work

1. SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING & DESIGN
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONS) IN ARCHITECTURE
THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE & URBANISM
(ARC 61303/ ARC 2224)
PROJECT PART B:
AN ILLUSTRATED ESSAY WITH A COGNITIVE
MAPPING OF
PJ OLD TOWN SEKSYEN 2
NAME: YAP WEI TYNG
STUDENT ID: 0314058
TUTOR: MR. LAM SHEN FEI

2. 1.1Introduction:Site Introduction
Petaling Jaya Old Town is a suburban residentialarea developed and located at
southern part of Petaling Jaya. It was once known as the Effingham Estate and it was
built by the British to dealwith overpopulation in Kuala Lumpurduring 1952.Reason of
overpopulation in Kuala Lumpurwas the tin rush.During 1950s there were only about
800 residential houses were builtand sold to residents with a 60-yearleasehold period
by the British. During the period there was only two main roads which was Jalan 1 and
Jalan 2, and it was called as Jalan Templerand Jalan Othman now. With development
and improvementhave done over60 years, Old Town has been developed into one of
the busiestarea in Petaling Jaya with many residential and commercialunits.The site
can be access through Lebuhraya Baru Pantai. In this research paperwas mainlyabout
Petaling Jaya Old Town Seksyen 2. Petaling Jaya Old Town Seksyen 2 was surrounded
by residential building with some open fields, institution and shop houses.Majorrace
that was currently living there were Chinese because there were manyresidential
houses were full with Chinese culture decoration and god statues in their courtyard.
However Petaling Jaya Old Town Seksyen 2 wasn’t only residential houses butalso
commercialunits happening there too, which makes the area became waybusierthan it
used to be because itprovides more activity to the residents and outsiders to visit this
area.
This research paperis to understand one’s perception and spatial behaviourin
cities nowadays by creating cognitive mapping ofselected significant urban spaces in
the city of Kuala Lumpur. From the map shown above,Petaling Jaya Old Town Seksyen
2 has a significant boundarythat was actually the road path of the area that divides
seksyens ofPetaling Jaya Old Town and it was easy to identify Seksyen 2 through the
map above.

3. 1.2 Cognitive Mapping and Architecture
Cognitive mapping is a type of mental representation that allows us to acquire
information of a certain location and this conceptwas introduced by Edward Tolman in
1948.Cognitive maps are able to navigate us in an unfamiliar place and provide us
directions with reliable information that allow us to get more familiar to the place or
environmenteasily than the usualway. Besides having reliable information in the
cognitive map,that unusualand non-related stuff are being excluded so thatit won’t be
confusing.
In city planning,the author of The Image Of The City, Kevin Lynch used sketches
to reveal human knowledge oflarge-scale complex environment.With the theories that
were introduced by Kevin Lynch in the book The Image Of The City, cognitive mapping
is the bestway to explain the image of the city. With the five elements that he introduced
in the book,cognitive mapping can be easily drawn and easily being identified when
using the mapping in a unfamiliar environmentorlocation.
2.0 Analysis Method
By applying Kevin Lynch five elements into the cognitive mapping,PJ Old Town
Seksyen 2 has been drawn into identifiable and informative elements by excluding
unwanted elements and components without significant features that can be known as
path, edges,landmark,district and nodes.Based on the explanation by Kevin Lynch
through the book The Image of the City, paths are channels along which the observer
potentially moves. Edges are linear elements that act as boundarybetween 2 phases.
Districts are medium to large sections of the city with significant majority features and
can be easily recognized bythe observers.Nodes are strategic spots that allow
observers to enter and it was an intensive gathering area by peoples from the area or
outside the area.Landmarks are anotherpoint-reference which similar to nodes however
observerdoes notenter within them butrecognized them through external view and it
was able to be easily recognized.

4. 2.1 Path
According to Kevin Lynch path can be streets, walkway, transit lines, canals,
railroad, as long as it was a tunnel that provide direction will be considered as path.
Through the cognitive mapping,people are able to enter PJ Old Town Seksyen 2
through three main roads which are Jalan Othman, Jalan Pasar and Jalan Penchala.
Among all these three roads,Jalan Othman and Jalan Selangorwere the busiest roads
due to it was also entrance to other PJ Old Town Seksyen which causes lots of
congestion during peak hours. Along Jalan Othman and Jalan Selangor,there are lots of
commerciallots that were recently converted from residential housing. The main reasons
for the congestion along the road is due to the convenientshops that was happening
along Jalan Selangorwhich has KK supermart, restaurantand hawkershop where cars
mostly stop by to buy stuff or having meals.
These main roads connectto secondarypaths that were connected to the
residential area and the core of the PJ Old Town Seksyen 2 which was the significant
landmark in the middle which was the Chinese primary school that was surrounded by
residential area. The secondaryroad was very narrowand it barely fit two cars in one
lane.Residents usually park their caralong the pathway cause minorcarcongestion
when there were two cars that were come in from different direction in the same time.
However, that area usually is very quiet mostof the time, so mostly residents will walk to
shop houses orstudents will walk to schoolas it was just nearbytheir house. There are
many secondaryroads thatare actually confusing for outsideras mostof the residential
housings are very similar in terms of design and mostof the paths are same in size.
Excluded localpeople,it was hard for peoples to exits and getlost easily as there wasn’t
much landmark that are able to lead people exits the area.

5. 2.2 Landmark
According to Kevin Lynch,landmarks are buildings orobjects that are significant
in terms of size or shape that are unique and contrastwith the context butnot for
observers to enter. There are manylandmarks that are happening in PJ Old Town
Seksyen 2. The first and significant landmark was the Chinese primary schoolthat was
located in the middle of the map. It has been listed as one of the landmark because it
was the tallest and largestbuilding in the area that stands alone on a piece of land that
was surrounded byfour secondaryroads.
The second landmark was happening besides ofthe primary schoolwhich is the
kindergarten.The kindergarten has a different kind of design compare to the residential
building at the side which make the buildings stands out. By sitting nearbythe primary
schooland also stands nearbya big green field, it has somehowcreated a education
district as the area mostlikely for people to learn stuff as there are having the most
education building within the area.

6. This was the third landmark that was significant on site; it was a gathering spot
for Chinese residents.It was mainly for event and gathering spot. This building notvery
noticeable from view as the has nearly same heightwith some of the residential building
howeverthe difference of architecture cause it to became a landmark which was
memorable for observerwhen they pass by. This landmark building also provided the
information as it was located on the main path for the entire secondarypath.It provides
direction for people to exits by going all along straight to exits to the main path.
2.3 Edges
According to Kevin Lynch,edges are boundaries between two phases.It can be
barriers,more orless penetrable which close one region off from anotheror they may be
seams,line along which two regions are related and joined together.
Forthe three main path of the area,it also acts as the edges ofthe area. The
main reasons were due to main paths were mainly for cars to travel which cause it to be
wide and hardly more pedestrian to walk. It acts like an invisible barrier that stop people
from walking from seksyen 2 to the seksyen 4.For the main path that creates a barrier
between seksyen 2 and seksyen 1, it was actually a weak barrier as it was relatively
narrowcompare to the other two main path and second reason was seksyen 1 has more
restaurantand service shop which cause pedestrian eagerlyto cross the road however
during peak hours,it will still remain as a clear barrierfor them due to there are no
bridges that connects these two seksyens.

7. Besides that there was anotherclear edge that was created at the end of the
secondarypath.It was rows of trees with a lot of plantation happening there that were
surrounded byfences.From the view, it shows that there was a highway which was the
main highway to enter PJ Old Town. With the fences and lots of plants, it creates a clear
barrier for the pedestrians and observerby stopping them to across.It was huge and
wide obstacles that block the secondaryawayfrom the highway.
In addition, there was also a building that acts as edges due to it long fences and
restrict area which avoid outsiders and locals to enter which cause a huge barrierto stop
them to access.Thatarea was control by the governments and only allows related
people to enter.
2.4 Districts
According to Kevin Lynch,districts are the medium-to-large sections of the city,
which observers mentally enter ‘inside of’ or have some common identifying character.
First of all, PJ Old Town was main residential area.With high amountof
residential building happening in Seksyen 2 cause an obvious categoryof the area which

8. is residential district. With the landmark for Chinese to gather and event happeningarea
and mostof the residential housing are decorated base on Chinese decorations and the
Chinese primary schoolin the middle of the area clearly shown that mostof the majority
residentin the area were Chinese.
Second partwas the commercialdistrict; it was mainly facing the main road.
According to the locals, mostof the commercialbuildings are converted from residential
building as the history of the area was British built 800 residentialhousing to allocate
overpopulated people from Kuala Lumpurto reduce populations in Kuala Lumpur.
However commercialarea is slowly expanding,due to the converting lease problem.
According to the locals, mostof the locals wanted to convertinto semi-commercial
building to earn some income for their family however,it requires them to pay a huge
amountof money in orderto converttheir lease and mostof the residents are old and
poorwhich cause them hardly to getit done.This has shown that the poorand struggling
lifestyles but trying to earn moneyto survive.
Third part was the education district. This district was located in the middle of the
area.It has form the education district due to there was a Chinese primary schooland
nearbythe primary schoolthere was also a kindergarten.In front of both buildings there
was a big field that provide them space to learn on the greenscape instead ofjust
learning on the books in the steel tree world. It shows that this area was focusing in next
generation’s education.
Lastpart was the greenscape which also actas a minordistrict as it covers a
huge area ofspaces on site and provide more greeneryelements to the site.
2.5 Nodes
According to Kevin Lynch,nodes are point, the strategic spots in a city into which
an observercan enter and which are the intensive foci to and from which he is travelling.
This area was full with residential building with some commercialbuilding and
landmark.So the nodes are mostly restaurantand convenientshops are the nodes for
the area as mostof the residents went there to buys some goodies orhaving their meal
or maybe chit chatwith friends which made those areas high density of nodes.Another
high density of nodes will be the greenscape area because there were manyshading
areas with trees provide nice environmentand also playground for kids to play and have
fun. Another strong node was the main landmark ofthe area which was the primary
schoolas during the peak hours there will be many parents and people around waiting
for their children.

9. 3.0 Conclusion
PJ Old Town Seksyen 2 is rather a well-planned area with less congestion of
traffics however the lack of commercialarea somehowcauses the residents less
convenientand the area will be duller and lack of interest.
By concluding accordingto Kevin Lynch theory, in terms of path, it was well
planned and allthe pathway are connected so it was easily access and exitno matter
from which direction however the only problem with the pathway is there aren’tspecific
direction navigator shown on site but landmark was the one who act as the navigator.
Second was the landmark, the landmark actperfectly as the navigator and the
resemblance ofthe site. There are lots of interesting landmarks such as Chinese primary
school,kindergarten and Chinese assemblybuilding. These building notonly make
people to remember the place more precisely, it also provides direction to enter and exit
the area easily.
Next will be edges,exceptfor Jalan Selangordoesn’thave a strong clear edges,
other paths and fences create a greatedges to separate each regions and create
different kind of spatial experiences.
Forthe district part, the area separate the district area well as in they contain
necessaryspace forthe residential to feel more like home and easyfor them to get
educated,foods, shelter and convenientstuffs.
Lastbut notleast are the nodes,there are a lots of nodes and the largestnode
will be the commercialblock that was facing Jalan Pasarbecause there has the most
convenientshops and restaurants where residents and pedestrians can visits. Another
interesting node will be the greenscape where people come outand chill or children
come outto have fun. Lastis the period node which is the primary schoolas it will be
only gathered lots of people for certain time.

10. 4.0 References
Ching,B.(2014). PJ Old Town'sconverted commercialpropertiesin grey area. PetalingJaya:The Star.
Lynch,K. (1959). The Imageof the CIty. UnitedStatedof America:The MIT Press.
Matterof interest.(2015, March 5). RetrievedJune 1,2016, fromRicharddagan:
http://richarddagan.com/cogmap.php
San Jose State University.(2015,July31). Understanding NeighborhoodsThrough MentalMapping:
An Application of Kevin Lynch'sTheory Using UniversalDesign for Learning Principles. Retrieved6
2016, 3, from http://www.sjsu.edu/cfd/docs/enactAIM_hilary/
Tam, S. (2012). Petaling Jaya. PetalingJaya:The Star.