Analysis Of Kevin Lynch’S Methodology Of Cognitive Mapping

What does the city's form actually mean to the people who live there? What can the city planner do to make the city's image more vivid and memorable to the city dweller? One of Kevin lynch’s motives before commencing his evaluation and study of cities was to uncover how our urban environment and psychology co-relates with the actual experience of a city. I will be exploring Kevin lynch’s methodology - cognitive mapping in particular Imageability (visual recognition), method of data-gathering, the viability of applying some of his methods in our cities and a comparison between Kevin lynch and Hans Monderman with discussion on one of the elements - paths and the user’s relationship.

Imageability

Imageability, the mental image in which one perceives of its context and experiences, sometimes referred to “visualizing”, is a quasi-perceptual experience. There are 4 main lobes of our brain- occipital (responsible for vision), parietal (temperature, taste, touch and movement), temporal (processes memories, integrating them with our 5 senses) and frontal (cognitive functions and control of movement). Mental image is mediated by our frontal parietal control regions and can rely on our occipital and temporal sensory regions of our brain. They are personal and individual; my mental image will not be identical to another even in the same context. Kevin Lynch has emphasized on environmental images and the legibility of our urban context so as to provide guidance to the dwellers of the city. 30 people were approached to draw a mental map of Boston city in Kevin lynch’s first study. The results were coherent, both good and bad. There were distinctive characteristics of streets that were crooked which resulted in confusion amongst the participants. Along with buildings, spaces that evoked memories, area of rich history and cultural background were fondly remembered. Nature context played a part in the identity of the urban contour e.g. lakes or harbor where social activities form a part in the community. However, I personally feel that the study was done primarily with the focus on visual perception e.g. mental mapping thus lacking emphasis on other cognition. There was also a biasness towards the group of participants as majority of them belong to a professional and managerial group of people thus they could not represent the general public. There is also a lack of considerations to the above experiences in our mind when extracting the information, e.g. temperature, colors, touch, shapes that are not vital or present in Kevin lynch’s cases. These “feelings” could evoke emotions towards an “environmental image” which could strengthen our relationship with the environment in creating more “humane” spaces. For example, if the study is made during summer and winter, the results may vary. If we approach someone who is blind, they are unable to see the surrounding, so they are reliant on their sense of touch thus materiality or shapes would be a vital consideration in their environment. The scope of study can only remain as an experimental perspective. It could be further enhanced if there is a wide spectrum of participants coming from various background, gender and age groups. There should be a mix of locals and expats who have lived in the city for a different number of years, groups from different religion, ethnicity and tourists too. Despite so, there will be a lot more deliberation to mull over and a city space should never be definite for anyone to define.

Data Collection and Classifications – Shapes, Signages, Scale

During the cognitive mapping exercise in U-Town, NUS students were approached to draw mental maps of where they were in relation to U-Town and NUS. What I found interesting was that I could identify a few primary shapes that everyone resonates to when they are drawing a building or space. The first thing that I have observed was that all of them started out with drawing circles, squares or rectangles to relate with the spatial quality in that area. The 3 shapes are the most basic geometry which are introduced to children in school when they are young, they can be used on their own or as part of a composition. Circles are with curves, they are softer and represent connection and community, these are often seen when the participants are drawing U-town green. Squares and rectangles represent stability and solidity that are reflected in the drawings of restaurants, sports complex or office buildings. Paths are fluid, they could be represented as blank spaces or in different line types or line weights. So, why are shapes and perceptual image related so closely? I wonder if city design could be inspired by shapes then? (shapes and cities= fractal cities)

From the mapping exercises, I observed that words are often used to express one’s thoughts or direction in the drawings. The participants felt that it would contribute to the legibility of the map itself. This is an element which Kevin lynch did not discover in his previous study and that could be the case when advertising or visual media was not popular. Also, if a community is less educated or they belong to an older generation, they may not feel that signages are as important because they have low literacy and do not resonate with them. They are inclined to remember features of a certain building e.g. market or social spaces that they are drawn to. However, in the exercises, signages do play an important role towards the participants when defining of a map. It provides them with guidance and assurance because its forms an emotional satisfaction when living in a city where one could be easily lost. This could be reinforced especially when most cities are filled with high literacy population, where technology flourishes with visual media, advertising etc. We are slowly shaping into a generation where our attentions are drawn by branding, marketing and digital information about spaces. Tonality or shades of the drawings could express different layers or importance in the individual drawings and so does scale. In an architectural or urban context, spaces are relatively in Kevin lynch’s methodology of cognitive mapping and the subsequent guidelines for city planning may not be applicable in every context If the brain is capable of retrieving and analyzing information and which, our body become access points where information is passed on then how credible will the study do? Will perceptions, awareness affects our decision makings?

That does not imply our awareness towards environment and decision makings. “Projects in the public realm need to be informed not only from more disciplines but from more kinds of people. Artists, misfits, outsiders, elders, immigrants, people of color, and women have been leading community development efforts in unconventional ways, partly because they have not been invited to the table and also because their varied lived experiences offers something more or counter to the standard advanced for our civic commons, parks, plazas, and other urban public assets.