Mind Mapping Study, Barcelona http://socratesarchitects.com

1. Urban
Design:
Art
City
Society
Nicholas
Socrates
2009
Mind
Mapping
Mental
Maps
of
the
City
and
the
Built
Enviroment
In
class
we
used
mental
maps
to
get
participants
to
express
how
they
navigate
the
space
in
the
city.
Participants
are
asked
to
draw
a
sketch
of
how
they
remember
and
would
describe
the
space
they
are
using
on
a
daily
bases.
This
personal
view/
record
has
the
focus
on
perception
of
space
based
on
memory,
experience,
personal
circumstances
and
current
concerns.
The
sheet
given
to
participants
to
draw
on
is
blank.
Participants
are
completely
free
on
how
to
draw
a
“map”.
The
only
rule
is
not
to
copy
it
from
a
street
map
or
image.
Participants
are
asked
to
record/
sketch
their
mental
images
of
the
space.
One
of
the
very
famous
studies
using
mental
maps
is
“The
Image
of
the
City,”
by
Kevin
Lynch,
about
how
users
perceive
and
organize
spatial
information
as
they
navigate
through
cities.
It
was
carried
out
over
five
years
and
summarized
in
his
1960
book.
Lynch
says:
“Every
citizen
has
had
long
associations
with
some
parts
of
his
city,
and
his
image
is
soaked
in
memories
and
meanings.”
(Lynch,
1960,
p
1)
This
expresses
that
there
is
some
knowledge
and
meaning
in
each
one
of
us
about
the
environment
we
live
in
and
have
to
navigate
through.
It
is
something
that
is
not
about
North
or
South,
exact
distance
measurements
or
overarching;
objective
descriptions,
but
rather,
it
is
about
personal
experience,
judgment
and
what
is
psychically
important
to
the
subject.
Lynch
said,
“Most
often
our
perception
of
the
city
is
not
sustained,
but
rather
partial,
fragmentary,
mixed
with
other
concerns.
Nearly
every
sense
is
in
operation,
and
the
image
is
the
composite
of
them
all.”
(Lynch,
1960,
p
2)
Lynch
used
three
disparate
cities
as
examples
(Boston,
Jersey
City,
and
Los
Angeles).
He
reported
that
users
understood
their
surroundings
in
consistent
and
predictable
ways,
forming
mental
maps
with
five
elements:
Paths,
the
streets,
sidewalks,
trails,
and
other
channels
in
which
people
travel;
Edges,
perceived
boundaries
such
as
walls,
buildings,
and
shorelines;
Districts,
relatively
large
sections
of
the
city
distinguished
by
some
identity
or
character;
Nodes,
focal
points,
intersections
or
loci;
Landmarks,
readily
identifiable
objects
which
serve
as
reference
points.
Lynch
provided
seminal
contributions
to
the
field
of
city
planning
through
empirical
research
on
how
individuals
perceive
and
navigate
the
urban
landscape.
His
books
explores
the
presence
of
time
and
history
in
the
urban
environment,
how
urban
environments
affect
children,
and
how
to
harness
human
perception
of
the
physical
form
of
cities
and
regions
as
the
conceptual
basis
for
good
urban
design.

2. In
´Image
of
the
City,´
Lynch
coined
the
term,
´wayfinder´;
he
defined
wayfinding
as
“a
consistent
use
and
organization
of
definite
sensory
cues
from
the
external
environment”.
In
1984
environmental
psychologist
Romedi
Passini
published
the
full-­‐length
book
"Wayfinding
in
Architecture"
and
expanded
the
concept
to
include
signage
and
other
graphic
communication,
clues
inherent
in
the
building's
spatial
grammar,
logical
space
planning,
audible
communication,
tactile
elements,
and
provision
for
special-­‐needs
users.
The
map
is
a
form
of
expression
of
these
personal
memories
and
descriptions.
But
although
it
is
called
a
map,
it
has
two
fundamental
differences;
it
has
no
scale
and
no
objective
direction
assigned
to
it.
The
drawing
lives
of
its
elements
and
may
only
stand
in
this
context,
for
example
there
are
no
assumed
direction
pointing
towards
north.
Other
methods
can
be
a
description
in
words.
The
instructions
to
draw
a
mental
map
are
simple.
The
focus
lies
on
the
content
and
not
the
beauty
of
the
sketch,
there
is
no
right
or
wrong.
The
key
is
that
the
sketch
is
not
copied
from
a
map
or
image
but
rather
drawn
from
memory.
Lynch
introduces
the
mental
map
to
the
participants
as
follows:
“We
would
like
you
to
make
a
quick
map
of
...
Make
it
just
as
if
you
were
making
a
rapid
description
of
the
city
to
a
stranger,
covering
all
the
main
features.
We
don’t
expect
an
accurate
drawing
-­‐
just
a
rough
sketch.”
Lynch
1960,
p
141)
It
is
a
rather
quick
exercise
and
does
not
require
a
lot
of
planning
and
thinking.
In
mental
map-­‐
making,
there
are
three
phases
to
the
creation
of
the
sketch.
First
is
the
skeleton
phase,
it
contains
most
of
the
important
information,
objects,
direction,
names
and
paths.
The
second
phase
puts
the
flesh
on
by
linking
between
memories
with
information
and
description.
This
will
often
trigger
some
more
memories
and
makes
the
map
rich
and
representative.
The
third
and
last
phase
is
the
beauty
process,
where
no
more
important
information
is
added,
but
rather
the
sketch
is
adjusted
and
critiqued.
Mental
maps
have
been
used
in
a
variety
of
spatial
research.
There
are
studies
such
as
Lynches
with
a
focus
on
the
built
environment
with
a
rather
detailed
perception
description.
Also
these
studies
can
focus
on
the
quality
of
the
environment
more
in
terms
of
feelings
such
as
desire,
stress,
fear
or
happiness.
Such
a
study
has
been
done
by
David
Ley
in
Philadelphia
in
1972
or
a
current
similar
project
on
fear
in
Los
Angeles
by
Sorin
A.
Matei,
2003.
From
participants
responces
he
was
able
to
create
a
three
dimensional
surface
to
represent
the
amount
of
fear
in
the
Los
Angeles
region.
This
is
indicated
with
red
and
green
colours.
While
working
with
children
mental
maps
are
also
often
used
as
a
method
of
expression.
For
example
in
“Environmental
fears
and
dislikes
of
children
in
Berlin
and
Paris”
by
Olga
Nikitina-­‐
den
Besten,
2008
looks
at
the
absence
of
children
in
today’s
cities
and
investigates
the
highly
specialized
urban
environment
from
a
child’s
perspective
of
safety,
fear
and
joy.
The
aspect
of
drawing
should
not
be
underestimated.
With
children,
the
reaction
will
ultimately
be
ok
they
like
drawing
so
the
method
is
appropriate,
but
adults
often
have
more
difficulties
to
draw
even
a
simple
sketch.
Drawing
is
not
something
adults
necessarily
do
very
often,
but
children
are
expected
to
some
drawing.

3. To
a
great
extend
there
is
a
lot
of
information
contained
within
the
mental
maps
on
how
people
perceive
the
space
and
ultimately
how
people
create
their
space.
The
creation
of
space
could
be
something
very
personal,
and
through
what
the
essence
of
mental
maps
are;
is
a
very
dynamic
concept
of
temporal
perception
based
on
mood,
concerns
and
circumstances.