years in the city, he goes to Maybank Tower every morning to bank in his cash, causing the tower to be one of his most memorable place of the city. I have been to the site for twice, the first time was by car whereas the second time was by public transportation. When I was driving my car there, the very first building that I could recognize was the Maybank Tower because it is the tallest tower around the site that I could head to reach my site. And for the second time, I was taking the public transportation. The very first building that I reached before entering the site was the Pudu Sentral Bus Station. These experiences have given me the first impression of the landmark building around the site while I was totally feeling strange for the site during the visit. Three of us agreed that the conjunction of the three roads acts as a very huge human node for the site especially during afternoon time. We all agreed that Pudu Sentral is the key reason that creates the node where buses from everywhere are crossing along the junction before gathering in the bus station and people are gathering around, waiting for their transportation. During afternoon time, students from Confucian Private Secondary School walking around the junction after finished their classes, while all the officers are coming out during their lunch time and hanging around the site. Â 8
4.0
Dissimilarities
Every citizen has had long associations with some part of his city, and his image is soaked in memories and meanings, Kevin Lynch, The Image of a City. By comparative study, some differences of residents’ perception and attitudes are found. Residents with different cultural levels, background and occupation have different perceptions of the city. Based on the interviews and cognitive map, I found that there are differences between Mr. Hamda, Mr. Uja and me while perceiving the city in terms of the street activities (how the street activities make the memorable city to us), the street culture, and the comfort level of the city. 1. The Street Activities For Mr Hamda, he thinks that the main street activities for the site are more towards the commercial and trading activities as he thinks that it is a tourism place where the tourists and foreigner are hanging around the site usually. For example, he drew some famous food restaurants like Nando’s Chicken and Nasi Kandar on his map as he thinks that tourists are mostly coming for the famous food at the site. He said that the site is and under-development place where, there are some construction sites, completed pedestrian bridges and also the elevated LRT railway. For Mr Uja, he thinks that transportation and tourism are the main street activities at the roads junction. As he taxi driver, he recognized and drew most of the main roads and paths around the site such as Jalan Pudu, Jalan Tun Perak, Jalan Tan Cheng Lock, Jalan Petaling, Jalan Yap Ah Loy, Jalan Raja Chulan, Jalan Pudu Lama and so on. He also highlighted some of the bus stations, taxi stations and also some famous hotels around the site. For instance, he drew the appearance of the Ancasa Hotel and some hotel areas on his map, as these are most of the places where he sends his customers. For me, the street activities are balanced around the site where transportation, trading, tourism, education are happening together to create the complex and diverse experiences around the site. For example, I colored the three main roads with different colors, as I think that different color of vehicles especially buses that across the junction create the interesting colorful effect for the roads, just like different street activities that happening across each others create the interesting
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atmosphere for the city. 2. The Street Culture Mr. Hamda did not show much of the street culture on his map as he is spending most of his time in the Maybank Tower and does not really get to know deeper about the culture of the street. On the other hand, Mr Uja did have a better understanding about the culture of the site. He zoned out and colored different cultures on his map and he said that all these different zoning create the pattern and path for the site. For instance, the red zone represents the most of the Chinese culture where the Petaling Street located whereas the purple zone represents the some of the Indian culture location especially the Indian Temple where he visited most of the time. 3. The Comfort Level of the City Mr. Hamda is unhappy with the comfort level of the city as he felt that the safety level around the site is not as good as his expectation. He mentioned that crime cases are happening frequently around the area such as robbery, fraud, car thefts and so on. Mr. Uja is not satisfied with the comfort level of the site in term his experience and senses. He was not happy where the street activities have taken place, which probably disturbs his daily life routine, such as the environmental problems and the uncomfortable smell engaged by the foreigners. He mentioned that, ‘even though the smell of the streets is uncomfortable as well as the dirtiness and communication between the vendors and customers are slightly different from other cities’. Even though it creates an uncomfortable situation, Mr. Uja found it memorable about the city in his mind. Apart from that, I felt quite uncomfortable for the people who sell the bus tickets along the pedestrian area, which at the end limit access for the pedestrian. The vehicle noise affected my comfort level at the site as well.
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5.0
Discussions on findings based on Kevin Lynch's theory on Image of the City & Imageability
1. Path For most people interviewed, paths were the predominant city elements, as the concentration of special use or activity along a street may give it prominence of their minds. Mr. Hamda remembers more about Jalan Tan Cheng Lock where most of the food restaurants are available there during his daily lunchtime whereas Mr. Uja remembers most of the paths surrounding the site because of his daily activities as a taxi driver, spending most of his time on the road sending customer. According to Kevin Lynch, when we consider more than one path, then the path intersection becomes vital, since it is the point of decision. The intersection of Jalan Pudu, Jalan Tun Perak, Jalan Tan Cheng Lock were easily understood, probably because the simple perpendicular relationship of the roads, which are shown in our maps.
2. Nodes Nodes are the strategic foci into which the observer can enter, typically either junction of paths, or concentrations of some characteristic. Three of our maps show that the most identical human nodes are surrounding the junction of the main roads and also the places of a break of transportation, which are the Pudu Sentral and LRT railway station. For Mr Hamda, the thematic concentration of the Maybank Tower has become one of the human nodes for him. He treated the tower as a totally commercial corner at the junction and it became the focus and symbol for the traders to gather at the site.
4. Landmarks ‘Location at a junction involving path decisions strengthen a landmark,’ Kevin Lynch, The Image of a City. The Maybank Tower and Pudu Sentral with a bigger scale in building size was used, for example, to help people to stay on
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Jalan Pudu and Jalan Tun Perak. These two building also became the distant landmark for us, as the unique shape and function make it a key sign for the site. We used distant landmarks only for very general directional orientation, or, more frequently, in symbolic ways. But local landmarks, it only visible in restricted localities and also in the minds of the local residents. Mr. Uja being the most familiar person about the site mentioned that the Indian Temple and Chinese Temple are the local landmark for him.
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Conclusion The comparative essay is to study about how people with different background and ages perceive and remember their city based on their own experience and memories around the city. It also discussed about how people translate their image of the city onto the cognitive map by showing the most memorable elements of the city, such as path, landmarks, nodes, senses, memories and so on. It successfully shows that everyone would have their own perception and expectation for the city where they belong. So, architects have to gain sufficient of knowledge and information for the resident of the city before they plan for the urban design. Beside that, residents shift places more frequently nowadays, from area to area, from city to city. Good imageability in their environment makes them to feel quickly at home in new surroundings. Or else, these changes will disturb to the residents emotionally, and tend to disorganize their perceptual image.
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References 1. Lynch, K. (1960). The image of the city. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. 2. Shamsuddin, S., Abu Hassan, N., & Sulaiman, A. (n.d.). Liveability of Kuala Lumpur City Centre: An Evaluation of the Happiness Level of the Streets’ Activities. Retrieved October 22, 2015, from http://www.waset.org/publications/13643 3. Šiđanin, P. (n.d.). ON LYNCH'S AND POST-LYNCHIANS THEORIES. Retrieved October 28, 2015, from http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/03544605/2007/0354-46050701061S.pdf
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