Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2014, 62(3), 543-552 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201462030543

Spatial Orientation in the Urban Space in Relation to Landscape Architecture

Markéta Krejčí, Iva Hradilová

Department of Garden and Landscape Architecture, Faculty of Horticulture, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic

The need of individuals to identify with the environment and the ability to create a schematic isometric image of their surroundings are essential factors affecting participation in social relations. Spatial orientation in itself reflects the ability of people to read complex urban space and identify with the place.
The presented work studies spatial orientation in the urban space in the context of landscape design. It analyses and searches for opportunities to apply instruments of a landscape architect as a means of improving spatial orientation and readability of the city. The study makes a synthesis of all the data obtained from the environment model. The methodology of work includes sections of a professional urban view combined with mental mapping of current users of the urban space.
The total synthesis was preceded by an intermediate stage of classification which was a comparison of the mental map with the reality in order to obtain "memorable" elements in the urban space, in which it was fundamental to see which entity the communication partner drew first and what entity it is in terms of spatial urban structure. Another parameter was the frequency of occurrence method.
The presented study responds to this strong spatial anchoring of the memorable orientation entity by defining the landscape element and this is supplemented by the aspect of spatial orientation. The landscape element is defined on the basis of the evolution parkway-greenway → greenfindingway. Its substantiation is multiplied not only from the aspect of spatial economy but also in correlation to the dynamic recreational pattern, psychological well-being or the preference of sustainable mobility. The final document of the study in the form of the so-called wayfinding map has the potential of a foundation material which can be applied to strategic and urban designing as a sum of unbiased data in correlation to involvement of the public into the process of creating the urban space.

Keywords: mental maps, wayfinding, urban space, landscape architecture, spatial orientation

Grants and funding:

The work originated with the support of the Internal Grant Agency ZF MENDELU for the year 2013.

Published: August 6, 2014  Show citation