الفهرس 
UNDERSTANDING WAY-FINDING Perception & Cognitive Mapping:Only 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
This thesis discusses attempts to understand how we find our way through
real world, depending on both of spatial configuration and visual form of the
city. It presents two different theories: First, the concept of imageability /
legibility by professor Kevin Lynch (1960) which claims that way-finding is
related to the process of forming mental maps of our environmental
surroundings based on sensation and memory. Second, the concept of
intelligibility by professor Bill Hillier, the father of Space Syntax theory,
which claim that urban environment can be better under tood through its
spatial configuration. The thesis explores the relationship between the two
concepts in a crucial trying to bridge the gap between them. Heliopolis,
Maadi, and Cairo CBD were investigated in detail. Methodological
procedures consisted of interviews, questionnaires, cognitive maps,
researcher’s site observation of physical environment, and spatial
configuration anaLyses measuring global and local integration values using
UCL Depthmap software. The results showed that spatial configuration of an
environment and spatial cognition are closely related, and there is a
juxtaposition and positive relation between legibility and intelligibility. In
other words, space syntax technique is a good predictor of wayfinding
ability. But in special cases like Maadi when longer and shorter axiaL Lines
have the same width, the results of spatial configuration analysis will be
away from reality and therefore space syntax methodology will not be
appropriate for analyzing this kind of axial maps. The findings also
demonstrate that spatial configuration and visual form are closely linked.
Hence, cities should be visually and structurally legible for better wayfinding
abilities.