Spatial Cognition: Environmental Information Graphic Design in Wayfinding

By

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I wish to take this opportunity to thank my perceptive research supervisor and affectionate family and friends whose constant encouragement and support furthered this research and made it possible (Appleyard, 2008,, 100) (Appleyard, 2008,, 100).

DECLARATION

I [name], declare that all content presented within this dissertation represents my original, independent work and that this dissertation was not submitted for academic examination previously for any alternate qualification. Moreover, it signifies my own opinions which do not necessarily reflect the ideas of the University (Appleyard, 2008,, 100) (Appleyard, 2008,, 100).

Signed __________________ Date _________________

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the role of spatial configuration in shaping the spatial cognition of individuals, pertaining to their environmental construct. Using Hillier's (1996) definition of intelligibility as the rapport between internal and global configurational factors, this research investigates the relationship between resident's cognition and the spatial configuration of a specific locale. The focus of this research, therefore, is a meticulous investigation of secondary sources such as the case study of two adjacent areas in Hampstead Garden Suburb in North London. One area is relatively intelligible, the other less so. Researchers conducted structured interview surveys to extract resident's cognition of their locales. The resulting analysis offered a common basis of analyses for these findings. It highlighted the spatial features of the two areas employing space syntax methods. The spatial understanding section discusses three mutli-faceted case studies in detail. The findings confirm that spatial configuration and spatial cognition are related to each other. This research identified strong correlations between resident's cognitive maps and spatial configuration (Blades p.327) (Appleyard, 2008,, 100) (Appleyard, 2008,, 100).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTII

DECLARATIONIII

ABSTRACTIV

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

Spatial Cognition2

Wayfinding3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW5

The Premise Of Wayfinding Design5

Conceptualizing Wayfinding In Terms Of Spatial Problem Solving6

Posing the Question of Universality: Idiosyncrasy in Problem Solving6

Spatial Component Of Wayfinding Design: Spatial Organization And Circulation System6

Spatial representation: Typology in Cognitive Mapping7

Design Features Facilitating Cognitive Mapping8

Communication of Wayfinding Design: Environmental Graphic Communication13

The Content of Wayfinding Information and Its Location Determined by Decision Plans13

Wayshowing in Hospital by Per Mollerup16

CHAPTER 3: SPATIAL UNDERSTANDING29

Spatial Legibility29

Spatial Knowledge and Human Mind30

Spatial Perception and Mental Image31

Spatial Variables of Legibility31

Recognizability of buildings: landmarks31

Case Study of Hampstead garden32

Syntactic description of Hampstead Garden Suburb32

Sampling And Sketch Mapping Task34

Syntactic Analysis Of Sketch Maps35

Translation Of Syntactic Values Of A Sketch Map To An Axial Map Of The Real World36

Use Case Study Of The Urban Corners Of City Of London38

Case Study: Model for Wayfinding Decision Simulation and Investigation42

3D Computer Space Model for Wayfinding Decision Simulation and Investigation44

CHAPTER 4: FINDING AND ANALYSIS48

Analysis of Hampstead Garden Suburb Case Study48

Analysis of Case Study: Model for Wayfinding Decision Simulation and Investigation58

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION & IMPLICATION61

REFERENCES

GLOSSARY68

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

With individuals living in a highly mobile environment today, it becomes easy to identify, acknowledge and recognize the spatial relationships between general and structural information specifically categorized through mental depiction or a “cognitive map”. Individuals depend on the spatial information as the representative of the positioning and cognitive map in the wayfinding locale. The advancement of the cognitive map is the code of ...