%L discovery2359
%T The effects of "order" and "disorder" on human cognitive perception in navigating through urban environments
%X This paper investigates how “order”, “structure”, and “disorder” of street layouts are perceived
when navigating through an urban environment. It builds on the assumption that a mixture of
“order” and “disorder” might be a key factor for the quality of understanding within an urban
context and that an “ordered” environment tends to be more intelligible when broken up by
an irregularity occasionally. Knowledge about urban layouts can be accrued by the traveller
in different ways: From static viewpoints, from top-down maps, and in travelling through the
scenery. Cognitive processes that are involved in organising information about the structure of
the built environment are known to simplify and schematise information. Such a “mental map”
creates an image of the city, helps in memorising it and facilitates wayfinding tasks. Wayfinding
experiments and investigations into the configuration of street networks have so far supported
the understanding of movement behaviour and given insight from different perspectives on
an urban environment. This paper will attempt to relate two aspects - configurational and
sequential experiences of navigation (along a route) - to each other in using a methodological
framework that allows for comparison of quantitative measurements and findings from both
fields of research. The centre of attention will be the perception of “order”, “structure” and
“disorder” from both perspectives: From “above” and from “along within” an urban environment.
A virtual movement experiment with pre-chosen routes through six city samples is expected to
provide meaningful empirical data with view on the perception of both configurational (view
from above) and sequential (moving through scenery) embodiments of “order” and “disorder”,
thereby introducing a methodological approach that applies string code computation in the
spirit of probabilistic information theory.
%K order/disorder, spatial perception, cognitive mapping, types of knowledge, information theory
%I UCL (University College London)
%D 2006
%A A. Brettel