THEORIES OF ARHICTECTURE AND URBANISM

[ARC61303/ARC2224]

Project Part B

Illustrated Essay with Cognitive Mapping

NAME: PRESTON LIEW RU PING

STUDENT ID: 0313822

LECTURER: MS IDA

SUBMISSION DATE: 6 JUNE 2016

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

Little India is located along Jalan Tengku Kelana where it was formerly

known as Rembau Street. According to the people there, it was named this way

because the “big boss” of the area back then was named Rembau. The street got

the name Jalan Tengku Kelana or Little India during 2007 when most of the

shophouses were rented out or sold to the Indians for business purposes. Today,

Little India is considered to be the biggest Indian street in the state where cheap

merchandise items are sold abundantly for locals and tourists. The atmosphere is

electrifying and clogged up traffic as many people will make their way here to make

their purchases. With a myriad of items such as sarees, textiles, bangles,

necklaces, pots, jewels, flowers and Indian delicacies, people are literally spoilt for

choices in this attraction spot. The street is transformed into a “festival of light”,

shop owners pool their resources together to decorate the street and walkways of

their shops.

Besides Little India, there are many heritage pre-war buildings nearby such

as Gedung Raja Abdullah, the oldest fire station, the Indian mosque, Klang

Convent School, Our Lady of Lourdes church along Jalan Tengku Kelana. There

are organized Klang Heritage Walks as well that covers all 18 heritage spots as

well as free busses (Selangorku) that circles around 23 stations up from SRJK (C)

Kong Hoe / Jalan Batu Tiga Lama all the way to Sekolah Teknik Klang / Jalan Batu

Unjur.

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Figure 1.0.1: Overview map of Little India

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1.1 COGNITIVE MAP OF LITTLE INDIA

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2.0 INTRODUCTION OF COGNITIVE MAPPING

Figure 2: Overview map of Little India (Source:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/517843657132434238/)

Cognitive Mapping is a mental representation which is serves an individual

to acquire, code, store, recall, and decode information about the relative locations

and attributes of phenomena in their everyday or metaphorical spatial environment.

It is also spatial knowledge that was accumulated from the “mind’s eye” to visualize

images, enhance recall and learning of information without the aid of the real

mapping instrument. Utilizing directional cues and positional landmarks as a guide.

Here, the cognitive map encodes scenes or environments into memory and

using the memories to aid in navigation. Particularly influenced by Kevin Lynch’s

The Image of the City (1960), which focuses the environmental component of

spatial memory, including the discussion of spatial cognition into the discourse of

architects and urban planners.

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2.1 INTRODUCTION OF THE IMAGE OF THE CITY

Kevin Lynch's classic text The Image of the City, published in 1960 by The

M.I.T. Press, introduces urban designers and planners to a new way of thinking

about the urban form of a city.

Lynch's core concept was the idea of the "legibility" of the built environment.

That is, how easy can the parts of the cityscape be organized into a recognizable

pattern. He conducted case studies in three U.S. cities: Boston, Los Angeles, and

Jersey City. Lynch identified five key elements that make up an individual's

perception of their city: paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks.

Paths consists of the "channels along which the observer customarily,

occasionally, or potentially moves" (Lynch, p. 47). These are often the most

predominant items in an individual's mental map as this is main mechanism

for how they experience their city.

Edges provide the boundaries that separate one region from another, the

seams that join two regions together, or the barriers that close one region

from another. They are linear elements, but are not the paths along with the

individual experiences the built environment.

Districts are "medium-to-large sections of the city" They are typically two-

dimensional features, often held together by some commonality. The

individual often enters into or passes through these districts.

Nodes are points within the city, strategically located, into which the

individual enters. They often have a physical element such as a popular

hangout for the individual or a plaza area.

Landmarks are also a point-reference (similar to nodes). However, unlike

nodes, landmarks remain external features to the individual. They are often

physical structures such as a building, sign, or geographic features (e.g.

mountain).

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3.0 ANALYSIS (PATHS)

Figure 3.0.1: View towards Jalan Tengku Kelana (Source: Google Maps)

As mentioned from the introduction above, Little India partially enclaves

Jalan Tengku Kelana. Not only that, it also serves as a main path for both cars and

pedestrians. As shown in figure 3.0.1, these are the most recognizable elements

upon reaching Little India. One can see the blue Indian mosque not too far away

as approaching Little India, its dome and the distinctive chakras above the minaret

can be seen from far for way finding. Along the flyover, there is a shade that

stretches a long distance for the pedestrians as well as a comfortable sidewalk

and stairs to go down from flyover in the middle. Not many highways has

pedestrian considerations, they are usually built for cars only and is not meant to

be walkable. Not only that, the streetlamps in Klang has a distinctive design as

well, it can be seen that it contains elements of royalty in terms of colour and

feature.

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Moving forward, one would know Little India is up ahead as they’re

approaching the blue Indian mosque. A signage saying “WELCOME TO LITTLE

INDIA” lies right next to the mosque (figure 3.0.2)

Figure 3.0.2: View towards Little India (Source: Google Maps)

Figure 3.0.3: View towards Little India (Source: Google Maps)

Figure 3.0.3 shows the activities along the street. Traffic is congested as

many people are double parking, many people are walking along the five foot way

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browsing different shops and music are coming out from the shops as well. As an

observer, the liveliness of the street can be felt just from a quick glance of the

street.

3.1 ANALYSIS (EDGES)

Figure 3.1.1: View towards Klang River (Source: Google Maps)

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Figure 3.1.2: View towards Southern Roundabout (Source: Google Maps)

Figure 3.1.1 and Figure 3.1.2 shows edges formed from the Klang

River (North) and the Southern roundabout located near Little India. It prohibits

permeability of access and visual. According to Lynch, edges are boundaries

between two phases, it breaks off the linearity of movement. It is clearly shown

that from the two figures, one would be able to cross the boundaries of it and it

marks the beginning and the end of the Little India zone.

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Figure 3.1.3: View towards long brick façade of the Klang Mahkamah (Source: Google Maps)

Figure 3.1.4: View towards the construction site next to KTM station (Source: Google Maps)

Figure 3.1.5: View towards retaining wall & consistency of trees behind the Klang Mahkamah

(Source: Google Maps)

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Figure 3.1.6: View towards retaining wall of residential area (Source: Google Maps)

Figure 3.1.3 to Figure 3.1.6 shows edges formed from the consistency

walls, trees and elevation. According to Lynch, “those edges seem strongest

which are not only visually prominent, but also continuous in form and

impenetrable to cross movement. Similarly, the four figures shown are of private

zones that are not supposed to be accessible by public.

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3.2 ANALYSIS (DISTRICTS)

Figure 3.2.1: District mapping of Little India

Districts in Little India can be identified externally as the occupying buildings

such as the MPK building, Syabas etc. are memorable in terms of being an

administrative area and shop houses around Little India are the commercial areas.

The zonings are strongest in the Little India area as they can be easily identified

because the other areas are mostly covered by trees which makes it harder to

clearly distinguish the zone though still distinguishable. According to Lynch,

districts are the medium-to-large sections of the city, conceived as having two-

dimensional extent, which the observer mentally enters “inside of”. As shown from

Figure 3.2.2 to figure 3.2.5, the genius loci of each zones are very different in terms

of scale, façade and functions.

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Figure 3.2.2: (Left) Istana, (Right) Religious (Source: Google maps)

Figure 3.2.3: (Left) Public Facilities, (Right) Residential (Source: Google maps)

Figure 3.2.4: (Left) Recreation, (Right) Forest Park (Source: Google maps)

Figure 3.2.5: (Left) Administrative, (Right) Commercial (Source: Google maps)

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3.3 ANALYSIS (NODES)

Figure 3.3.1: (Left) Seng Huat Bat Kut Teh, Seraph Awaken cafe (Right) (Source: Google maps)

Figure 3.3.2: (Left) Indian Mosque, Public Library (Right) (Source: Google maps)

Figure 3.3.3: (Left) Little India, (Middle) Night market in Little India (Right) Recreation facilities beside stadium (Source:

Google maps, YouTube)

Figure 3.3.4: (Left) KTM Station, (Right) Bus stop outside convent school and pedestrian bridge (Source: Google maps)

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According to Lynch, “nodes are the strategic spots in a city into which an

observer can enter, and which are the intensive foci to and from which he is

traveling” and “Intensity of use strengthens this identity”. In figure 3.3.1, it shows

these are nodes where people constantly return for their food / coffee - an

unforgettable place (the essence of this type of element “nodes” is that it be a

distinct, unforgettable place). Figure 3.3.2 shows public places for Little India

where they are the anchor points of the city. Figure 3.3.3 shows that Little India is

a node itself as it an attraction point for locals and tourists to get cheap

merchandises as well as Indian delicacies and pasar malam, and the recreational

area beside the stadium are being used constantly for jogging, playing remote

control car, chilling etc. Lastly, figure 3.3.4 shows the public transport points in the

area, upon exiting the public transport points, the people are needed to choose

where they want to go next. According to Lynch, “the junction, or place of break in

transportation, has compelling importance for the city observer”, “the traveller must

see how he enters the node, where the break in transportation occurs, and how he

goes outward”.

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3.4 ANALYSIS (LANDMARKS)

Figure 3.4.1: Sri Kota Hospital and KCMC (Source: Google maps)

As shown in figure 3.4.1, KCMC is the purple church in the background with

Sri Kota Hospital behind it. Both are considered landmarks as they are way finders.

KCMC is more notable because it has a very bright purple and white façade and

architecturally expressed in a contemporary way – slanted roof, glass, post and

beam structures.

Figure 3.4.2: (Left) Police station and Klang Indian Mosque, Klang Indian Mosque and Bomba

(Source: Google maps)

According to Lynch, “single landmarks, unless they are dominant ones, are

likely to be weak references by themselves. If they are clustered, however, they

reinforce each other in a more than additive way”. It can be seen that these

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landmarks strengthen each other as they are highly recognisable by the colour,

scale and its singularity.

Figure 3.4.3: Our Lady of Lourdes church and LAX Hotel (Source: Google maps)

Our Lady of Lourdes church is seen as a very gothic church compared to

the other churches in the area which uses either a contemporary language or

modernist language. It is located next to the Klang’s convent school and behind

them is the LAX hotel which shows a very strong contrast with the background. It

is a black building, with orange colour K-shaped trusses in the middle.

Figure 3.4.4: Galeri Diraja Sultan Abdul Aziz and Chennai Silk Palace (Source: Google maps)

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Galeri Diraja Sultan Abdul Aziz and Chennai Silk Palace are placed side by

side together and are considered to be landmarks because of the contrast of the

colours compared to other shop houses (they are both very white). Besides that

the gallery has a very colonial design and stretches across the road, and has a

sidewalk beside for pedestrians, making them seeing it as they walk along the road.

Chennai is a corner lot shop that has a unique shop sign that is not a signboard as

well as unique posters on the windows. Both are placed at a junction where it is a

break in transportation, and “decisions must be made at junctions, people heighten

their attention at such places and perceive nearby elements with more than normal

clarity”. Same goes for this junction at figure 3.4.2 below, RHB and the willow trees

become the landmarks for way finding.

Figure 3.4.5: RHB Bank with Willow trees (Source: Google maps)

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4.0 CONCLUSION

Way finding is the travel process of an individual from one point to another.

There are many processes of way finding that can influence how an individual can

travel from one point to another. Each individual has his/her own set of method in

terms of way finding. It can be concluded that factors that affect our recognisability

of places has some coherence with Kevin Lynch’s theory of the 5 legibility.

From the writing of Charles Jenks titled “Semiology and Architecture”,

Jencks mentioned that the presence of relationship and connection between

language, thought and reality just like the semiotic triangle. There is a symbol, a

thought and a representation. By applying it to architecture proofs it by stating that

when we see a building (symbol), we have an understanding (thought) of it and

then we put it in words (representation). The representation and understanding of

the signs are influenced by our background and past memory.

Jalan Tengku Kelana or also Little India has its identifiable elements where

people can recognize where they are situated. The only area that is more of a blur

is when one is heading towards the Istana. The impression of Little India is

considered to be where most commercial activities are happening beside the Klang

Indian’s Mosque. Where it can be considered as a town that houses many Indians

from the mixture of different tamil religious centres, foods and businesses.

Last but not least, this analysis enabled students to further understand how

Lynch’s theory can associate with the urban context as well as Jencks’s. As a

whole, these theories and basic concepts will further strengthen the student’s

notion of urban design.

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5.0 REFERENCES

1. Little India, Jalan Tengku Kelana - Tourism Selangor Official Website.

(n.d.). Retrieved June 05, 2016, from

http://www.tourismselangor.my/destinations/little-india/

2. D. T. (2012, September 24). The Next Klang - Little India. Retrieved June

05, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL7gCXOa-so

3. Understanding Neighborhoods through Mental Mapping: An Application of

Kevin Lynch's Theory Using Universal Design for Learning Principles.

(n.d.). Retrieved June 05, 2016, from

http://www.sjsu.edu/cfd/docs/enactAIM_hilary/

4. Lynch, Kevin. (1960). The Image of the City. Boston: The M.I.T. Press.

5. Cognitive Mapping. (n.d.). Retrieved June 05, 2016, from

http://richarddagan.com/cogmap.php

6. Jencks, C., & Baird, G. (1969). Meaning in architecture. London: Barrie &

Rockliff the Cresset P.

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