THEORY

THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM [ARC 61303]
PROJECT 2 : COGNITIVE MAPPING
NAME
STUDENT ID
TUTOR
SUBMISSION DATE
LOW JIA CHENG
0314883
MR. LAM SHEN FEI
6TH
JUNE 2016

Project 2 : Cognitive Mapping Theories of Architecture and Urbanism [ARC 61303]
2
Content
1.0 Introduction.................................................................................................................. 3
2.0 Cognitive Mapping...................................................................................................... 4
3.0 Kelvin Lynch Theories Performance on Site
3.1 Path .................................................................................................................... 5
3.2 Edges.................................................................................................................. 6
3.3 Districts............................................................................................................... 8
3.4 Landmark............................................................................................................ 9
3.5 Nodes ............................................................................................................... 10
4.0 HOPSCA ..................................................................................................................... 11
5.0 Conclusion................................................................................................................. 12
6.0 References ................................................................................................................. 13

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1.0 Introduction
Seksyen 4 is located in the Petaling Jaya area; it is ninety percent of residential area.
For the residential of Seksyen4, there are mix cultures and wealth-ness of peoples
staying in Seksyen 4. Terraced houses, bungalows, apartments etc., several of
residential showing a clear of type of wealth-ness of the peoples. The races of the
resident in Seksyen 4 are majority Chinese, followed by Malay and Indian, while
Chinese temples are the major religious in Seksyen 4 compare to other religious such
as Indian Temple, Church etc. Seksyen 4 is basically a very clear square shape, with
four defined main road surrounded. There are two rivers across Seksyen 4 that
somehow became an obstacle in the site. Seksyen 4 consist most of the human needs
of lifestyle, for example, institution, market, hospital, playground, petrol station, religious,
and even bomba, which bring Seksyen 4 a very suitable place to live, because
everything needs is there. The only problem in Seksyen4 is the lacking of working
opportunity, or OFFICE, peoples who live there need to travel out of Seksyen 4 for
working, and somehow cause of traffic jam. Seksyen 4 also lacking of good
entertainment, or modern entertainment, such as shopping mall, theme park etc, and
only minor entertainment area such as playground located in Seksyen 4. The Mapping
of seksyen 4 showing a clear direction in most of the path way, all the paths way are
clearly directed with nodes and landmarks. The two rivers crossed seksyen 4 also
played an important role on the planning of seksyen 4 because the rivers are the edge
of seksyen 4 and became an important reference on the planning which result a quite
arranged planning in seksyen 4. And for the Seksyen 4, the most significant landmark is
defiantly the Big Market – Pasar Besar, it also can be the representative of Skesyen 4.
To understand the Seksyen 4, we analyzed it by using the Kevin A. Lynch’s five
Elements of the city, which are Paths, Edges, Districts, Landmarks, and Nodes.

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2.0 Cognitive Mapping
A cognitive mapping done by me on site.

5
3.0 Kelvin Lynch Theories Performance on Site
3.1 Path
Seksyen 4 can be analyzed by shaping it into a square, which it is surrounded by four
primary main paths way along the square. Jalan Otman having the highest traffic
density that always causes the traffic jams problem. The main reason that causes the
traffic jam is due to the Big Market – Pasar Besar which at the end or beginning of the
path way, cars usually stop by to buy their needs or the vehicle for the stock of the seller
stop by also cause a very big problem for the path way’s traffic. But also because of the
market, Jalan Otman became the highest pedestrian density compare to the other three
primary paths, peoples walking around the area to buy their needs especially house
wife. Inside the seksyen 4, ninety five percent of the user are actually residential; all the
secondary path way and territory path way which connected between the primary path
way can be used as pedestrian walk way instead of for car to pass by, since residential
area also having very low traffic density. There are two rivers that separate the sekstyen
4, so that the river became a very obvious edge to break the paths into three separate
sides, all the path along the river are un-connected except few small pedestrian bridge
and only one main road that can cross the river for the Cars.

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3.2 Edge
The next analysis will be the Edges. The definition of edges may be barriers, more or
less penetrable, which close one region off from another, or they may be seams, lines
along which two regions are related and joined together.
Let’s talk about the primary path way which are very clear and defined which the three
primary paths ways out of four which is the above path way, left path way, and right
path way according to the direction of north point facing up. These three paths way
having a very clear edge because of few reason which is firstly it is the main road for
cars, which very wide and having a highway feel, along the pathway, there are also a
row of threes planted between two side of the road, all these showing a very clear edge
that define the path to be the edge. Different from the other threes paths way, the
bottom path way showing less clear edge which hard to differentiate the edge between
seksyen 4 and seksyen 2 which just beside each other. This is due to the similarity of
the architecture style of both side of the building too, and the road is much more narrow
compare to the other three. But during peak hour, the traffic jam that occurs at jalan
Otman somehow created a very clear edge along the road too. There are two rivers
across the site, the bottom one showing a clear edge because no car can actually pass

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through it, it somehow become a psychologically obstacle, a very huge obstacle that
blocking the road, at the same time is it also very obvious that can be seen from the
primary path way, which easily recognized. The another river which is the above river,
showing less edge compare to the bottom one, this is because there are path way that
can easily access by car which result that the edge is not really defined, this river is also
smaller compare to the river at the bottom, but it still consider a clear edge.

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3.3 District
Next will be the District, the definition of district can be understand as the Areas
characterized by common characteristics, these are the medium to large areas, which
observers mentally enter ‘inside of’ and/or have some common identifying character.
Distinctive physical characteristics might include ‘thematic continuities’, such as texture,
space, form, detail, symbol and building.
Most of the residential are terraced house and bungalow, these two elements can form
a very clear district too. There is an area which packs with apartment buildings, which
form another district too. There are a lot of Chinese temples in the site, can understand
why the majority of the site is Chinese, the terraced showing mid-range lifestyle
community and the bungalow showing richer community. The apartments are 90% of
Malay which their mosque is also around, the apartment can be Malay district which the
district can be said disconnected to the others. This district showed a poorer lifestyle
community. The site also showing very clear institution district, shop house and market
district etc...
The rivers also play an important role to form district in the site naturally.

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3.4 Landmark
Next will be the Landmarks, Landmark’s key physical characteristics was singularity
some aspect that is unique or memorable in the context. Some landmarks – towers,
spires, hills are distant and are typically seen from many angles and from distance, over
the top of smaller elements. Other landmarks – sculptures, signs and trees are primarily
local being visible only in restricted localities and from certain approaches.
Market (Pasar Besar) is the biggest landmark at the site however it is not the biggest
building, it is very historical which everyone purchase their daily needs there. There are
two round about at the corners of the site with a great design sculpture which also a
great landmark. A bigger scale at the site, Hospital, School, Temple, Church, Mosque,
Bomba etc also became a landmark of the site. There are a lot of Chinese Temples in
the site, which can be a very clear landmark to show direction in the site. Along the site,
there are four corners, one corner having the big market, two corners having round
about, and the last corner having nothing, this is also the reason why that path along the
corner not showing a clear edge.

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3.5 Nodes
Next will be the Nodes, nodes is the strategic spots in a city into which an observer can
enter, and which are the intensive foci and from which the person is travelling.
The site is very packed with residential; the Nodes of the site mainly form by the
landmark because the landmark is the one that show a very clear direction in the site.
Big Market is the place that people gather to buy their item and this also the highest
density for nodes. There are few temples that we can find some Chinese community
gathers around. The Apartment area is quite disconnected to the others, but is a very
strong node for that area of people to gather at the playground and food stall nearby.
There is a playground between the terraced houses area which a node for the user
nearby. The hospital beside the school, self-form a strong node to all the people
because it showing a very clear direction that direct people to that area. It can be a
gather space or a turning point. Another interesting Node is the area beside the Bomba,
there is playground, temple and food stall beside the Bomba landmark, which showing a
clear direction and also a good space for people to gather around.

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4.0 HOPSCA
After the Kevin A. Lynch’s five Elements of the city, I would like to add another short
topic which I think is very important for the analysis, which is the HOPSCA concept.
Definition of HOPSCA is Hotel, Office, Park, Shopping mall, Convention, Apartment,
which mean the content of the site. HOPSCA theory said that, in a short distance of
radius, the more the HOPSCA content, the better the city planning. HOPSCA is based
on modern human lifestyle, which convenient is the key word. In a radius of area, all the
need is all provided, the quality of lifestyle increase too. Let’s talk about Seksyen 4, it is
defiantly a residential area, according to HOPSCA, Seksyen 4 actually meet most of the
requirement. Seksyen 4 provided a huge market – Pasar Besar that provided all the
goods that needs. There are also schools in Seksyen 4 that student in the area can
walk to the school easily. A huge hospital is also built in Seksyen 4 which provide
convenient for any emergency. Few parks built between the residential areas that
provide a place for resident to chill out. There are also a lot of convenient content such
as petrol station, food, religious, and even bomba. But there are still two main
requirements that are not achieved in Seskyen 4 which is the Hotel and Office. Hotel is
basically for out comer, maybe who visit the place or the people in Seskyen4, no Hotel
found in the Seksyen 4 which might cause the user travel quite a distance to get a hotel
which decrease the quality of seksyen4. Another one is the Office; this is also one of the
main concerns which might cause a lot of problems. Absent of office in Seksyen 4,
result everyday worker need to travel out of the seksyen 4 to get to their working place.
Firstly, is very not convenient to the worker need to travel far every day, secondly
working is compulsory every day and most of the work having the same season 9am -
5pm. So during these seasons, it will cause a bad traffic density and cause traffic jam.

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5.0 Conclusion
In a nutshell, Seksyen 4 in my opinion is quite a good planning area. By using Kevin A.
Lynch’s five Elements of the city, firstly the path, the four main primary paths surround
the site, to form a square, and brand into the site with secondary path and territory path.
Next is the Edge, three out of the four primary path show a very clear edge that defined
the site but the primary path which is the Jalan Otman does not show a very clear
edge.The both river across the site became the edge of the site, the bottom river
showing a clearer edge compare to the above river. Next is the District, since Seksyen 4
is mainly residential, district also be defined by residential type. Seksyen district can be
defined by Terraced house area, bungalow area and apartment area, these districts
also showing the wealth-ness and culture different of the residents. Next is the
Landmark, there are few huge landmark surround along the exterior of the site such as
hospital, Bomba, Petrol Station etc. while Pasar Besar is the biggest landmark in the
site. Between Seskyen 4, religious such as temple became an important landmark that
show a clear direction. Lastly the nodes, obviously the Pasar Besar became a huge
node because of the function of the market is used by certain user every day. The Park
and landmark in Seskyen 4 is also the nodes that gather peoples. For the HOPSCA
analysis, Seskyen 4 in my opinion is a very suitable place to stay, just lack of working
opportunity, if there are an office area in Seskyen 4, it would be much better and
Seskyen 4 lifestyle quality will increase too.

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6.0 References
HOPSCA. (n.d.). Retrieved June 02, 2016, from http://baike.baidu.com/view/1160174.htm
Lynch’s Five Elements. (2013). Retrieved June 02, 2016, from
https://bcamarsharchi525.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/lynchs-five-elements/
Review: Kevin Lynch – The Image of the City. (n.d.). Retrieved June 02, 2016, from
http://themobilecity.nl/2009/05/08/review-kevin-lynch-the-image-of-the-city/
Mapping: Cognitive maps. (n.d.). Retrieved June 02, 2016, from
http://psc.dss.ucdavis.edu/sommerb/sommerdemo/mapping/cogmap.htm
Cognitive Map: Definition and Examples - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com. (n.d.). Retrieved June 02, 2016,
from http://study.com/academy/lesson/cognitive-map-definition-and-examples.html
Kevin Lynch (1960). The Image of the City.

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