2023 dissertation

TRP337 Dissertation Student ID: 200171087

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1

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INTRODUCTION

5

BACKGROUND

7

1.1 From cognition comes wayfinding

1.2 Global situation: Diminished wayfinding

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8

RESULTS & DISCUSSION

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7.1 Built elements of Castlegate

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7.2 Participants’ impressions of Castlegate

LITERATURE REVIEW 1

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2.2 How environments are thought: Cognitive mapping

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2.3 Existing wayfinding research

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2.1 Defining wayfinding and navigation

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7.3

31

Explorability

35

SUMMARY OF RESULTS

39

SITE ANALYSIS

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8.1 Policy contexts

3.2 Wayfinding principles less employed in contemporary design

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8.2 Thematic site analysis

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8.3 Precedent studies 1 - Covent Garden, London

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8.4 Precedent studies 2 - Les Halles, Paris

50

SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW

15 16

SITE SELECTION AND CONTEXT 17

CONSOLIDATION

51

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DESIGN VISION & SWOT

5.2 Site selection and criteria

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9.1 SWOT summary of common themes

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5.3 Castlegate context

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9.2 Design vision

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6.1 Sketching literature review

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PROPOSAL

10.1 Design themes

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53 53

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10.2 Variations

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6.3 Interview recruitment and representation

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10.3 Final redesign: key design themes

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6.4 How sketch maps can & will be analysed

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6.2 Interview process

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40

5.1 Sheffield identity & background

METHODOLOGY

Recommendations and Replicability

63

40

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LITERATURE REVIEW 3

Limitations

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Castlegate’s wider relations: Adjacent districts, Connections and

LITERATURE REVIEW 2

3.1 Contemporary design supported by wayfinding principles

CONCLUSION

Objectives

62

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INTRODUCTION It is well established that a quality urban experience derives from the human-environment relationship, through the study of humans’ interaction with the environment. Existing theory and principles in urban design draw almost equally from cognitive literature (Alexander, 1977; Cullen, 1995) as much as physical or anthropometric studies, however these cognitive considerations are simply not prevalent given the nature of contemporary urban design. (Marcus et al, 2016) Cognitive aspects of urban experience have nonetheless been shown to influence decision making and behaviour immensely (Alexander, 1977; Nasar, 1994; Bostancı, 2019), which is best represented in the growing field of wayfinding and urban navigation.

Although rarely mentioned in the urban design discourse, the inherently biological nature of wayfinding has influenced humans’ perception and relationship with the environment for millennia.

Now a distinct discipline, wayfinding is the ideal middle-ground for principles of cognitive and environmental psychology to achieve great purpose environment design.

This research will build upon such developments to redesign the Castlegate quarter, itself central to Sheffield city centre, wherein cognitive-founded principles can demonstrate a wayfinding-led proposal for improvement to Sheffield’s urban experience.

Overall aim: Redesign the public realm of Sheffield’s Castlegate quarter utilising cognitive design principles, with aims of improving urban identity within Castlegate and its adjacent areas.

Secondary aims: 1. Derive principles - Explore how wayfinding principles can be applied in practice within urban design and urban regeneration.

2. Assess situation - Assess the state of wayfinding in Castlegate 3. Refine for identity - Gauge the best extent of regeneration to develop an urban identity for Castlegate within the wider Sheffield city centre.

Diagram 1: Overview of the essay structure.

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BACKGROUND 1.1 From cognition comes wayfinding Cognitive studies While this study is primarily focused on design and the urban environment, it will greatly borrow from cognitive principles, which are key findings and theories from the multidisciplinary and increasingly relevant field of cognitive studies. At its core, cognitive studies deal with how the brain or mind works. Application of cognitive findings from neuroscience and psychology have found their way into the built environment, through concepts like sustainable and human-centric cities. (Macagnano, 2008) It is established that the built environment can affect humans and dictate an emotional and sensory experience. (Whyte, 1980; Norman, 2013; Sussman & Hollander, 2021) Emotions of pleasure, stress, panic or wonder continue to be replicated and expanded upon through the influential design and architectural theories of Alexander, Lynch and more. However, while a quality urban experience was the common goal, it was through cognitive processes, behaviours and findings that the core of their theories derived from. (Alexander, 1977; Norberg-Schulz, 1979; Cullen, 1995) Human cognition, although diminished in presence, is inherently part of urban design through the study of humans’ environmental interactions.

Wayfinding Amidst studies of urban behaviour, navigation has been a core area of study. The need for navigation can be traced back to anthropogeny, where it is argued that orienting, wayfinding and even placemaking evolved as a biological practice for learning, survival and congregating the first communities. (Norberg-Schulz, 1979; Aporta, 2016) Beyond getting lost, wayfinding has been the mental toolkit that processes the spatial environment into easily digestible maps and routes, allowing humans to traverse the environment with convenience and simplicity. Academics call this spatial “problem-solving.” (Arthur & Passini, 1992) Over time, wayfinding and associated cognitive processing has become biologically crucial to humans’ emotions, comfort, activities, overall spatial experience and relationship with space.

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The field of wayfinding exists to show how cognitive principles should be undeniably relevant in urban design. Wayfinding research have been largely based on neuroscience, but also include new revelations of humans’ spatial thinking mechanisms. The cognitively informed behaviours of wayfinding and navigation are not just the foundations of urban experience, but encompass a greater transient area of study, including the perceptions, memories and identity of a place within the human mind. (Fendley, 2009; Bond, 2020) Through wayfinding experiences, it can be argued for an urban area, district and even a city to undergo an uplift and regeneration encompassing a holistic experiential improvement.

1.2 Global situation: Diminished wayfinding There is much evidence that can show wayfinding processes in humans have greatly diminished. With wandering proven as indicative of wayfinding ability (Algase, 2004; Bhattacharya & Barry, 2021), studies show recent generations wander less ‘thirty-fold’ (Woolley & Griffin, 2015). This has been attributed to recent developments linked to urbanisation and technological advancement, such as traffic and safety.

What does this mean for the human experience? With less developed urban wayfinding confidence, people may experience getting lost frequently, but also exhibit subconscious behavioural changes such as feeling unsafe or anxious, shying away from public spaces or simply just exploring the environment less.

(Whyte, 1980; Dalton, 2019) Large cities, increased reliance on automobiles and public transportation have also led to a disjointed mental map, where urban dwellers are less required to navigate and commit spaces to memory. (Vertesi, 2008; Minaei, 2014; Stipcic, 2017) While the implications of urban wayfinding and navigation are less profound, users have shown time and monetary losses when lost in indoor spaces. (Zimring, 1990) In the public realm, observable impacts of diminished wayfinding can include urban decline and derelict places. Instead of counting on citydwellers to navigate or observe better, cognitive-directed urban regeneration would aim to engage people cognitively, making wayfinding easier and natural, as it should be.

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2.2 How environments are thought: Cognitive mapping The cognitive mechanisms of how humans interpret and traverse the environment is crucial to understanding urban wayfinding. Principal discoveries in neuroscience made known the different methods the brain stores spatial information (Lovelace, 1999), allowing for environmental design to cater towards cognitive habits and cognitive-led decisions.

LITERATURE REVIEW 1 WHAT IS WAYFINDING & HOW HUMANS NAVIGATE

Two key findings in the field demonstrate the experiential nature of how all animals, not just humans, utilise spatial memory and spatially-informed emotions and behaviours. The discovery of place and grid cells revealed living things did not just recognise distance and geometry, but our brains capture a holistic spatial experience comprised of diverse environmental aspects, including topography, activity and resources. (Portugali, 1996; Epstein et al, 2017) The second discovery of boundary cells corroborates the human tendency to gravitate around edges and frontages, a well-established principle for city life and humanist environments. (Jacobs, 1961; Alexander, 1977; Montello & Sas, 2006)

2.1 Defining wayfinding and navigation Pioneering theorists define navigation as the overarching location-oriented movements of humans traversing space, where wayfinding is the cognitive half of navigation next to locomotion, the execution of the physical movement itself. (Montello, 2005) Eventually wayfinding expanded to include numerous interrelated mental processes, maturing into a ‘standalone consideration’ of spatial theory. (Gibson, 2009) Early theories regarding wayfinding have defined it as a synthesis of distinct themes or steps, most of which are similar and follow the two steps of mental processing (decision, logic, memory) and execution (sensory input and subsequent motion). (Downs & Stea 1973; Arthur & Passini, 1992; Goldhagen 2017)

The diagram below summarises what constitutes this theoretical, heavily cognitive-influenced navigation.

Figure 1: A cognitive memory map. (Ferguson, 2016)

Figure 2: constantly

A representation of processes internal

how and

the cognitive map external stimuli..

The interconnected network that includes these cells are the cognitive map, the spatial database that is consulted when making both cognitive navigation decisions. The cognitive map, the crux of wayfinding and navigation, is a heavily complex, dynamic and adaptable mental representation of one’s environment.

While it remains an intangible, mental concept only physically tied to a brain’s neural cells, cognitive maps rapidly capture inputs and stimuli from both internal (memory, culture, etc.) and external sources (sensory and conscious experiences) in multiple avenues of spatial processing. (Portugali, 1996; Goldhagen, 2017) The result is a sometimes inaccurate but highly personal, rich and detailed holistic experiential map.

Diagram 2: Model of wayfinding processes in a hierarchy of categories.

Thus, it can be concluded that cognitive navigation, and as a result easily navigable cities, must achieve the twin priorities of being easily ‘processed’ and easily ‘executed. A wayfinding-friendly space must therefore present the least obstructions for these cognitive sub-elements to take place.

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Additionally, cognitive maps produce many varieties of wayfinding strategies: two general categories are conscious map-based movements and the usually unconscious route-based movements. (Montello, 1998) From this, further studies reveal greater complexity around when, why and how these mechanisms are utilised, as well as different models and various subdivisions. (Spiers & Maguire, 2008) Both are exercised in day-to-day navigation and must be equally catered to in urban environments (Jeffery, 2019).

Cognitive maps can be visualised through a variety of methods, such as verbal descriptions, mental associations and sketching, which will be explored more in this essay. (Hölscher et al, 2011; Bostancı & Oral, 2017)

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LITERATURE REVIEW 2

DERIVING COGNITIVE PRINCIPLES FROM RESEARCH

2.3 Existing wayfinding research

3.1 Contemporary design supported by wayfinding principles

Majority of wayfinding and navigation research have been criticised to be solely ‘metric and geometric’, (Tversky, 2005) overly mathematical, greatly reduced to simulated environments and thus devoid of other intangibles. With wayfinding seen as an architectural element, studies are usually set indoors or within a building (Fatinah, 2019; Gath-Morad, 2021; Chen, 2021), or are virtual simulations designed to resemble real urban environments. (torok et al, gath-morad) Other studies focus on wayfinding effectiveness in the presence of physical guides, verbal directions, (Denis et al, 1999; Kubat et al, 2012) or GPS, web connectivity and location tracking. (Macagnano, 2008)

With sustainable principles as the dominant doctrine within contemporary urban environment design (Lehmann, 2006; Marcus et al, 2016), cognitive elements of wayfinding theory have established themselves only as a secondary avenue of sustainable design, namely related with walkability, accessibility and legibility.

It is proven that these studies do have a degree of significance for overall navigation studies, however they often tunnel into specific components of navigation rather than a complete urban experience. For example, studies employing descriptive and route-based wayfinding (Denis et al, 1999) might produce some conclusions for the legibility of the environment but are unable to reflect the ideal design that caters to people’s cognitive habits.

A holistic understanding of cognitive wayfinding in urban environments should therefore reject “metrics” in favour of a relational, ecological model centred around human cognition. Both wayfinding and urban environments have past models built on visual cues, patterns and emotions (Gibson, 1979; Cullen, 1995; Lawton, 1996). Contemporary wayfinding studies largely lack an “unmediated raw real experience,” (Ellard, 2015) a combination of visual, sensory and numerous “non-conscious” perceptions.

(Goldhagen, 2017) This vivid “package” of experience in a vantage has shown to always trump geometric measurements or verbal descriptions of an environment. (Reisberg & Heuer, 2005; Hölscher et al, 2011)

The most recognised is legibility, best associated with Kevin Lynch’s seminal works (1960; 1984) where it is defined as the ease of perceiving mental images from environmental cues. Lynch stresses the subjectivity and mutuality of such cognitive processing (Lynch, 1960), which includes intangibles such as ‘other events and places in coherent mental representation’ (Lynch, 1984).

The apparent symbiosis between environment and cognition is facilitated by ‘structure’, an overarching term for convergence and assembly of city parts through connections and mental linkages through cognitive mapping. (Lynch, 1984) This ‘legibility of cityscape’ was also pioneering as a form of visually distilling the environment, a step towards human-centric design in the cognitive dimension, which benefits both wayfinding and sustainable design. Subsequently, seminal works on urban patterns and similarities (Cullen, 1995; Alexander, 1977) reinforce the importance of visual processing through vantages and sequential vision. They also highlight the intangibles of placemaking and spatial narratives, further bolstering city ‘structure’ and ‘sense’ (clarity of perception, similar to legibility) as a legitimate planning consideration founded on cognitive principles.

Figure 3: Hospitals are popular sites for wayfinding research.

(Campbell, 2016)

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PRINCIPLE

DESCRIPTION

DESIGN RELEVANCY & RECOMMENDATIONS

Rotational symmetry

•

Defined as an environment’s visual similarity when viewed from different directions (Jeffery, 2019) • Improves accuracy and mental guesswork of directions • Fundamentally linked to orientation

•

Distinctness

•

•

Degree of contrast between layouts in an environment (Omer & Goldblatt, 2007)

•

Affects ability to grasp character and place-identity (Cheshmehzan-

Maintaining direction important for large city-wide contexts, such as travelling to far-away districts • Crucial during intermittent route planning (Spiers & Maguire, 2008) where people navigate to a recognisable midpoint, usually a public space, before planning a new route Specific areas with character and identity should manifest it architecturally • Can be size, materials, colours or other forms of physical environment

gi, 2012) •

Figure 4: Manhattan’s famous grid layout can fall short on cognitive principles.(Weber, 2017)

Continuity/ regularity

(Omer & Goldblatt, 2007)

Complements visual perception (Gibson, 1979)

•

Consistency and predictability in an environment • Allows quick recognition and cognitive processing (Sussman & Hol-

•

Employing modularity, regular geometry and bilateral symmetry

lander, 2021)

Intelligibility

•

Defined as how easily an area’s street and block network can be understood (Natapov et al, 2016) • High intelligibility facilitates movement due to connecting central locations • A combination of permeability and centrality

•

Simplicity/ redundancy

•

•

3.2 Wayfinding principles less employed in contemporary design Nevertheless, contemporary sustainable design does not fully constitute a navigation-friendly environment. The layout of Manhattan, an exemplary case of theoretical connectivity, falls short immensely when exercised on cognitive grounds. (Bond,

2020)

One example is the use of physical orientation, the heads-up cognitive refresh of constantly understanding one’s relative location as they move around large areas. (Török et al, 2018) This concept originates from boundary cells and a cognitive head-direction compass that has been proven to utilise landmarks and prominent vistas to calculate and approximate distance, direction and other information (Jeffery, 2019; Bond, 2020). Orientation’s importance has been rediscovered through the navigation struggles experienced with multi-level transport (Hölscher et al, 2009; Kamal, 2010) and homogeneity of urban forms. (Venturi, 1977; Fendley, 2009) This can digress from positively-portrayed narratives such as permeable city layouts, public transport systems and corridors which have been well advocated for with little disadvantage in contemporary planning. (Pietrzak & Pietrzak, 2022) Other types of cognitive principles of relevance to urban design is summarised in the following table.

Keeping visual and sensory information to a moderate amount • Wayfinding cue system should be accessible and only where necessary (Mollerup, 2009)

Ensures efficient permeability; highly connected urban structures usually do not always translate to a more popular place • Important places should have high connectivity and vice versa

Utilise simple organisational structures, such as spatial hierarchies and junctions • Progressive disclosure when a high volume of stimuli is expected (Fendley, 2009)

Vitality of scene

•

Defined as the degree which a scene has activity, vibrancy and energy (Ellard, 2020) • Can include colour, materials, brightness and movement

•

Vitality can be promoted to revitalise underutilised public environments • Seeing people and activities will naturally attract more people (Jacobs, 1961)

Geometricity

•

Employment of regular shapes in urban layout such as square or hexagonal grids (Goldhagen, 2017) • Modularity, right angles and equilateral triangles

•

Geometric block and street configurations can reduce uncertainty and create new routes, encouraging exploration • Inherently can improve permeability

Table 1: Cognitive principles found from literature less widely considered in urban design.

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SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW

LITERATURE REVIEW 3

• Wayfinding is a product of mental processes and physical execution.

WAYFINDING IN REGENERATIVE DESIGN

• Space is experienced through a holistic cognitive package.

• Humans have natural tendencies for edges and frontages.

While wayfinding and navigation shortcomings can be slowly adapted to over time, its interconnectedness with cognitive processes provides an avenue towards designing quality urban spaces. The importance of cognitive input can be understood through some cases of urban regeneration schemes that fall short of achieving its destination status despite lush landscaping and high connectivity.

Rivers and riversides are a popular focus for urban regeneration, usually incorporating green infrastructure, amenities and leisure space. (Tort-Donada et al, 2020) Further environmental benefits include placemaking and walkability opportunities through landscaping, activities and landmarks. (Buckman, 2016) While the potential to influence and benefit navigation exists, wayfinding and its related principles are not at the forefront of today’s riverside regeneration.

• Cognitive maps are humans’ wayfinding computer where all stimuli is processed, and produces wayfinding strategies.

• Existing wayfinding studies are too metric, should cater to the holistic “cognitive package.”

• In contemporary design, wayfinding manifests as a subset of legibility.

mostly

• Kevin Lynch’s legibility includes structure, sequencing and vantages as wayfinding-enabling princples.

Figure 4: The San Antonio RiverWalk has poor cognitive literacy.

(San Antonio RiverWalk, 2020)

• However contemporary design principles do not fully cover a cognitively friendly environment, and can sometimes have adverse effects.

• Many cognitive studies show new considerations/ indicators to highlight this.

There are strong cases for wayfinding-oriented solutions in the urban river context. Fundamentally, city-dwellers’ perceptions of their cities cannot do without rivers; the Thames is London’s cornerstone (Vertesi, 2008; Fendley, 2009), as is the Seine in Paris (Milgram et al, 1992). Amidst the social, functional and ecological popularity of urban rivers (Yamashita, 2002; Gehl, 2013), the visual and cultural identity of rivers and its cities are often disconnected.

• Wayfinding is not prioritised in riverside regeneration, although rivers are cognitively important to navigation • River regeneration schemes can prioritise navigation, cultures and identity

(Saleh & Nassar, 2011; Mačiukėnaitė & Povilaitienė, 2013; Shamsuddin et al, 2013)

Wayfinding cannot simply be a by-product of sustainable design.

Modern river regeneration may achieve high traffic but nevertheless fail to present a cognitively comprehensive environment. A notable example is the San Antonio RiverWalk, a canal development scheme often praised for riverfront placemaking and city centre tourism.

(Kamal, 2010; Buckman, 2016) Its most pressing issues include entrance/exit ambiguity, ineffective signage and disorienting visual axes. (Kamal, 2010) It can thus be concluded wayfinding provision exists to some degree in urban riverside schemes, however they are never at the forefront, often delegated as a secondary benefit. This may be avoided through the primacy of cognitive-based design principles, proven to support both established design themes (accessibility, active frontages) and new wayfinding considerations (heads-up orientation, continuity)

Figure 5: The confusion that the RiverWalk brings can be linked to its multiple levels. (San Antonio RiverWalk, 2020)

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5.2 Site selection and criteria To demonstrate cognitive-led design while also addressing Sheffield’s identity crisis, a site fulfilling the following criteria was found: - Centrality within Sheffield - Heavy convergence of city centre paths, routes and districts - Underutilised urban riverfronts - Strong heritage and historic background

Figure 6:

The

unassuming

entrance

to

SITE SELECTION AND CONTEXT

5.1 Sheffield identity & background Sheffield has always been a city proud of its public realm.

However, Sheffield also has been criticised for a lack of “prominent” urban identity, and the fragmented and incoherence of city centre development. (SCC, 2021) Given the city’s immense heritage, history and regenerative treatment of historic areas such as Kelham Island, this lack of “single narrative” plagues the city centre and its regeneration efforts. Sheffield’s disjointed development can be understood as a manifestation of an equally disjointed urban identity. (Macdonald, 2006) The city’s response has been in the form of the Gold Route and Steel Route schemes, two corridors of development that establish city-wide axes, attempting to connect and exercise Sheffield’s quality public space. Furthermore, the ‘Grey to Green’ and ‘Knowledge Gateway’ add two secondary corridors aimed at regeneration for businesses at the mouth of Sheffield Station. (SCC, 2018)

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Figure 7: A close up of the blocks and streets that make up the

The site is the Castlegate quarter of Sheffield city centre, including portions of neighbouring areas such as Victoria Quays and the major intersection of Park Square.

The criteria above characterise an area that can be difficult to cognise and navigate, explore and eventually grasp an urban identity.

Thus, this makes it a prime area to exercise cognitive principles of design in order to balance and better the urban environment in this area, as well as influence the wider city centre.

Figure 8: The location of the site within Sheffield, recognisable by

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While not far from the commercial and cultural hubs of Sheffield’s city centre, the Castlegate area is subject to masterplanning featuring greater independent businesses and mixed-use development. This is currently supported by existing plans to redevelop some prominent sections of Castlegate with primary focuses on business incubators and mixed-use blocks surrounding its eponymous castle remains. These current plans reflect the centrality, intrinsic accessibility and rich history of Castlegate.

The chosen site and the wider Castlegate area are also notably the convergence of multiple redevelopment schemes, namely the Gold Route, Steel Route, Grey to Green project and Knowledge Gateway. Particularly, the city-bisecting Steel Route has been a corridor of public space regeneration for enhanced pedestrian flow between Sheffield’s high activity retail streets, with plans for new pedestrian crossings and public art installations. (SCC, 2018) The presence of historic riversides at Wicker and Victoria Quays also add a riverside regeneration opportunity, given the current underutilisation of these waterfront areas. (SCC, 2007; University of Sheffield, 2011) Cognitive principles can achieve this by interweaving avenues of circulation with new explorations, providing a chance for rediscovering Sheffield’s heritage waterfront.

Not without flaw, the current propositions for Castlegate, the Steel Route and associated riverfronts exhibit symptoms of previously mentioned examples of ineffective urban navigation. However, they also show immense promise for a regeneration scheme better aligned with effective cognitive principles as well as furthering Sheffield city centre’s goals of holistic identity. The resultant design proposal will utilise these to solve navigation-related discrepancies at the site, its riversides and the wider Castlegate; and improve urban identity for Castlegate, the Steel Route and Sheffield city centre.

Nam, optio cum sam ende rehenda velisquam, tem aut enit et quo bla ventis eatia derferiam, soluptur simpos ant.

5.3 Castlegate context

METHODOLOGY The research process borrows from the iterative design process, where normative and scientific methods of research can be incorporated into a well-rounded design proposal (A, overall aim). (Carmona, 2014; Black & Sonbli, 2019) This is achieved through the three secondary objectives, where theoretical wayfinding principles (B, derived principles) are combined with site’s physical and planning context (C, site assessment and D, urban identity respectively) Each of these will all contribute towards informing an integrated vision not only at the site-level, but with benefits to the district (Castlegate) and city (Sheffield). (Black & Sonbli, 2019)

6.1 Sketching literature review While wayfinding techniques differ naturally amongst the population, humans’ cognitive maps can also vary habitually, prioritising different urban elements in different sequences and memory techniques. (Lynch, 1960; Huynh et al, 2008; Gibson, 2009) Hence, a proven method to procure a city’s ‘imageability’ without discriminating against participants’ wayfinding technique and ability has been the pen-and-paper sketching interview. (Ueda et al, 2012; Öztürk, 2017; Törnroth et al, 2022) Figure 10: painting of from the (Steel, n.d.)

Figure 9: The many redevelopment routes and masterplanning corridors that run around Castlegate.

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A famous oil Sheffield Castle 20th Century.

Since its introduction by Lynch (1960), sketching has proven a reliable medium for expressing one’s cognitive understandings. (kavakli, tonroth, bostanci, spiers) In particular, similar interviews involving the technique of sketching a visualised ‘image’ of their environment has been popular for eliciting easily categorised but also highly personalised cognitive experiences. (Vertesi, 2008; Kelley et al, 2012) The language of sketching can be said to transcend cultural and situational differences, bringing to light how humans can ‘cognise’ a city form. (Kubat et al, 2012) Owing to the all-encompassing nature of cognitive experience, intangible elements of the previously mentioned ‘cognitive package’ can be brought to light through comparing participants’ maps or elicited from memory through discussion. Verbal discussion during or after the sketching activity can delve deeper into context-specific wayfinding adaptations, especially through recounting one’s daily

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Aside from its appropriateness, across many design-related disciplines sketching has shown great advantages as a data collection format. Reasons include its universal accessibility, allowing for creativity and playfulness, and encouraging dialogue and personalisation. (Törnroth et al, 2022) Furthermore, the validation of sketching participants’ accounts and ideas are a core tenet in participatory design, an ideal much lacking in contemporary sustainability. (Marcus et al, 2016) An inherently visual medium, sketches can communicate public sentiment and involve them into the design process. (Saleh & Nassar, 2011) Many other cognitive and/or wayfinding research have utilised surveys (Lawton, 1994; 2002), computer simulations (Çubukçu, 2003), traditional and self-reported interviews. (Kubat et al; 2012, Krejčí, 2014) The significant commonality is utilising a semi-structured qualitative nature of interviewing, proven to suit descriptions and new explorative themes through its free structure.

(Denis et al, 1999; Clark & Bryman, 2019) As mentioned above, wayfinding greatly benefits from personal accounts, which are best in these situations.

Nam, optio cum sam ende rehenda velisquam, tem aut enit et quo bla ventis eatia derferiam, soluptur simpos ant.

lives (Horton & Reynolds, 1971; Cullen, 1995) revealing similarities and differences between Sheffield residents’ stories of Castlegate.

6.2 Interview process The short sketching interviews lasted between 10 to 20 minutes.

Participants were given an information sheet detailing the procedure and providing some leading questions to stimulate their spatial memories. These are: • What is the boundary of Castlegate?

• What can be seen in Castlegate?

• How would you travel to Castlegate?

• What noteworthy places are within/around Castlegate?

• What do you like about Castlegate?

Following literature of similar studies, participants were greatly encouraged to draw as many features and details as they felt relevant to answer these questions.

When participants were stuck, questions such as ‘Why do you use this street…’ or ‘Why do you remember this landmark …’ were be asked, since it is crucial that the participants’ logic and reasoning be given full reign in this portion of the interview. Like most semistructured interviews, personal accounts and analogies were highly valued. (Clark & Bryman, 2019) This enabled participants to recount and visualise their experiences freely, where often they rethink and reflect on subconscious thoughts, behaviours and habits on their own.

Figures 10 & 11: Sketch map drawing used in other studies.

Above: Lynch (1960) shows the difference between a mental image of Martha’s Vineyard.

Below: Vertesi (2008) shows Londoners’ mental map of metro stations.

Description

Sourcing

Data type

Pen-and-paper sketching of Castlegate area and nearby locales

20-30 Sheffield residents, randomly • “Cognitive mapping” sketches recruited through every third peron paper son in a public space around Shef- • Recorded interview (retained as field transcription)

Table 2: Details of the sketch interview methodology.

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6.4 How sketch maps can & will be analysed Total

27

Participant background

Length of residency in Sheffield (years)

Sheffield native

UK native (not from Sheffield)

International

0-2

3-5

6-10

>10

7

7

13

3

12

0

12

Table 3: Demographic breakdown of participants

From this study, sketching maps has proven to provide a rich, deep and broad volume of examinable cognitive data as well as applicable data to urban design contexts. It brings to light varying dimensions of Castlegate’s cognitive image, including effectiveness of paths and landmarks, individual cognitive strategies, shared experiences, overall impressions and more.

In existing literature, sketch maps were traditionally analysed solely for spatial perception. (Tolman, 1948; Huynh et al, 2008) Besides such, the incidence or frequency of an environmental element will make up the primary bulk of data extracted from this study. These elements can serve as landmarks, orientating nodes and/or character-defining signals, and its role in one’s cognitive map will vary between participants. (Siegel & White, 1975; Dalton, 2003; Epstein, 2017) This study categorises all reported elements into categories of roads, natural and built environment, since these are of varying levels of control for an urban design perspective; for a redesign of Castlegate, public space and architecture can be changed more readily than roads and natural features. (Dempsey et al, 2010)

6.3 Interview recruitment and representation To get into contact with Sheffield residents familiar with Castlegate and/or the study area, potential participants were recruited at random in a public setting around the vicinity of Castlegate and the general Sheffield city area.

In total, 27 participants produced sketches and consented to a top-down recording of their process and conversation, allowing for ease of interview transcription into text. Participant demographics show almost equal representation between locals born and bred in Sheffield and residents from international backgrounds, as well as their relative length of stay.

The dot distribution map above visualises where participants were recruited from, ensuring a varied but also relevant geographical distribution.

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Finally, individually unique experiences and stories can be consolidated into shared impressions through extracting of common keywords and adjectives. (Bostancı & Oral, 2017)

Buildings & built landmarks

Shops

Natural & heritage elements

Roads and pathways

Transport-related

Public & open spaces

• Castlegate arch • Police station • Lady’s Bridge

• Wilko’s • Betting shops • KFC

• River Don • Castle St • Sheffield • Waingate Castle site • Tramline • Grey-togreen scheme

• Tram stations • Bus stations • Interchange

• Castle Square • Parking spaces • Skate Park

Table 4: Examples of built environment elements that will be used to categorise participants’ responses.

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Built Environment 1: Shops While buildings and structures are almost equally central to roads (27 to 30), more than half (15 to 12) of the incidentally frequent built elements drawn by participants are specific shops, sometimes remembered by its name (Shoezone) or its type (shoe store). Shops are usually a less prominent component of the built environment, possibly owing to being perceived as secondary, temporary or simply not interesting.

(Spiers & Maguire, 2008; Alotaishan, 2017) However, through this study it can be argued that shops and shopfronts play a vital role in participants’ mental maps, Castlegate’s character, and identity.

RESULTS & DISCUSSION

7.1 Built elements of Castlegate

Figure 12: Frequency of first order elements drawn by participants.

Figure 13: Type of built elements within first order elements.

First Order Elements

Two possible explanations can exist for this phenomenon. In line with a study by Foxall (1992), smaller stores with lesser presence may find themselves more readily cognised in space due to its proximities with primary anchor stores (such as supermarkets and large department stores), especially in a high street retail context.

“

… Then we bought some things, we walked to Wilko, and then we found out that it was dinner time, so we walked to the street to catch the line, and then we went to dinner, because many of us went to Wilko, some people wanted Subway, some people wanted KFC… For example, if I am alone, I may not notice the restaurant, and I may not notice what is nearby, because I usually only look at the map, so I may not notice those.” – Participant 20

The sequential order of identifying elements in a cognitive map sketch has been the focus of Huynh et al (2008) ‘s study, where the importance of “first order” elements were shown to be integral to cognitive legibility, and used as references for “successively less important elements.” Thus, a record was made of first element drawn by participants, which eventually expanded to the first three elements owing to an unexpectedly high element variance.

The immense variance of participants’ first order elements only serves to further highlight the diversity within cognitive hierarchies.

Nevertheless, common responses such as High Street, River Don and FitzAlan Square reveal both the elements that are most easily recorded and retained for the participants, as well as prominent elements that define Castlegate. This conclusion can be reached due to the immediacy of these elements emerging from memory onto the sketch when prompted to “draw Castlegate.”

A secondary notion has been the dominance of roads within participants’ first order elements. While its presence in 37% of the first three elements might be natural for most city environments, roads make up 60% of the very first element drawn by participants.

Multiple studies support the primacy and centrality of roads and its role as a linear path or edge in a route-planned wayfinding strategy.

(Lynch, 1984; Portugali, 1996) When asked regarding the role of a main road, many participants agreed different main roads defined their current image of Castlegate.

Numerous wayfinding studies have proven shops can be landmarks and play equally important roles of influencing cognitive maps. (Lynch, 1960; Venturi & Brown, 1968; Foxall & Hackett, 1992) Shops have shown remarkably reliable incidence within this study, where even a commonplace KFC outlet reports greater prominence (33%) than many landmarks unique to Castlegate, such as Lady’s Bridge, Castle Square and Ponds Forge.

“

I always go for the ones that everyone’s heard of.

Marks and Spencers, Poundlands... Well, not... Poundlands, because everybody...

They’re so big and their signs are so bright.” – Participant 17

“

I think the main thing that makes me feel like I’ve entered Castlegate is after I cross that river on this side, is it River Don or something?

From Wicker this side, this slope thingy that inclines to this.”

– Participant 2

“

It’s so straight This whole thing in my mind is like a straight road We go all the way down, then we cross over the road and then we enter Castlegate and go down into the white curve.” – Participant 6

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Figure 14: Incidence map of shops mentioned by participants.

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An alternative explanation is the stores act as smaller landmarks which are cognised due to visual or sensory prominence. This might be truer for Castlegate, where shops with bright or visually contrasting exteriors maintained its impression in people as they moved past. (Venturi et al, 1977; Ellard, 2020) This can also explain the prominence of corner shops, (Sung et al, 2015) with their greater visual presence from multiple perspectives around Castlegate, shops at corners of intersections and junctions are highly reported in this study, with many participants alluding to the building by its former shop tenant.

Figure 15: Incidence map of landmarks mentioned by participants.

Diagram 3: Hierarchy of attractor stores according to Foxall (1992))

The established value of shopfronts as interactive facades has been detailed by theorists such as Whyte (1980, 2012) and Gehl (2011), and are supported by some participants’ memory of shops due to accounts of interesting interactions.

As destinations, shops are also vital locations for some participants. Furthermore, shops influence character, impressions and identity, which will be examined in the next section.

“

Oh there’s a guy that man, He sells like toys, you know, those octopi that like you can reverse, No, okay, … there they’re like the fidget toy ones … I see him every time but I never actually buy anything.” – Participant 6

“

And then there’s a road and there’s the water. There’s a river here. I can’t remember which one. Maybe it’s Don and that’s the one.

And that continues and then that’s the wicker basically starting down there.”

– Participant 27

“

I just feel like when I get to Castlegate I don’t really realise it’s Castlegate because other places are quite significant and like they’ve got their own distinct kind of like district you know the feature and it’s being promoted but I’m not sure about Castlegate.”

– Participant 3

“

The National Video Game Museum, KFC, are two big places that people are going to recognise.” –

Built Environment 2: Landmarks Besides shops, other defining landmarks of Castlegate are largely limited by geographical proximity; other than the eponymous arch, the most frequently cognised landmarks fall on the periphery of the study area, existing in a fuzzy border between Castlegate and another district. The lack of cognition for more central landmarks has greater significance when compared with the City Council’s marketing of Castlegate’s attractions, shown in this vinyl graphic postered at Angel St. At a glance, very few of these attractions appear relevant to Sheffield residents’ image of Castlegate. The decline or closure of some (namely Patriot Games and the King St Market) would expectedly have contributed to this. Conversely, this could reveal a possible misalignment between the City Council and residents, regarding which elements of the built environment are perceived as good and interesting places. Participants agree on the positivity of some areas (Kommune, National Video Game Museum), but also see hopeful value in others (Old Town Hall, Fitzalan Square area).

“

Oh, there’s Kommune, that’s nice, I forgot about that, which is, like, over here. Yeah. And there’s the National Video Game Museum, pretty cool, which is, like, here. Which is probably, like, the only good thing at the minute.” – Participant 23

Participant 17

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As expected, the most established natural element of the study area was the adjacent River Don, although many were unaware of the convergence of the culverted River Sheaf. The permanence of the river was mentioned by many while only a handful of participants mentioned the significance of either river.

As reported by Krejčí and Hradilová (2014), landscape and natural elements can act as important spatial wayfinding signifiers by resembling legible and orienting elements (such as paths and nodes). In Castlegate, elements of greenery such as Park Square and the Grey to green project have been scarcely mentioned. Its presence brought up notions of disjointedness and obscurity.

“

Alright, so there’s a grey to green bit here.

Okay. Which doesn’t really go anywhere… grey to green, nice. Nice. But it doesn’t go anywhere.”

“

I crossed it on my way into the city center and I’ll cross it again on my way home, you’ll never not cross it. Well, I physically have to cross it yes, I can’t get into the city center without crossing it, So you always go past Lady’s Bridge as well and everything. That’s how you that’s I’ve been doing it all these years.

Yeah, yeah probably 75% of the buses in Sheffield go over Lady’s bridge.”

Nam, optio cum sam ende rehenda velisquam, tem aut enit et quo bla ventis eatia derferiam, soluptur simpos ant.

Natural elements

Figure 17: Incidence map of roads and pathways mentioned by participants.

– Participant 15

– Participant 14

Because this was my first time on Sheffield, I came to this area, came to Wilko to get to this “place, they didn’t have any, crossed this bridge

to see what’s going on, see what’s about. I came across and I came to the hills, and there was no obvious pedestrian path or route to get to those hills, and appreciate that viewpoint, because I know that it was quite high up, and I thought it would be quite nice, but there was no like clear items or anything. Also it’s quite steep as well...”

And then there’s a road and there’s the “water.

There’s a river

here. I can’t remember which one. Maybe it’s Don and that’s the one.

And that continues and then that’s the wicker basically starting down there.” – Participant 27

– Participant 10

Roads and paths Like much of Sheffield, Castlegate’s streets resemble an approximate grid structure, where its connection to Sheffield’s high street and tram network should, in theory, enable a greatly accessible and well-connected layout for pedestrians and vehicles alike. (Lehmann, 2006; Dempsey et al, 2010) Instead, participants’ responses show many streets are greatly underrepresented, where even when pedestrianised they remain unused by people. As a result, Castlegate’s permeable layout is reduced to a series of high streets, reinforcing participants’ notion that the area is a ‘stopover’ place between two other districts.

Tom & Denis (2004) highlight another peculiarity of roads against other path elements: the relationship of roads with road names. While road names usually do not reflect spatial or descriptive properties, and thus carry an additional cognitive load, in Castlegate there is an environmentally descriptive name that evokes not just the old Sheffield Castle, but to an extent defines the locale as the “castle-related” district of Sheffield city centre.

“

But if I just think anything castle, and anything gate, anything that sounds like it just feels roughly central to me, and I guess that space of like I guess I would when I think go to the city centre that was like the one landmark that I think, okay I know how to get to the Cathedral you follow the tram line straight down from University, you get into the city centre and then you keep going down and that’s how you would get to Castlegate.” – Participant 26

Figure 16: Incidence map of natural elements and greenery mentioned by

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“

Castlegate is just a way through place at the moment. A way through place.

Because there isn’t, you know, loads of buses run down there, so lots of people... you’ll find lots of people use it.

Okay. But it’s not a destination.”

– Participant 25

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However, this creates a second issue of similarly misleading names, especially with the nearby Castle Square, which shares a four-way-junction layout with the traditional entrance with Castlegate. Notable confusion unfolds as 42% of participants mistake the open and bustling Castle Square for the relatively narrow and gloomy Castlegate.

Figure 17: Numerous participants draw Castle Square in the wrong place, possibly associating it directly with Castlegate.

Figure 18: The people who populate Castlegate are subject to varying impressions, from danger and crime to diverse and lively.

7.2 Participants’ impressions of Castlegate Impressions are defined in this study as recurring themes that participants usually mention naturally while drawing, usually without prompts. These are recorded through common adjectives, which are shown to elicit a fair overall picture of commonalities within participants’ personal experiences. (Bostancı & Oral, 2017) Following Bostancı & Oral’s (2017) similar study, adjectives are grouped into positive-negative pairs and its frequencies are counted. Similar words are also included, as demonstrated below.

Adjectives were taken within context of specific places or elements within participants’ sketches. A spatial representation of where participants’ descriptions alluded to is demonstrated in the graphic below.

An assortment of narratives can be garnered from these maps, where common positive and negative impressions of similar areas can be consolidated into opportunities and limitations for redesign, respectively. Three of these themes will be discussed in this section.

Figure 19: Positive adjectives reported near the places participants allude

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Figure 20: Negative adjectives reported near the places participants

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Darkness and lack of sunlight

Criminality, drugs and gambling

Brightness and darkness can be related to perception in a study

by Sawyer & Chamilothori (2019). Building form, material and colour can influence light and shadow, which in turn can influence pleasantness and satisfaction of one’s urban experience. (Nasar, 1994) Results demonstrate the opposite is true: participants cite darkness and lack of sunlight as reasons for not venturing further into Castlegate’s side streets.

Many varieties and accounts of criminal-like behaviour from participants have led them to instinctively associate Castlegate with dangerous and illegal activities. While some suggest specific groups of people (e.g. drug dealers, police), others describe the presence of criminality as sensory experiences (loud noises, crowds). Occasionally participants are able to cite specific spatial attributes or locations that are associated with criminality, such as pubs and casinos, or dark alleys and derelict buildings.

“

“

“

There’s not much, I think the term is Sun Trap. Do you know what’s Sun Trap? ... I’m trying to say it’s not a very sunny area, it’s like, it doesn’t really land in this area. Oh, okay. I think I went in the afternoon, but I just remember being in an area that doesn’t get any sunlight.” – Participant 10

Down here, sometimes I felt a bit unsafe. I have to say like waiting for the bus, sometimes you’d have like a lot of drunk people or it just felt a bit like I wouldn’t walk there on my own at night. Let’s say that like as a young woman, I wouldn’t do that.”

– Participant 26

Traffic safety The frequency of ‘danger’ or ‘unsafe’ adjectives mentioned by the participants have been largely related to two recurring issues – one of traffic and one of criminality. The heavy car and bus traffic has been an element in many participants’ cognitive maps due to personal experiences of having to cross the street, or remembering specific incidents related to the traffic situation.

“

Then we remembered that this road had no traffic lamps, and that’s because after we bought things, we found that we had to cross the road, and we probably run across, so I realised there were no traffic lamps, so we had to run across.”

– Participant 20

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“

The thing is whenever I’m crossing It’s quite dangerous. Because here [there’s] one bus stop Also here another bus stop. So many bus go through and also sometimes it’s hard to see. … It looks very dangerous because they have to walk fast. Also for us it’s dangerous. And sometimes they park the car here then If I try to cross it I can’t see because it’s blocked, my sight is blocked.” – Participant 1

“

And also, someone passed away on the corner here. I feel like it was right before the pandemic or maybe a year before, I can’t remember. But there were flowers for a long time here. I think someone was either hit by a bus or by a car.

And so, that was quite, you know, noteworthy for me that Castlegate struck me as a kind of area where you might get hit by something that might kill you because the roads are quite narrow. Oh, right. And so, there were a lot of taxis and a lot of buses, a lot of big, you know, big kind of things that go fairly fast. Yeah. And it’s not easy to cross the streets that I’m aware of. It’s never been easy to cross the streets.”

– Participant 27

I keep smelling the stench of cannabis in the area. I keep seeing people shouting, people fighting and people asking people if they want to buy drugs ...

So it’s a really scary area and also at night the kind of individuals there would make it unsafe for people to go to that area especially for females.” – Participant 8

“

It’s quite run down.

There’s a lot of drug dealers on this street here. Yeah. So it’s not very nice.” – Participant 12

“

Yeah so they’re known to be pubs where there’s drug dealing or people selling stolen goods. My friend tells a story of being in this pub with people just walking past holding stolen goods past the window. So people in the pub could kind of go out because they wanted a microwave oven or like a you know people like a rice cooker walking past the window with this.

So that if you were sitting in the pub you’re like oh a rice cooker yeah I need one of those and you’d go out and get one. If that makes sense it’s like a bit of an odd situation. … It is something you associate with Castlegate.”

– Participant 14

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7.3 Castlegate’s wider relations: Adjacent districts, Connections and Explorability Following objective 3 of this study, this section will examine participants’ cognitive understandings of how Castlegate makes up a unified district, its relationships with adjacent districts and with Sheffield city centre. Here, districts follow Lynch’s (1960) traditional definition of having homogenous physical and observable characteristics. However, districts’ spatiality can also be defined through tangible and intangible edges and boundaries, especially in sketch maps. (Huynh et al, 2008; Vaez et al, 2016)

Boundary of Castlegate The diagram above shows an approximate border of every respondent’s sketch of Castlegate, right up to where they described as the “end of Castlegate” or beginning of another district. Despite the great variance there are specific sub-areas of Castlegate and its vicinity that stand out from the others, as shown in the graphics below.

Figure 21: An amalgamation graphic of every participant’s boundary of

While these areas might be remembered for different reasons and qualities, this also reveals sub-areas deemed by participants as “not Castlegate,” areas that have no impression or are largely non-existent within participants’ mental maps. These ‘vacuums’ or ‘non-places’ may be disjointed from the wider Castlegate whole for various common reasons.

This cognitive subdivision can be compared to the subdivision during the proposed regeneration vision for Castlegate (2005), where stark differences can be seen in how the City Council and overall city masterplan envisions the boundaries of Castlegate and its constituent elements.

Figure 22: Common areas included by participants.

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Figure 23: “Vacuums” or “non-places” that are not cognised by participants.

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Nearby districts’ presence This graphic shows how frequent Castlegate’s adjacent districts were relevant for participants’ cognitive image and impression.

Participants include these areas both as a spatial association for perceived connectivity and a mental association for perceived impressions.

Connectivity between districts is probably the main reason behind the Wicker’s high significance, since this connection is easily manifested by participants’ experiences walking through the landmark Lady’s Bridge. Physical proximity does not correlate to connectivity, as shown by Fargate and Cathedral, places almost equidistant from Castlegate but with stark difference in association.

A lack of visuals and linearity might explain the relative disconnect between Castlegate and other neighbouring quarters of the city centre.

“

You know, I guess like the bridge is it like the bridge that’s when it stops being Castlegate for me There’s like a bridge here. Yeah, because after that there’s like the pharmacy and that’s definitely the liquor and then up here there’s like another bridge because it’s like over the road. Do you know the one? Yeah, and there’s like stairs and like a bunch of shops.” – Participant 6

“

And then if you cross the road, I think you cross onto Victoria Quays.

Okay, you can run into Victoria Quays, yeah. That might be totally wrong, but that’s how I’ve always considered.”

Impressions and wider identities might be a more prominent factor for associating Castlegate with other districts. Participants’ treatment of the relationship between Castlegate and other districts can be divided into associations of assimilation or contrast. Assimilation refers to common impressions that Castlegate shares with a district, dissolving their boundaries somewhat and integrating similar character and identity.

“

The shitty-ness of Wicker yeah, so I assume. … I don’t know [both Castlegate and Wicker are] just as shit as each other. Because Wicker has a bit of a, that has an identity. Scrappiness, about. Yeah, this has no identity. I don’t think … right, this is just a place where people go through to get to where they actually want to go.” – Participant 11

– Participant 23

“

I would say because due to it being connected to Wicker Street and the fact that Wicker Street is also connected to Kelham Island makes it a region that is quite popular. Also Castlegate has direct link to Sheffield City Centre.” – Participant 8

Contrasting, where a district is compared against Castlegate, is usually brought up by participants to illustrate a positive part of the city against a negative impression of Castlegate. These include themes of impression mentioned earlier, such as safety and criminality. A significant amount of association focused on the Moor Market, where the demolished Castle Market was relocated towards, prompting participants to establish a direct comparison of the two districts.

“

Oh yeah, it’s a city center. So if it’s old and derelict, it’s you’re not gonna be able to attract people to come here So I compared to the Moor where it was like the regenerated area, right? I would much rather go to the Moor than Arundel Gate and Castlegate because it’s bloody old and also the Moor is safer. Yeah, the moor is also safer. Just a personal feeling.” – Participant 18

In one particular interview, the participant singles out Kommune as having assimilated to the “affluent, inviting” Cathedral impression while together they contrast with Castlegate’s “cheap, repulsive” notion.

“

It was such a different experience. In a way, [Kommune] was a symbol of gentrification or something like that, but all these other shops, … it’s a place where you can get cheap things, and it’s not really a place to hang out and for just sort of, you know, pleasure. ... But basically, when Kommune came, it was like, oh, it becomes a place to hang out. So, you know, this spot became, this is a place to hang out in. Whereas, you know, none of the other places around ever struck me as places to hang out in.

They’re a place to go, buy something, leave.. ... So, in a way, to me, this extended the experience I have of the Cathedral area to include this, you know, strange to say, but basically through this kind of path included this because around Cathedral, so north, there’s Blue Moon Cafe. Now, there’s Le Blé, which is also really nice. … And so, in a way, this kind of included now Kommune, but it didn’t include anything else.” – Participant 27

Figure 24: Incidence of districts mentioned by participants.

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Nam, optio cum sam ende rehenda velisquam, tem aut enit et quo bla ventis eatia derferiam, soluptur simpos ant.

SUMMARY OF RESULTS

SITE ANALYSIS

• The “main road” is the important foundation; roads, river and public space are best remembered and most significant.

• High presence of shops as landmark signifiers, possibly due to its anchor status, bright facades, and interactivity.

• River Don is the only significant natural element, while others are disjointed and misleading.

• Grid layout is ineffective due to derelict and unused connecting streets, participants allude Castlegate with the livelier Castle Square instead.

• Majority negative impression, with significant themes of darkness, traffic danger and criminal presence.

• Participants’ scope of castlegate include many key areas but leave out some peripheral or underused places.

• Nearby districts are remembered through direct connectivity, common impressions or contrasting impressions.

8.1 Policy contexts A dedicated masterplan for Castlegate has not been published since 2005. With the previously mentioned flaws, city planning have opted for a “new role” for Castlegate. They acknowledge the decline created by shifting Castlegate’s iconic markets and shopping elsewhere. (SCC, 2015) However, the need for regeneration and redevelopment is heavily reflected in the sketching interview response. These are areas identified in Sheffield city policies that set out masterplanning guidance for the Castlegate quarter.

Land use

Character

• Creative, cultural and digital industries • Market area with Wilko’s and other primary • Mixed use residential, with leisure, retail, and retailers hotels • Bus presence • Research and business hub • Revitalised traditional retail destination • Outdoor facilities such as space for walking • Safe night life with continued presence of and fitness people

Accessibility and connections

Heritage

• Central spine link with Fitzalan Square, Fargate, Moor • Reduced road space for more pedestrian space • Improve connectivity with Victoria Quays

• Original castle and markets since 1300s • Repurposed former industrial buildings • City gateway with international character

Table 5: Summary of Castlegate Masterplan Vision from 2005

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8.2 Thematic site analysis Land use 1.

High vacancy concentration

In stark contrast with surrounding districts, Castlegate has a concentration of vacant shops, old buildings and even multistorey retail complexes. While some closures could be caused by unforeseeable events such as COVID, interview participants mostly cite the exodus of businesses to the Moor or Meadowhall as the main reason. Nonetheless, the presence of empty or closed shops prevents active shopfronts and interactions, and is exacerbated by some pubs, clubs and services closing during the day or night.

2.

Treatment of heritage buildings

Among the buildings marked as empty or partially empty, more than 5 are Grade II listed buildings, situated at important junctions and public nodes. Regardless of these heritage buildings’ future

Figure 24: Many small businesses of Castlegate’s shopping alleys have shut permanently.

development plans, its derelict facades worsen the character of the area.

3.

Conflict with surrounding land use patterns

The land use graphic reveals patterns of similar land use around Castlegate’s periphery. It can be inferred Castlegate’s location is situated between two zones of office concentrations, as well as the two axes of F&B and shopping of Fargate and the Wicker. Castlegate’s current land use conforms to neither of these, at most acting as a retail extension of Fargate.

4.

Presence of mixed-use in select buildings

There is great potential in the vacant mixed-use buildings dotting Castlegate. While not many, this can be extended to other towering blocks, to include street life and new industries set out in masterplanning.

5.

“

I think this is the other side. But yeah, all of this is quite run down, all I remember is shutters, shutters, shutters. This is a dark area, there’s no access from this bridge, you don’t know what’s going on.

There’s not many, like, not much guidance as to where the main shops are, where to go.” – Participant 10

Casinos, betting shops and budget stores

Participants have emphasised how betting shops, budget stores and casinos contribute greatly to a negative impression of Castlegate.

Figure 25:: Current land use map of Castlegate and the surrounding

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Figure 27: The quiet and disused Shude Hill has a celebrated history. (Picture

4.

Heritage walks & trails

As seen in the many heritage trails that begin in Castlegate, the old castle site is evidently integral. While the peripheral pathways around these trails are expected to be regenerated thoroughly, a redesign should be cautious to ensure the rest of Castlegate is not isolated and given uniform uplifting.

5.

Culverted River Sheaf

With the established value that rivers can add within wayfinding, there is prime opportunity to uncover the River Sheaf that runs below the site, creating another natural edge for blue-green-infrastructure opportunities and riverside development.

Figure 26: Greenery and natural elements together with walking and

Natural and public elements 1.

Shude Hill underpass

The green space at Shude Hill has been an enigma. Surrounded by blank facades with no footfall or activity, it does not appear on participants’ image of Castlegate despite a myriad of views and an historic underpass.

2.

Disjointed cycling realm

Safe and dedicated cycle lanes are present only in the extents of the Grey to Green scheme. Save these, cycling provision has been disjointed and unincorporated into pedestrian realm improvements.

3.

Park Square treatment

The location, elevation and vantages offered by Park Square feels wasted by its abrupt and bare end. Participants sometimes include Park Square into Castlegate but are disappointed by its sole status as a roundabout.

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Which is a bit of an anticlimax because you “cross this nice looking

Figure 28: Cycling networks around the area are disjointed, abrupt and

bridge, and then you end up in nowhere. Like you just, you expect town, because it’s town, you go across a nice bridge, and you expect something to be there, but there’s nothing there. And there’s not even any like pathways to enjoy the nature, or no obvious pathways to enjoy the nature, you just don’t know what’s going on after you go across the bridge.”

– Participant 10

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Built elements - Enclosure 1.

Enclosure creates darkness

Participants’ foreboding impressions of darkness is supported by streets with high enclosure ratios, shadowing sunlight in tight alleyways. These streets not only give off negative impressions, most participants also do not cognise their existence despite being pedestrianised streets.

Figure 30: Map categorising types of facades found in the area into active

Built elements - Facades 2.

Shutters/graffiti/dilapidated shopfronts

Similar with vacant shops, it is known that associate storefront shutters, graffiti and boarded windows with negative character.

(Dalton et al, 2019) Many areas avoided by participants are dominated by such deterioration, blank facades and looming walls, supporting this correlation.

Figure 29: Map of enclosure ratios in the public area.

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Figure 31: Visual access map for frequently mentioned landmarks by participants. A thicker grey line indicates a more direct visual sight line.

8.3 Precedent studies 1 - Covent Garden, London With its historic market and host to many small businesses from diverse backgrounds, Covent Garden in London was a striking mirror of Castlegate’s situation. Both areas faced heavy congestion and crime, despite their prime location within the cores of their respective cities. (CGCA, n.d.)

The regeneration of Covent Garden by KPF is an insightful parallel for Castlegate’s future. The scheme revolves around a distinct public realm through placemaking and active spaces, taking advantage of a highly permeable grid layout. Regarding wayfinding and cognitive imagery, the scheme introduces a sense of district and boundary identity, through gateways, greenery, follies and public spaces with unique character elements. Where the old historic street settings lacked clear landmarks, the scheme introduces them through new contemporary but complementary architectural features that define otherwise lifeless streets.

Built elements - Visual access 3.

Figure 32: The old boundaries of Covent Garden were extended to fully utilise and define previously faceless areas.

Landmarks and visuals correlation

The variance in participants’ impressions of Castlegate corroborates the lack of visual connections between participants’ important points of reference. This also explains the primacy of certain landmarks that are of proximity. Participants’ spatial cognitions are most accurate when landmarks are seen together, and disrupted when winding streets separate a combined scene.

Figure 33: New courtyards and landmarks were created for bringing character to these public spaces, blending contemporary and heritage facades (examples

Figure 34: Further landmarking and district defining using explicit entrance markers and green rows.

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Nam, optio cum sam ende rehenda velisquam, tem aut enit et quo bla ventis eatia derferiam, soluptur simpos ant.

8.4 Precedent studies 2 - Les Halles, Paris An inescapable question that comes with a regeneration of Castlegate is the treatment space containing ruins of Sheffield Castle and once the monumental Castle Market. To answer this, a worthwhile case study is the Les Halles site, Paris, that faced a similar predicament in the 1970s when its landmark markets were demolished. Echoing Castlegate, the site became desolate and the area was associated with crime and drug dealing, but nonetheless remained an important transport terminus within the city. (Wakeman, 2007) Currently, Les Halles is host to a modern shopping centre, solidifying its landmark status with a reticulated canopy at the centre of its existing grid-like streets. A wide stretch of park complements the main attraction but also direct secondary views towards heritage buildings, doubling as wayfinding signifiers for pedestrians emerging from Les Halles’ transport hub. Like Covent Garden, the surrounding streets are pedestrianised and utilise shopfronts, fountains and greenery to activate street life. (Grange, Figure 35: The current design for Les Halles evolved from a scheme involving two landmarks on either side of the site.

2016)

The great void determined by the demolition of Les Halles, destined to be a park, is an “opportunity to think about a different city where

the road layout has not the role of generating element of urban form but where such a role is assumed by the system of relations between urban elements and natural spaces.”

– Antonio Monestiroli, Italian architect

Figure 36: Public space within Les Halles takes advantage of the natural edge from the central expanse but also utilise street vantages and views.

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Figure 37: Aside from the contemporary mall and station, the Les Halles public park connects heritage buildings and offers pathways towards nearby districts.

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CONSOLIDATION DESIGN VISION & SWOT

9.1 SWOT summary of common themes

9.2 Design vision

STRENGTHS

WEAKNESSES

• Core of Sheffield: Historic castle site, outset of heritage trails, central

• Declining market and independent retail character

• Abundant historic sites and buildings

• Disjointed pedestrian realm

• Existing high density of mixed-use buildings

• Winding roads, downhill elevation and narrow streets

• Transport hub and anchor retailers ensuring steady footfall

• High presence of betting shops, casinos and criminal activity

OPPORTUNITIES

THREATS

• Central location: diverse and multicultural crowd from all around Sheffield

• Struggle to maintain unique diverse identity of Castlegate amidst regeneration

• Negative character elements can be repurposed/demolished

• Listed heritage buildings occupy important corners, will define street character

• Hidden character potential for Park Square • Natural permeability, pedestrianised streets able to cross into adjacent districts

Develop Castlegate’s urban identity through an easily understood and cognitively stimulating urban network, drawing from historic, cultural and sustainable elements to invigorate old streets and new spaces.

• General gentrification might adversely affect small businesses and anchor tenants • Regeneration unlikely to spill over value into nearby districts

Table 6: SWOT Analysis

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PROPOSAL

10.1 Design themes Designing for district A unified Castlegate; design interventions should click within a complete and complementary environment, connected cognitively and straightforward for quick wayfinding.

Nam, optio cum sam ende rehenda velisquam, tem aut enit et quo bla ventis eatia derferiam, soluptur simpos ant.

Derived from: - Literature principles: distinctness, intelligibility - Interview data: underused grid layout, disjointed non-places - Precedents: Covent Garden

10.2 Variations Through this study many significant flaws of Castlegate have been exposed, however the extent that this warrants complete regeneration. Based on design objectives, the intensity and radicality of change can be ascertained through variations before the final proposal.

Due to the interplay reflected by this study between cognitive principles and residents’ impressions, a potent regeneration of the whole Castlegate can significantly achieve an ideal wayfinding environment and spatial experience in theory. However, in the same vein a complete regeneration will also strip the area of existing positives, character elements and reference points that contributes merit both towards urban identity and wayfinding principles. Thus, three variations will be assessed based on achieving a balance between cognitive-led regeneration and preserving landmarks, and the current identity of Castlegate.

Variance along riverside The uncovering of the River Sheaf while creating unique paths, spaces and vantages along both riversides brimming with activity and life.

Derived from: - Literature: holistic cognitive experience - Interview data: misleading and inconspicuous natural elements

Diagram 5: Outline of the three Variation plans, showing degrees of regeneration within design themes.

Vibrant and secure public realm Breathing a new life into derelict spaces and vacant buildings through dedicated courts, activity areas, eyes on the street and a revived market culture.

Derived from: - Literature: vitality of space, active frontages and facades - Interview data: negative impressions and associations, fondness of old market - Precedents: Covent Garden, Les Halles

Landmarking Creating new landmarks while glorifying existing landmarks, whether subtly through shops, facades and public space or explicitly through statues and sculptures.

Derived from: - Literature: orientation, legibility, power of vantages - Interview data: lack of central landmarks - Precedent studies: Covent Garden, Les Halles

53

54

Nam, optio cum sam ende rehenda velisquam, tem aut enit et quo bla ventis eatia derferiam, soluptur simpos ant.

Figure 38: Variation 1

Figure 39: Variation 2

Variation 1

Variation 2

Key changes: • River sheaf deculverted • Shude Hill road extended into castle • Market created at Easyhotel site

Pros

Key changes: • Dixon Lane street widened and extended • New landmarks at Kommune and Victoria Quays entrance • Extended retail court

Cons

• Heritage buildings not treated • Greenery helps draw footfall from main road towards central • Derelict streets not fully utiareas lised • Giant landmark on Park Square • River Sheaf becomes an uncrossable boundary, hampering allows orientation around permeability Castlegate and activates Park Square for vantages • Market presence preserves King St markets and historic market culture

55

Pros

Cons

• Tram stop linked with castlegate boundary • Asymmetrical layout allows river and key spaces to be found easily • Inviting spaces on both sides of Castlegate arch enables its role as primary landmark

• Empty buildings unincorporated • Regeneration is largely limited to the east side of Castlegate site • Main street’s pedestrian realm largely unimproved

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Figure 40: Variation 3

Figure 41: Final redesign proposal

Variation 3

Final variation

Key changes: • Expanded market and retail courts • Rebuilding of vacant buildings for active street level • Green path connects Fitzalan Square to Shude Hill path

57

Pros

Cons

• Urban greenery as boundary defining tool • Wider main street with greater security presence from new buildings

• Too many landmarks might add a layer of superficiality • Significant change to Castlegate’s original entrance might cost historic identity and lead to gentrification

Key changes: • Moderate regeneration: focusing on regenerating along linear network • Vacant stores may find future use from regeneration’s spillover benefits • Ideally, additional buildings need not be changed

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10.3 Final redesign: key design themes 1.

Cognitive Castlegate

The proposal ticks a variety of cognitive boxes with a new layout, achieving an easily cognised image through a distinct symmetrical organisation. Pedestrians know what to expect with a regular geometric grid against an active main road, while also inviting exploration and free movement with far-reaching vantages. Streets and public areas are defined through vibrant activity areas surrounded by a boundary of greenery.

2.

Indoor market & Retail court

The new face of Castlegate’s entrance, the two courtyards represent a revival of the market identity and culture largely declining since the demolishing of Castle Market. These spaces renew the facades of currently vacant heritage buildings, promoting an improved image through bustling retail activities. New retail and market opportunities also renew the Castlegate archway with a second life of connecting both spaces, granted Figure 42: Final redesign proposal

additional space to solidify Castlegate’s most prominent landmark.

3.

River sheaf corridor

Besides uncovering Sheffield’s eponymous river, the River Sheaf provides a second natural edge around Castlegate, providing opportunity for a nature corridor and riverside views. Highlighting the convergence of Sheffield’s two rivers brings centrality to Castlegate within the city, while also referencing Sheffield’s founding history.

4.

Sheffield castle green space

While it is uncertain how the excavation of the castle will proceed, it can be certain the site of its remains will be historically significant for Sheffield and promotes Castlegate as a cultural destination. Like Castle Square, its presence can be referenced by urban form and architecture through castle-related themes and historically sensitive public space.

5.

Park Square landmark

New eye-catching landmarks can be installed at important corners of the district to achieve both boundary setting and placemaking. Notably, the landmark for Park Square should be of tall height and large scale, in order to act as an orientation device over the entire Castlegate. The unassuming nature of Park Square can play host to a new identity for itself and the surrounding public spaces when in view of this landmark.

Nam, optio cum sam ende rehenda velisquam, tem aut enit et quo bla ventis eatia derferiam, soluptur simpos ant.

Owing to Sheffield’s struggles for a unified city identity, this landmark could take the form of a steel castle. This combines consistency with other steel-themed sculptures around the city with the historic presence of Sheffield Castle.

59

60

CONCLUSION Objectives The proposal showcases a cognitive-led redesign of Castlegate through three sources of input; existing cognitive literature, residents of Sheffield and a supplementary site evaluation. While cognitive principles in design are numerous and offer a variety of perspective, in this study’s context they have demonstrated a multifaceted coverage towards regeneration, sustainability and ultimately the main aim of developing urban identity.

Diagram 6: Summary of essay structure and findings

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Diagram 7: Bottom-up process diagram illustrating the data foundations used when ldeaing up to the redesign.

62

Nam, optio cum sam ende rehenda velisquam, tem aut enit et quo bla ventis eatia derferiam, soluptur simpos ant.

Nam, optio cum sam ende rehenda velisquam, tem aut enit et quo bla ventis eatia derferiam, soluptur simpos ant.

Limitations Like many studies of wayfinding and cognitive design, this study and proposal does not consider numerous alternative explanations for the innate complexity of human cognition. (Marcus) Theories of cognition are also greatly theory-based, as a result wayfinding and navigation are understood through varying behaviour-based study models that attempt to reflect humans’ spatial understanding. (portugali, vaez) Furthermore, cognitive wayfinding is a relatively recent field of study, where only a fraction of its breadth has been explored in a design context.

Due to the interconnectedness of cognitive principles within existing urban design theory, this study cannot gauge the extent of solely cognitive-based improvements, as opposed to improvement through solely sustainable principles. Thus, while cognitive-led research can be further propagated within urban design, the relative effectiveness of this body of research is hard to ascertain.

This is also due to the nature of schemes regenerating derelict areas, since cognitive principles and sustainable placemaking principles are very much common.

Finally, as a study that focuses on relevancy and feasibility, this proposal like many is an isolated and highly context-based exercise of design principles. (tonroth, perez delhoyo) While this aims towards urban identity, wider policies, planning processes and larger-scale masterplanning are not considered.

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Recommendations and Replicability Nonetheless, this study produces universally applicable design recommendations for an equally universal environmental issue. As the field of wayfinding continues to develop, greater impetus for spatial experience within design context will arise and this study’s framework process can be informed and improved upon.

With many studies utilising the sketching methodology, this study can also contribute to a future framework of researching, analysing and applying cognitive data to design.

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Downloaded: 25/04/2023 Approved: 27/03/2023

Jun Wei Leong Registration number: 200171087 Urban Studies and Planning Programme: Urban Studies and Planning

Dear Jun Wei

PROJECT TITLE: Applying cognitive principles of wayfinding in environmental design to build an urban identity for Sheffield city centre APPLICATION: Reference Number 052556 On behalf of the University ethics reviewers who reviewed your project, I am pleased to inform you that on 27/03/2023 the above-named project was approved on ethics grounds, on the basis that you will adhere to the following documentation that you submitted for ethics review: University research ethics application form 052556 (form submission date: 23/03/2023); (expected project end date: 26/04/2023).

Participant information sheet 1119427 version 1 (23/03/2023).

Participant consent form 1119428 version 1 (23/03/2023).

If during the course of the project you need to deviate significantly from the above-approved documentation please inform me since written approval will be required.

Your responsibilities in delivering this research project are set out at the end of this letter.

Yours sincerely

Chloe Renwick Ethics Administrator Urban Studies and Planning Please note the following responsibilities of the researcher in delivering the research project: The project must abide by the University's Research Ethics Policy: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/research-services/ethics-integrity/policy The project must abide by the University's Good Research & Innovation Practices Policy: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.671066!/file/GRIPPolicy.pdf The researcher must inform their supervisor (in the case of a student) or Ethics Administrator (in the case of a member of staff) of any significant changes to the project or the approved documentation.

The researcher must comply with the requirements of the law and relevant guidelines relating to security and confidentiality of personal data.

The researcher is responsible for effectively managing the data collected both during and after the end of the project in line with best practice, and any relevant legislative, regulatory or contractual requirements.