Evaluating Wayfinding Ability Within Urban Environment

1. Evaluating Wayfinding Ability Within Urban Environment Abd Elbaseer A. Mohamed, CUAS

2. Outline • Overview • - Urban Legibility • - Ineligibility • - Related Works In Legibility and Intelligibility • Method and Findings • - Mapping Case Studies According to Lynchian Method • - Mapping Case Studies According To Space Syntax Technique • - The Juxtaposition Between Legibility And Intelligibility

3. Urban Legibility Visual Form • Kevin Lynch in The Image of The City (1960, MIT Press) categorized urban Legibility into: • - Paths: highways, railroads, canals. • - Edges: rivers, shores, railroad cuts. • - Districts: commercial, residential, industrial. • - Nodes: squares, intersections. • - Landmarks: Pyramids, Empire state building. The visual form of Boston as seen in the field. (Lynch, 1960) Legibility:“…the ease with which a city's parts can be recognized and organized into a coherent pattern” Evaluating Wayfinding Ability Within Urban Environment SSS8 2012

4. Intelligibility The intelligibility is defined as “ the degree to which what can be seen and experienced locally in the system allows the large–scale system to be learnt without conscious efforts” ( Hillier, 1996: 171). Intelligible spatial layout (Kim Y O, 1999) Unintelligible spatial layout (Kim Y O, 1999) Evaluating Wayfinding Ability Within Urban Environment SSS8 2012

5. Related Works in Legibility and Intelligibility • [Dalton and Bafna, 2003] • [kim and Penn, 2004] • [Long and Baran, 2006] • [Turner, 2007] Evaluating Wayfinding Ability Within Urban Environment SSS8 2012

6. Case Studies Cairo CBD Maadi H eliopolis Evaluating Wayfinding Ability Within Urban Environment SSS8 2012

7. Results of a questionnaire distributed amongst 70 subjects. They were asked at what area they had most difficulties in wayfinding.

8. Mapping Case Studies according to Lynchian Method Measuring Urban Legibility Kevin Lynch’s mapping methods Field Reconnaissance Interviews and questionnaires physical form map Mental map Legibility Evaluating Wayfinding Ability Within Urban Environment SSS8 2012

9. Mapping Case Studies according to Lynchian Method Cairo CBD image as seen in the field Cairo CBD image as derived from sketch maps

10. Mapping Case Studies according to Lynchian Method Cairo CBD problems

11. Mapping Case Studies according to Lynchian Method Maadi image as seen in the field Maadi image as derived from sketch maps

12. Mapping Case Studies according to Lynchian Method Maadi problems

13. Mapping Case Studies according to Lynchian Method Heliopolis image as seen in the field Heliopolis image as derived from sketch maps

14. Mapping Case Studies according to Lynchian Method Heliopolis problems

15. Mapping Case Studies according to Lynchian Method

16. Mapping Case Studies according to Space Syntax Technique Cairo CBD Global & Local Integration Values Global Integration Integration R-3 Connectivity Evaluating Wayfinding Ability Within Urban Environment SSS8 2012

17. Mapping Case Studies according to Space Syntax Technique Cairo CBD Map showing degree of appearance of axis in mental maps. The map of the high-integrated axis. Evaluating Wayfinding Ability Within Urban Environment SSS8 2012

18. Mapping Case Studies according to Space Syntax Technique Maadi Global & Local Integration Values Global Integration Integration R-3 Connectivity Evaluating Wayfinding Ability Within Urban Environment SSS8 2012

19. Mapping Case Studies according to Space Syntax Technique Maadi Map showing degree of appearance of axis in mental maps. The map of the high-integrated axis. Evaluating Wayfinding Ability Within Urban Environment SSS8 2012

20. Mapping Case Studies according to Space Syntax Technique Heliopolis Global & Local Integration Values Global Integration Integration R-3 Connectivity Evaluating Wayfinding Ability Within Urban Environment SSS8 2012

21. Mapping Case Studies according to Space Syntax Technique Heliopolis Map showing degree of appearance of axis in mental maps, Heliopolis. The map of the high-integrated axis, Heliopolis. Evaluating Wayfinding Ability Within Urban Environment SSS8 2012

22. Synergy scattergram, Cairo CBD Intelligibility scattergram, Cairo CBD Synergy scattergram, Maadi Intelligibility scattergram, Maadi Synergy scattergram, Heliopolis Intelligibility scattergram, Heliopolis

23. Findings • The spatial configuration of an environment and spatial cognition are closely related. • There is a juxtaposition between legibility and intelligibility; and there is a positive relation between them. • In a special case like Maadi where longer and shorter axial lines have the same width, the results of spatial analysis using axial map won't be accurate and therefore space syntax methodology won't be appropriate for analyzing this kind of axial maps. This means that road hierarchy enhances wayfinding ability, and that Cities should be legible visually and structurally for better wayfinding ability. Evaluating Wayfinding Ability Within Urban Environment SSS8 2012

24. THANK YOU Special Thanks to DAAD and CNRD