Dr. Negin Minaei Architect, Urban Designer,

Environmental Psychologist

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Experiencing a space by a person is a complicated

internal physiological-psychological process which

can be affected by external and internal factors.

What are the internal and external factors that can

affect our experience of an urban space?

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Restoration Stress

It depends on us (prior mood, cognitive depletion, familiarity, personality) and the environment (e.g., complexity, noise, colour, density).

Source: Gatersleben, B. (2011). Key Questions in Environmental Psychology, Handouts

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Overcrowded environments can make us feel : • stressed, • frustrated, • less patient, • less helpful to others And in the long term causes physical symptoms such as headaches and migraines (Gifford, 2002)

Reference: Gifford. R.(2002). Environmental Psychology, Principles and Practice (3rd). Optimal Books, Canada Source of photo: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/2967374/England-is-most-crowded-country-in-Europe.html

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Sensory Perception

The human brain is capable of processing

information in five senses, or modalities.

The five types of modal information are:

• Visual(vision or sight)

• Auditory(hearing)

• Olfactory(smell)

• Somatosensory(touch)

• Gustatory(taste)

Source of picture: http://courses.evanbradley.net/wiki/doku.php?id=overview_of_sensory_systems

The information collected by our five

senses processed by the brain in the

conscious mind then checked with the

filters (former experiences, thoughts,

beliefs, feelings and emotions) stored

in our unconscious mind in just

30seconds!

Based on this procedure we have

different feelings and experiences

when visiting different environments.

Source : http://www.mindfultherapiesni.com/What-is-CBT-.html

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“Our habitats send us environmental signals such as visual images, noises, and olfactory clues.

Visual clues:

• People’s presence and their activities depending on the environment

• (differs in an Italian Plaza or China town or Hyde Park London)

• Colors and decorations

• Textures and fabrics” (Minaei,2015)

Source of photo up: http://www.littleitalynyc.com/shopping.asp Source of photo down: http://www.contemporarynomad.com/2010/12/chinatown-and-little-india/

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• Sounds and noises

Transport noises, the hum of a city

Birds, an ice-cream man

• Smells: depending on the environment

“certain neurons in the olfactory cortex

serve as tuners and volume controls for

various neuronal inputs. The function of

these inhibitory neurons is increasingly

recognized as critical to the sensory

perceptions of sound and sight.”(Johnson & LaFee, 2015)

Source: Johnson, C. & LaFee, S (2015). Understanding How Neurons Shape Memories of Smells, UC San Diego, http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressrelease/understanding_how_neurons_shape_memories_of_smells Source of photo up: https://westeleven.wordpress.com/2011/03/19/week-2-market-food-and-fresh-produce/ Source of photo down: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_fish_trade

Personal differences • Gender

• Age

• Language

• Ethnic background

• Level of education

• Field of study

• Cognitive abilities

• Memory

• Imagination

• Way-finding skills

• Former experiences

of travelling (Minaei,2012)

Source: Minaei, Negin (2012). The Reflections of Ethnical Background, Transportation and GPS in Cognitive Maps of London (Unpublished Master’s thesis). The University of Surrey, Guildford, England.

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1- Environment-based

• Topography

• Climate

• Weather

2- Design-based

2-1 Urban sculpture1

• Entrances and exits

• Volumes

• Silhouette

• Skyline

2-2 Urban appearance1

• Urban Spaces

• Facades

• Urban Furniture

2-3 Image of a city(Lynch Factors)

• Landmarks

• Nodes

• Paths

• Edges

• Districts

2-4 Urban atmosphere1

• People’s presence and their activities

• Sounds and noises

• Smells

• Building atmosphere

Reference: Prof. Manoochehr Mozayyeni, Aesthetic study of Tehran, Tehran Municipality

Source of Picture: http://www.luscombelab.org/

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• Processes which include collecting

and organizing data, storing, sifting

and manipulating data and recalling

information when it is needed.

• Cognitive maps as patterns of

essential information acquired and

saved by the brain; therefore, they

are not necessarily in the form of

maps (Down & Stea, 1973).

• Cognitive maps depend on

an individual’s perspective of the

world illustrating significant

personal differences

(Down & Stea, 1973) .

Source: Minaei, Negin (2012). The Reflections of Ethnical Background, Transportation and GPS in Cognitive Maps of London (Unpublished Master’s thesis). The University of Surrey, Guildford, England.

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“Aim : To check whether or not transport modes and application of navigation technologies such as GPS can affect cognitive maps in any way. Question 1: Do active transport users present more complete maps with higher quality than passive users? Question 2: Can using a GPS affect cognitive maps of users? Case Study: London Data Collection Tools: Questionnaire, Interview + Map” (Minaei,2012)

• Sample Size: 101

• 38.6 % female and

61.4 % male

• The average age: 33.88

• The average duration of residency: 12.19 years with the mode of 2 years

• 71.3% well-educated either holding a degree or a post graduate degree

Source: Minaei, Negin (2012). The Reflections of Ethnical Background, Transportation and GPS in Cognitive Maps of London (Unpublished Master’s thesis). The University of Surrey, Guildford, England.

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Design: Mixed methods Approach (Quantitative-Qualitative)

1. Pilot Study of 10 participants 2. Data Collection 110participants Face-to-face interaction in public spaces in London Virtual interaction through the social media of Face Book

3. Initial Analysis of Maps by Researcher(Quantitative) 4. Card-sorting task and interview with another 5 participants for unbiased analysis of maps(Qualitative) (Minaei,2012)

Source: Minaei, Negin (2012). The Reflections of Ethnical Background, Transportation and GPS in Cognitive Maps of London (Unpublished Master’s thesis). The University of Surrey, Guildford, England.

Variables Independent Variables: Transportation Means GPS Confounding Variables Residency duration Age Gender Level of education

Dependant Variables: completeness River Thames city boundary three-dimensional view map scale (C/N) Landmarks Roads Districts Limits Nodes

Source: Minaei, Negin (2012). The Reflections of Ethnical Background, Transportation and GPS in Cognitive Maps of London (Unpublished Master’s thesis). The University of Surrey, Guildford, England.

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Those participants who use their cars are less likely to use any other modes of transport for their major travels between these main destinations: home, work and shopping . There is a positive correlation between walking and using bike, bus and train but not that significant. The number of roads mentioned

had a positive relation with those who used cars with rs = .299 and p < .05.

SPSS Results for Transport modes

Surprisingly a Spearman correlation run for each modes of transport showed there was no significant relationship between means of transport and completeness of maps rs=.068, p=.518.

Source: Minaei, Negin (2012). The Reflections of Ethnical Background, Transportation and GPS in Cognitive Maps of London (Unpublished Master’s thesis). The University of Surrey, Guildford, England.

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• No significant relationship between GPS usage (combination of three scores from 3 different questions: Phone apps+ GPS+ Using GPS) and completeness of maps with rs=-.096 and p=.361.

• The Mann-Whitney U was found to be 794( z= -2.30) with an associated probability of 0.02 which showed that there was a significant difference between the number of roads each gender mentioned; females mentioned higher numbers of roads compared to males.

SPSS Results for Modes & GPS

Source: Minaei, Negin (2012). The Reflections of Ethnical Background, Transportation and GPS in Cognitive Maps of London (Unpublished Master’s thesis). The University of Surrey, Guildford, England.

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sorters

Gen der

Age Ethnical Back ground

Level of Education and Fields of Study

N 1 F 40-50

Scandinavian Ph.D. / Environmental Psychology M.Sc. / Environmental Psychology

N 2 F 20-25

European M.Sc. / Social Psychology M.A. / Social Linguistics

N 3 F 20-25

African M.Sc. / Human Resource Management B.A. / Business management

N 4 M 20-25

Middle-Eastern

M.Sc. / Civil Engineering (Structure) B.A. / Civil Engineering

N 5 M 20-25

Middle-Eastern

M.Sc. / Civil Engineering (Structure) B.A. / Civil Engineering

Qualitative Results (Themes and Groups) Transportation/Way-finding Themes after card-sorting task: Specific areas, Parts of London with streets Transportation (bus, train) Local points+ streets (micro level) Idea of London Underground Transportation Underground Their address Address Roads+ streets (they must have a car) Limited View, Their address Comprehensive view +details (city boundary street names, more likely to be a map

Source: Minaei, Negin (2012). The Reflections of Ethnical Background, Transportation and GPS in Cognitive Maps of London (Unpublished Master’s thesis). The University of Surrey, Guildford, England.

Results for GPS This suggests that GPS users may not have a bigger picture of London as a whole complete city and instead the map they have in their mind is partial and shows some areas not necessarily connected to each other areas which confirms the results of studies which suggested navigation users have problems shaping a spatial cognitive knowledge of their environment (Krüger et al, 2004 ; Münzer et al., 2006).

Source: Minaei, Negin (2012). The Reflections of Ethnical Background, Transportation and GPS in Cognitive Maps of London (Unpublished Master’s thesis). The University of Surrey, Guildford, England.

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Based on my field experiment using Lynch’s method, I discovered cognitive maps may not necessarily show all environmental Knowledge of a person. What is presented in a cognitive map is not what they know about the environment but what they decide to present. In addition to many factors, from cognitive abilities to drawing skills to logical thinking,….

A Surprising Results

Source: Minaei, Negin (2012). The Reflections of Ethnical Background, Transportation and GPS in Cognitive Maps of London (Unpublished Master’s thesis). The University of Surrey, Guildford, England.

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Thank you