School of Architecture, Building and Design

Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Architecture

Theories of Architecture & Urbanism (ARC61303)

Project 1B: Cognitive Mapping

(Illustrated Essay with Cognitive Mapping)

Petaling Jaya Section 4

Name: Tsang Hao Ren

Student ID: 0315753

ARC 61303 THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE & URBANISM

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Petaling Jaya is in one of the nine districts that have made Selangor, also known as Petaling District. Petaling Jaya was created as a satellite township for Kuala Lumpur by the British. In the 1950s, Kuala Lumpur was facing major overpopulation problems and a satellite town was the solution by the British to overcome this problem and so, Petaling Jaya was born, developing from a small township to eventually consisting of 52 sections.

The area that would be coved is PJ Section 4, one of the 52 sections of Petaling Jaya. PJ section 4, located along with PJ section 1, 2 and 3 is one of the earliest part Petaling Jaya, being dub as PJ Old Town. Section 4 consist mostly of residential areas with support of some commercial facilities.

1.1 Introduction to Cognitive Mapping

Cognitive mapping are mental map, a type of map that are supposedly not very accurate since it is a representation of personal interpretation of an area through memories. It is a form of mental representation that serves an individual to acquire, store, recall and decode information about the locations and attributes of phenomena in their everyday or metaphorical spatial environment. Cognitive maps serve the construction and accumulation of spatial knowledge, allowing the "mind's

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eye" to visualize images in order to reduce cognitive load, enhance recall and learning of information.

2.0 COGNITIVE MAPPING

Based on the Cognitive Mapping, the main roads that make up the boundary lines are clear and accurate. Entering the secondary roads, the path drawn are less accurate based on memory because the path is confusing and unorganised. The large drain that split PJ section 4 can be remembered but the path of the drain is estimated. Landmarks and nodes around the site can be remembered with estimated location. Since it is mostly a residential area, normal house does not stand out but the residential house typology can still be remembered.

It can be observed that the boundaries of section 4 are being defined by the 4 roads with each interception of roads creates a junction, making up 4 corners. Primary paths and secondary path can be easily differentiated based on the size, function, location and density. There are public transport available the area but it seems that most of the bus stops are located along Jalan Penchala. The junctions between Jalan Othman and Jalan Selangor seems to be more prominent as the area is better defined in the cognitive mapping. Overall, PJ section 4 seem to be mostly made up of residential district with some commercial building and supporting facilities. There are quite a number of different religious building within the district, proving that there are multiple ethnic group living within. Some of the religious building are located within section 4, unexposed to the outside, citing that it provides mostly for the community of PJ section 4. PJ section 4 seem to divided into 3 parts by the large drainage, severing the path within the area, causing a lot of dead ends. This made the residential area very unorganised and confusing, non-local would get lost easily inside, the lack of prominent landmarks within the area worsen this problem further. It is also shown to have affected the residential house typology, showing difference type of houses in all 3 parts of the area. There seem to also be a lack of open community spaces within the area, showing that communities are not connected socially. Commercial building are mostly converted from residential buildings and

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are usually located on the edge. Assunta Hospital is one of the more obvious landmarks around the area with the large scale and different architecture style and function.

3.0 ANALYSIS BASED ON KEVIN LYCH’S THEORY

According to Kevin Lynch’s book, The Image of The City (1960), The contents of the city images so far studied, which are referable to physical forms, can conveniently be classified into

five elements: paths, edges, districts, nodes and landmarks (Lynch, 1960, page 46).

Path is a route, course, or track along which observer can move. Kevin Lynch (1960) explains that paths were the predominant city elements, although their importance varied according to the degree of familiarity with the city (Lynch, 1960, page 49). In this case, the boundaries of the PJ Section 4 is defined by the 4 main roads namely: Jalan Templer, Jalan Othman, Jalan Selangor and Jalan Penchala. Jalan Templer and Jalan Othman was one of the first roads built back in the 1950s when PJ section 4 being known as part of PJ old town. The 4 main roads are the

primary path for PJ Section 4 that would connect to secondary path that leads into PJ section 4. Path can also be divided into Pedestrian and vehicular path. The roads are created mainly for vehicles. Most of the path within the area are created with little or no consideration for pedestrian walking, with no inclusion of pedestrian walkway, making unfavourable for pedestrians. This actually encourage the community to drive even when only moving within the area. To worsen things, there is large drainage that separates PJ section 4, preventing cars to access to other parts of PJ section 4 without going out of section 4. This disrupts the whole circulation of PJ Section 4 and results in an even more divided community within PJ Section 4. Bridges for pedestrian were built to help cross the large drain, but it didn’t help much, since the pedestrian pathway is unfavourable. There are some good pathways for pedestrian, but only at places that needed it. For example, the playground, school, and hospital.

Edges are linear elements that can’t be or isn’t meant to be a path. It acts as a boundary between two areas. Edges serve as barriers that prevent from moving through but can still be more or less penetrable. For PJ Section 4, the roads are the boundary line that splits PJ section 4 with other sections, making it the edge. Other than that, the high traffic density discourage pedestrian to cross to other sections by being difficult and dangerous. The monsoon drain is also a very prominent edge, splitting PJ Section 4 into 3 parts. This is known as a water edge. Other than disrupting the circulation

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of the area, the drain also affect the pathway, making it have a lot of dead ends and making the road more disorganise than it already is.

District, according to Lynch are the medium to large sections of the city, conceive as having two dimensional extent, which the observer mentally enters inside of and which are recognisable as having some common, identifying character (pg. 47). PJ section 4 may only consists of mostly residential district, but a difference in the residential districts can be seen. It can be observed that residential building typology are affected by the water edge. The water edge split the district into 3 parts, making the houses in all 3 parts have a clear difference in residential area typology. The top part consists of mostly terrace house, the middle part had more medium size houses while the bottom had more low cost houses. This causes the whole residential district in PJ Section 4’s social economy to be divided into 3 parts as well, causing the community to be even more separated. Other than residential area, PJ Section 4 also have some supporting facilities and commercial

building. Commercial building are mostly located at the outskirts, beside the main road so that more people can be able to know the existence of their shop. Most of the commercial buildings are converted from residential houses, so they still retain the architecture style of the old houses, just slightly renovated. Within PJ Section 4, there seem to be a lack in open community spaces that could potentially improve the lifestyles of the residence there. Religious building are scattered around PJ section 4, some of it are located inside PJ Section 4, not visible to the observers on main roads. These are usually targeted to only serve the community of the area, so it does not require to be in the outskirts but would better to be located within the the heart of the residential areas. Other than the playgrounds, religious buildings are the only other community space. This would mean that the community would only mixed with people from the same religion. Different religions would not have the chance to interact with each other.

Lynch defines nodes are point, the strategic spots in a city into which an observer can enter, and which are the intensive foci to and from which he is travelling (pg. 47). Being in a residential district with only a few community areas, there aren’t much nodes around here. However, there is one nodes that is the most dominant compared to others which is located at the cross junction created by Jalan Othman and Jalan Selangor, the junction that connects Section 1, 2, 3 and 4 that makes up

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PJ Old Town. PJ Old town is not just a name, it holds a special prominence to the community socially and culturally until even today, making it a strong junction node. It was the main public and community areas in Petaling Jaya back in the days. Naturally, features to improve the quality and connectivity for pedestrian and vehicles path are created to accommodate the community. Examples are larger and more organised pathways to connect PJ old town together. The playground is also a node. There are a total a 3 playgrounds around PJ Section 4 and only one is truly open to anyone, it is also the largest and most popular playground around. The other two is located near a flat/ apartment and is covered with fence, making it felt more private. The Majlis Bandaraya PJ is also located here, which is also a Masjid. This Masjid often have events but usually only malays attend the events. One of the less important nodes are the bus stop, people tend to wait for bus or someone there since it is one of the only public space that is shaded and can be seated. Nodes are form when there is certain population and activities that goes on in the area regularly. There is a relationship between nodes and path in PJ Section 4. The pedestrian pathway in section 4 are pretty consider quite bad except for the ones located near a nodes. The more prominent the nodes, the better the pedestrian pathway is created.

According to Lynch, landmarks are another type of point reference, they are external, simply defined physical object (pg.47). Landmark are closely related to landmarks. A place can be both a landmark and a node. A landmark is usually a building that stand out, creating a contrast to surrounding building. One of the landmarks in PJ Section 4 is the Assunta Hospital. The Assunta Hospital stand outs because of the scale, function and architecture style of the building. It is a large hospital that is located in a residential area. The Pasar Besar Jalan Othman is also a landmark of the area. It holds a cultural and historical value to the residents of the Petaling Jaya, being the few places that community get together. Basically, any building that is larger in scale or have different architecture style would stand out in residential district and a lot of this in Pj Section 4 is religious building. PJ Section 4 have quite a number religious building from Surau to kuil to temple. This proves that the residence there are multi-racial. Although they live in harmony, there is a lack of interaction between the communities. The landmarks are more easily identifiable, with the contrast to the surrounding, it leaves a better impression of the area and can act as a guide for navigation around.

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4.0 ConclusionBased on the theories of the five elements: paths, edges, districts, nodes and landmarks implemented by Kevin Lynch and the support cognitive mapping, we could analyse the architecture and urban forms within its social and cultural context. PJS Section 4 is rich in historical and cultural value, but the circumstances and condition of the place discourages the residence to go out interact more. The paths does not encourage resident to walk and are not well planned, being disconnected by the monsoon drain. There is also lack of green and open community space around to improve the lifestyle of people. For observers, the residential district path for PJ Section 4 is quite confusing like a maze, having a lot of dead ends and unable to get to other parts without using the main roads. PJ Section 4 still retains its culture, as seen in the still existing activities in PJ Old Town. Structure and houses still preserve the historical, culture and architecture. There seem to be no on-going development plans that would dramatically change the area.

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