To be an Architect

Project 2 requires students to create cognitive mapping of selected significant urban spaces in the city of KL to understand peoples’ perception and spatial behaviour in cities today. Using the cognitive maps students are required to present a critical understanding of emerging contemporary urbanism in KL city spaces, in relations to Kevin Lynch's notions of imageability and how it influences people’s perception of the city. The cognitive mapping should contain:

 

• human facets (memory, identity etc ) 

• spatial and temporal dynamics (traffic, people’s paths, barriers, etc.) 

• architecture (stairs, benches, trees, etc.)

• microstructures (texture, material).

 

Hence, the site that I chose from KL is Dataran Merdeka, at Jalan Raja. The map starts from the Pasar Seni LRT Station all to way the Dataran Merdeka field. There were all together three cognitive mappings to indicate the five elements that were found along the way of the journey. During our visit to the site, we had to interview a few of the people found there as well as asking them to draw the maps based on their understanding and the routes they often used to reach the Dataran Merdeka square or vise versa. After compiling all the maps, we had to compare them to identify the similarities and disimillarities of the elements. From this result, I was able to understand better the notion of urbanism and peoples' perception and spatial behaviour towards the urban cities today.