Petaling Street: Cognitive Mapping Essay

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONOURS) ARCHITECTURE THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM ARC2224 / ARC61303

PROJECT 2 : COGNITIVE MAPPING AND COMPARATIVE ESSAY

NAME

: NICHOLAS LAI KEN HONG

STUDRNT ID : 0317435 LECTURER : MR LAM SHEN FEI LOCATION : PETALING STREET

INTRODUCTION TO PETALING STREET

Figure 1 : Petaling Street South Entrance Source : Own Source

Petaling Street, also known as Jalan Petaling in Malay term, is located at the heart of Kuala Lumpur city center, and a 6 – 7 minute walk from Central Market of Kuala Lumpur. It is commonly known as Chinatown of Malaysia, an existing street that remains as a symbol and identity of the Chinese culture in Malaysia.

Petaling Street is often refer to as ‘Chee Cheong Kai’, meaning ‘Starch Factory Street’ in Cantonese that refers to its history as a centre for production of tapioca flour back then. The street and the area around mainly swarmed by Chinese traders. However, Indian, Malay, and foreign traders such as Bangladeshi traders are commonly found here. Nowadays, Petaling Street is well known for exclusively selling pirated products and haggling between buyers and traders.

The area contains dozens of food stalls and restaurants offering mainly local delicacies

Figure 2 : Stalls at both sides of Petaling Street Source : Own Source

Petaling Street have gone through major facelift and improvements since back then, at the same time retains its identity and also the heritage buildings.

The things of the past such as patchy roads, broken pavements, and colourful umbrellas attached to wooden pushcarts lining the street on both sides are all gone. Replacing them is well paved roads and a major green awning that covers the whole length of the street, acting as a single roof to shield the vendors, shoppers, and all the goods from the heat and rain. The main feature of Petaling Street is an oriental-style archway, decorated with red Chinese lanterns hanging above a big sign board spelling ‘Jalan Petaling / Petaling Street’ in golden letters to greet visitors at the north and south entrance.

INTRODUCTION TO COGNITIVE MAPPING A cognitive map, which is also known as a mental map, is a metal representation of physical locations. It is used for human to help recall the important features of a particular environment. The concept was first introduced

by Edward Chace Tolman in 1948. The concept is then introduced and linked to architecture and urban planning by Kevin Andrew Lynch, an American urban planner and author. He is well known for his work on the perceptual form of urban environments. Kevin A. Lynch included the concept of cognitive mapping in one of his most influential book: ‘The Image of the City’ (1960). In this book, Lynch proposes that the mental maps are consist of 5 elements, which are paths: the routes which people move throughout the city; edges: the boundaries and breaks of continuity within a city; district: a common characterized area or zone; nodes: a focal point for orientation like a square or a junction, also known as a common meeting point; and landmarks: a significant and identifiable physical object in the city.

INTRODUCTION TO PROJECT We are divided into several groups according to location chosen, in this case, the location chosen is Petaling Street. After site visit, we are required to conduct our own cognitive mapping on Petaling Street. I was not familiar of Petaling Street and seldom visit this area until recently as I often went over for site survey and site analysis for 2 subjects. Surveys are conducted to ask random people that were in Petaling Street for their cognitive mapping too for analysis and comparison. The cognitive maps of 3 people from different background were chosen in this analysis, and an addition of my own mapping.

Figure 3 : Site Demarkation Source : Google Map

COGNITIVE MAPS OF SELECTED PARTICIPANTS The first cognitive map selected is by Mr. Lai Kok Siong. Mr. Lai is a local tour guide and has been guiding foreign tourist tours locally especially in Kuala Lumpur since 2002 (13 years). According to Mr. Lai, he normally guides his tour group from Central Market of Kuala Lumpur to Petaling Street for the tourist to shop. When the tourist from his tour group are off for ‘free and easy’ to shop, he would go exploring places and food around Petaling Street while waiting for his tour group. He is also a pet lover and often visit the nearby pet shop during the wait. Mr. Lai’s collective knowledge of Kuala Lumpur and constantly exploring

places for food makes a more comprehensive cognitive mapping, which is suitable for this analysis.

Figure 4 : Mr. Lai’s Cognitive Mapping

Mr. Lai’s mapping is the most informative compared to the other participants.

I interviewed him when he was just finished his lunch at one of the restaurant in Petaling Street. Mr. Lai and I were chit-chatting while he was drawing out the mapping. During the conversation, he constantly adds locations and information as we talked. Therefore, Mr. Lai regain more of his memory of the place through conversation.

Mr. Lai narrowed down his impression of the site to focus only on Petaling Street although the site boundary does not contain only Petaling Street itself. He mapped out mostly food stalls and restaurants in Petaling Street, most probably due to the fact that he always goes for food while his tour group went off for ‘freeand-easy’ session. ‘X’ marks on the map indicates the stalls selling pirated

products. According to him, these are the most significant attraction of Petaling Street but he will never buy anything from these stalls. As a tour guide, he also identified places and services that is related to his career, such as temples and money changer shops. He also pointed out a pet shop because he is also a pet lover. Lastly, Mr. Lai pointed out that there is a back lane selling second-hand goods during the weekends. This is probably due to his curiosity and constantly exploring the streets that led him to this finding.

The second participant is Mr. Alex Tan Ban Cheong. Mr. Alex was formally a car dealer and recently just switched his job to be a property agent. Throughout both of these career, he would visit the area around Petaling Street whenever he has the chance too especially passing by between trips. Thus, as a car dealer and property agent, Mr. Alex’s point of view and cognitive mapping is comprehensive based on his professions, which leads to the selection of his mapping for this analysis.

Figure 5 : Mr. Alex’s Cognitive Mapping

Mr Alex is a person who likes to draw and preferred his drawings to be clean and tidy. I interviewed him when he was sitting in ‘Koong Woh Tong’ herbal tea shop. He asked me for a ruler to draw out his mapping. Mr. Alex’s mapping is focusing on Petaling Street and also slightly off from it, covering some location which are near Petaling Street, and also slightly off the site boundary. Mr. Alex mapped out locations such as bus stops, parking lot, and buildings that are related to sports such as Malaysia Sports Negara (MSN) and a stadium, probably because he likes to play sports. Places that he mapped that are out of the site boundary are those that are located at the bottom of his map, which are Central Market of KL, LRT station, traffic police station and a bus station.

The third participant is Mr. Chen, one of the stall owner in Petaling Street. I interview Mr. Chen while he was sitting next to his stall, looking towards the street.

Figure 6 : Mr. Chen’s Cognitive Mapping

Mr. Chen drew the map in black without any indications, what he did was just verbally explained his mapping as he drew. The indications in blue are written by me according to his explanation. Mr. Chen only drew the mapping of Petaling Street itself and focused on mostly food stalls. This is most probably due to the fact that he had worked in Petaling Street for a long time and the food stalls are his commonly visited or his favorite ones.

The final participant for this project would be myself as I have also explored Petaling Street and the locations around it according to the site boundary.

Figure 7 : My Cognitive Mapping

As I am an architecture student, my observation and memory of the site are mostly structures, shops, and journey of arriving the site. The oriental-style archways are significant to me at the mere mention of “Petaling Street� as I did have the chance to go to Petaling Street before this, and I only have the chance to see the archways every time I pass by without going into the street itself. Thus the archways are the only structures that I will picture as my impression. Parking

within Kuala Lumpur city is an issue, and Petaling Street area is one of it. This is due to the fact that parking spaces are hard to find in KL and paid parking are relatively expensive. Therefore, I am quite aware of the parking spaces in KL during my visit. At the upper right of my mapping consist of a plaza which is outstanding to me. This plaza has sculpture, trees, and sitting benches that are completely juxtaposing the hustle and bustle of a modern city where everyone is constantly moving and there are not breathing spaces.

Figure 8 : Plaza with Red Sculpture Source : Own Source

COMPARISON AND ANALYSIS There are similarities and differences between all 4 cognitive mappings, although the person that mapped them out is from different background and career. The most significant similarity among all 4 is the existence of a stall selling ‘Air Mata Kuching’, which is an iced fruit drink made from winter melon,

monk fruit, dried longan fruit, and sugar. This stall is relatively well known among locals. However, my mapping has a slight difference in pointing out this stall compared to the other 2 as I did not specifically mention the existence of ‘Air Mata Kucing’ stall, whereas I mentioned ‘Longan’.

Figure 9 : “Air Mata Kuching” Stall Source : samlee86.net

There are also similar locations pointed out in some of the mappings but not the other. Among the 4 mappings, 3 of the maps by Mr. Lai, Mr. Alex, and I located a stretch of florist stalls due west of Petaling Street; and the maps of Mr. Lai, Mr. Chen, and I pointed out the entrance into a traditional wet market within Petaling Street but Mr. Alex mapping did not. This can conclude that there are some locations and places that are known by the majority but not all that visited Petaling Street. Another deduction is that the participant are aware about it but are not as significant in their memory.

There are locations that are pointed out by 2 of the mappings but are not found in another 2. Mr. Alex and my mapping pointed out a parking area due south of

Petaling Street while the others did not; Mr Lai and Mr Alex pointed out the existence of a pet shop near Petaling Street while the rest did not locate it; Mr Lai and Mr Chen pointed out a famous ‘Wan Tan Mee’ stall while the rest did not. In this observation, it is clear that some of the places and stalls in Petaling Street area are more significant towards certain group of people.

There are a lot of locations that are pointed out in the cognitive maps that are different from other maps, most probably based on personal interest, career, and background. Mr. Lai’s cognitive map are different from the rest because his map is focused on Petaling Street itself and are very specific and detailed in his drawings. This is due to his constant exploration at site during his free time that he managed to map out location and activities such as a back lane selling used goods and a car park at the back lane too. Chinese and an Indian temple, money changer shops, and hotel are pointed out as these are closely related to his career. Besides that, Mr. Alex’s mapping is quite unique in the sense that he identified places that are related to vehicles. For instance, bus stations, LRT station, car park, and also a traffic police station. It is obvious that his past career as a car dealer led him to these memories from the site.

On the other side, Mr. Chen’s mapping is only focused on the area around his stall. Since he is working in Petaling Street almost every day, the places he likes and visited the most eventually became his memory of the site, which are mostly the food stalls he visited. He is the only one pointed out that there are often beggers begging for money in the middle of the cross junction within Petaling Street. Lastly for my cognitive mapping, my memory and image of Petaling Street is mostly consisting of building types, density of people, journey of arrival to the site, and structure. These are my focus due to the fact that I am an architecture student and my field of view and observations are basically architecture’s syllabus related.

DISCUSSION All 4 of the cognitive mapping have successfully portrays at least 4 out of 5 elements of Kevin Lynch’s theory of cognitive mapping, which are path, node, landmark, and edge. District are not obvious in the mapping as Petaling Street area generally consist of commercial buildings of similar height and age. The 4 mappings commonly show 2 paths intersecting at a cross junction within Petaling Street, and a stall selling ‘Air Mata Kuching’ that attracts a lot of customers. This point clearly shows the existence of path, node, and landmark interrelating with each other to create one of the focal point of the image of Petaling Street. As Lynch quoted “These elements are the raw material of the environmental image at the city scale. They must be patterned together to provide a satisfying form”.

Lynch also argues that people in urban situations orient themselves by means of metal maps, which is true based on all 4 cognitive mapping. All 4 persons are able to orient themselves and thus locate and pointed out the locations and places according to their respective mental maps. This revolves around the central notion of Lynch’s book – The Image of the City, which is legibility.

“Legibility means the extent to which the cityscape can be ‘read’ by people who move through the city engaging in way finding.” According to Lynch.

Figure 10 : The intersecting junction at Petaling Street Source : Own Source Another issue brought up by Lynch’s work is the eternal question of serendipity. Lynch himself feels that disorientation is the cause of fear and anxiety. He claims that “to become completely lost is perhaps a rather rare experience for most people in the modern city”. Yet under controlled circumstances he acknowledges that “there is some value in mystification, labyrinth, or surprise in the environment”. Based on the cognitive mappings, all 4 persons have the image of Petaling Street and are able to naturally orient themselves due to memory, experience, and most importantly exploration. Under the guidance of mobile media and location-based services, people will refrain from exploring the city discovering new things. For example, Mr. Lai will not know the existence of a back lane which sells second-hand goods if it’s not for Mr. Lai curiosity and constantly exploring the street during his free time.

CONCLUSION After conducting the survey and analysis, I can conclude that although Petaling Street is mostly physically look and stay the same for years, the quality of the place by different people shows that their interpretation and image of Petaling Street can be different too. All 4 mappings show that the physical context are the same but are different is details and personal perception. It ties with Kevin Lynch statement of “if shows that urban space is not just composed of its physical characteristics but equally by representations in mental images.” I feel that physical context of Petaling Street will remain for a long time, but everyone’s legibility towards it is different and will undergo ever-changing in details. As Kevin Lynch quote; “There is no final result, only a continuous succession of phases.”

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Lynch, K. (1960). The image of the city. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

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