Spatial Cognition and Urban Planning
This project explores spatial cognition and how understanding spatial cognition can be used to create more effective urban environments through the creation of improved city systems, elements, and layouts.
Abstract
The following paper explores urban planning and how spatial cognition is a vital factor that should be considered in order to create more effective urban environments through the creation of improved city systems, elements, and layouts. This paper explores the way that pedestrians move in urban spaces, how the space can affect the way people move in a space, and the way that people perceive space. It also examines the way that people learn about spaces and the way that spaces are represented in the mind. These representations can be affected by the space that people are living in. Spatial cognition can have substantial effects on the ways that various elements of the city can be designed, including the way that technology will be integrated into cities in the future, the way that public transportation can be planned and the incorporation of various elements such as parks, plazas, and sidewalks can be created in an effective manner.
Section Summaries
01
Introduction
By 2050, 2/3 of the world's population is projected to live in urban environments. Urban environments are currently lacking in many areas, such as traffic, public transportation, and resident happiness. Urban planning based on spatial cognition will allow for more effective cities to be designed.
02
Representations
Humans use a variety of methods to learn a city, including cognitive maps and cognitive collages. In these representations of a city, landmarks and junctions hold a high importance. These representations can be influenced and distorted by a variety of factors, including thoughts and attitudes about the environment.
03
Obtaining Spatial Knowledge
There are a variety of ways humans learn urban environments, including active learning (exploration or searching) and passive learning (being moved or following directions). Active learning is the most effective, but many people learn
03
Human Behavior in urban spaces
Analyzing pedestrian behaviors including crowd movement and individual behavior can have a positive effect on crowd control. People move differently in different city layouts and cities can be designed better to facilitate the movement of it's population.
01
Aesthetics and Cities As a Pattern language
Cities that use many of the same elements and themes in architecture can be more appealing to residents. The aesthetics of a city can influence the residents thoughts and perceptions about a city as well as their emotional state.
01
Creating Better City Elements
Various elements of cities including parks, green spaces, benches, parks and city blocks. These need to be created with regard to the way humans use and act in the space in order for these spaces to be effective.
01
Public Transportation
Public Transportation is a vital aspect of urban environments, but it is important to create it in a way easily navigated by residents. Using knowledge about human cognition, it is possible to create more effective public transportation. It is also possible to use the cognition of organisms such as slime molds to create highly efficient networks.
01
Smart Cities
Smart, interconnected cities has the potential to improve various aspects of urban life including transportation, information sharing, and learning in cities. This technology has the potential to create more efficient and interactive environments for the residents of a city. There are already aspects of many cities using information technology and this will increase as technology advances.
