Thirteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices

Abstract

Indian cities invigorate a conspicuous imagery influenced by the pattern language evolved through their urban-morphology. Similarly, the walled cities of Jodhpur and Jaipur, with rich heritage and cultural values, though similar in context, are distinct in imageability and navigation due to different genesis and evolution. The paper thus focuses on wayfinding as a tool through perception of the semantics of urban elements leading to cognition in form of mental-maps to form an understanding of the imageability of study-area. It can be perceived as a potential practice to emphasize the need of wayfinding design to assure comfort and convenience. The study is based on the heuristic evaluation of imageability of the two cities, through the eyes of floating population visiting the study-area. Visual cognition and mental-map analysis of the users are preceded by spatial tasks such as transect walks and directional exercises to analyze search behaviours. Spatial perception is examined through recall tasks like cognitive-mapping and interviews, which helped to delineate neighbourhood level imageability. Gaze behavior analysis through eye-tracker is performed which revalidates the findings of spatial tasks. Grid-iron layout of the well planned city of Jaipur creates ease for visitors to detect spaces. Presence of strongly visible landmarks and signage-systems add to the legibility. On the other hand, the organic evolution of Jodhpur has led to dense settlements with bewildering streets but allow surprising visual elements. It is therefore established that the semantics of spatial cues have a direct impact on the navigational ability and imageability of the spatial environment.