SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Architecture

THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM (ARC2224) (ARC61303)

PROJECT PART B

NAME : CARMEN CHEE CHA YI ID: 0313893 LECTURER: MS IDA

Tables of Contects Introduction to the site Introduction to Cognitive Mapping Cognitive Maps Similarities and Differences Conclusion References

Introduction to the site

Located in the centre of Klang along Jalan Tengku Kelana is the little nook

properly known as Little India. It is also the biggest indian street in Malaysia.

Fierce competition among shop owners that offers cheaper prices for

consumers, people are literally spoilt for choice amidst the rows of shops on

the left and ride sides of Jalan Tengku Kelana, with stalls spilling onto the

sidewalks and backlanes. Varieties of items such as sarls, colourful

accessories like bangles and necklaces, textiles, stainless steel pots, Indian

delicacies, gold and flowers are sold here.

Little India, Klang is well known during the Deepavali season. The street is

transformed into a colourful spectacle of light and sound befitting the "festival

of light". Majority of the shop owners pulled their resources together to

decorate the street and the walkways of their shops. The street will be

decorated weeks before the actual festival. The atmosphere is captivating

where traffic usually will be clogged up during the season as thousands of

people make their way from as far as other states to make their purchases.

This area are always packed with Chinese since then. Majority are Hokkien

out of the Chinese population here. Ninety-nine percent of the shophouses in

Jalan Tengku Kelana are occupied by Indians, wheareas fifty percent are

owned by Chinese, but rented by Indians. Hence, the town name 'Little India'.

Previously Little India was named as 'Rembau Street' where 'Rembau' is the

name of the man who owns the street. It started off with a few families and

now it has expanded to about 200-300 families.

Back then, the layout of the town is pretty simple. There were only four streets

in total. The front area was called "front street". The area behind was called

'back street' wheareas the next street was called 'Tunku Street". Lastly, right

behind Tunku Street is Sultan Street. Everyone of the older generation knew

about the back street. The name was later changed to Jalan Melayu. After

some time, the name was changed again to Jalan Stesen Satu.

Introduction to Cognitive Mapping

Cognitive mapping can be defined as a type of mental representation which

serves an individual to acquire, code, store, recall and decode information

about the relative locations and attributes of experiences in their everyday or

metaphorical spatial environemnt. A clear mental map is able to provide

emotional security to an individual where it is also the framwork for

communication and conceptial organization, and heightens the depth and

intensity of everyday human experience. Thus, a legible mental map of the

urban environment is needed to counter the always looming fear of

disorientation.

Lynch mentioned that the city itself is a powerful symbol of a complex society.

He argues that an environmental image should consist of these three

components:

• Identity - The recognition of urban elements as seperate entities

• Structure - The relation of urban elements to other objects and to the

observer

• Meaning - Its practical and emotional value to the observer

It is essential that these urban elements are not hermetically designed into

precide and fine detail but to be presented in an open-ended order. Lynch

presents his work as an agenda for urban designers. Urban designers are

encouraged to design the city in such a way that it gives room and spaces for

these three related 'movements': mapping, learning and shaping.

In the first step, people should be able to acquire a clear mental map of the

urban environment. Moving on, they should be able to learn how to navigate

in this environment by training. Third, people must be able to operate and act

upon their environment.

For this project, it allows us as students to create cognitive mappings of Jalan

Tengku Kelana, Klang; also known as Little India to understand peoples'

perception and spatial behavior in the town area today. Three cognitive maps

from different backgrounds and age group are used to present a critical

understanding of the emerging contemporary urban spaces in Little India,

Klang.

The first map is drawn by a local businessman who owns a shophouse and

lived there for years wheareas the second map is drawn by a local who lives

in Setia Alam, who only visited the area for a few times as a tourist. Lastly, the

third map is produced by a man who works there recently and just moved in to

Klang with last year.

Participant 1

Mr. Hassan, 60. Shopowner.

This map is very simple and straightforward. It is generally focused on the

places that he remembers. First, he wrote down the names of the places he

used as points of directions. Then he draw blocks over the names of the

places and create paths that leads one place to another from his memory. We

can carefully see that the position of the places in the blocks are not at the

corner of the street, instead it is drawn at specific distances from the corner.

Furthermore, the block size of the places that he drew does not have any

connection with the actual size of the building. It represents the amount of

importance he gives to the buildings when he orientates himself in the area.

Participant 2

Mr. Lee , 29. Businessman.

This map is more focused on the shophouses along Jalan Tengku Kelana.

For some reason, the Mydin building is more dominant in his view and recalls

the location of it more vividly compared to the other buildings. Locations of the

buildings are quite accurately placed. He started off drawing the Mydin

building then the Mosque, followed by paths. The paths outlined in the map is

inaccurate in terms of the distance and it's proportion of length, however, the

buildings are arranged in order.

Participant 3

Nathan, 26. Worker in Klinik Sentosa.

This map is focused on the smaller details of a specific region of the town. He

started off drawing the map with pathways instead of buildings. This shows

that he recalled his way of entry to the area. A few shoplots are included as

well as the Klang Mosque. One or two signboards are drawn where he often

use them to navigate his way since he moved in.

Similarities

All the participants tend to use the Klang Mosque as a reference point to

locate other buildings and roads around the area. This might be due to its

physically dominant structure and singularity stand-alone building that makes

it attached to their mental maps. The structure and colour of the Mosque

might be the factor that stick to people's memory. Moreover, the Mosque is

location at the corner of the long road of Jalan Tengku Kelana which allows

everyone to pass by it when they're around the area. Since visual information

plays an important role in memory, a frequent encounter with the mosque

itself makes it a vivid visual memory for all participants eventhough they were

unable to draw the architectural details of the building.

The Balai Bomba building is also identified by all participants as a major

landmark. It is sometimes referred as the red building next to the highway

across the river.

Participant 2 and 3 are less sensitive to the distance and direction as their

maps shows relative proportion when compared to the actual map. These two

participants tend to store bits of distance and direction data to operate

efficiently around the area.

No participants was able to recall or use any special detail or texture to use as

an identity for any space or building in town. It is rather common in all

participants that technology plays a more significant role than visual and

sensory feedback from site. Participant 2 even tried to use google maps when

he was asked to draw a cognitive map of his own. This shows that second

hand information are more useful to certain people.

Differences

Participant 1 overlooked the existence of Klang Railway Station which is the

closest public transportation to the area. Since he lives and works in the area,

the station is given with little importance to him, while participant 2 and 3 are

aware of the station and included in their drawings when they're forming the

pathways.

Furthermore, participant 1's map lacked visual information but his

explainations involved more sensory elements. On the other hand, participant

2 and 3 who lived away from the selected study area clearly remembers the

pathways to major landmarks of the area as well as the public transportation.

They had more visual data compared to sensory data as visual information is

predominant to everyone during the first stage of cognitive mapping. This

might be also due to their similar routine throughout the area during each visit

and encounter of the area.

Conclusion

There is a density of information relating to the perception of Jalan Tengku

Kelana that varies depending on the observer. The participants focused on

the details that attracted them enough to secure its memory of the place. The

scale and proportion of the places were perceived differently to each

participants due to respective point of view and time. However, participants

were able to identify clear edges and districts. However, there seem to have

no clear path within the area except the main road. Participants have

difficulties to form a clear mental map, however, with their personal

experience of the area, it is rather easy to learn the environment and their way

of the area. The urban elements of Jalan Tengku Kelana is interconnected

and sensed as a whole.