The Human Behavior and the Mental Maps

Laura Zabisky Floresta & Renan Matumoto University Of Massachusetts Amherst December, 2010 Key Words: Human Behavior, Mental Maps, Participatory Planning.

Abstract
The human behavior is defined by various social measurements, among them the environment in which the individual is, this way we can say that the study of the environment made from the mental maps are important once we can use them for the understanding of the connections made between man and his environment, the mental maps therefore is a methodological tool for understanding the relationships between people and places.

umans been are not passive organisms waiting and hoping for help.

Rather they are busy, dynamic creatures, actively striving to cope with the world around them, the human animal has a niche that is neither localized, nor restricted by climate, nor dependent on a particular plant or other species (KAPLAN, 1982). The preference places for different individuals might be not systematized but the origin of the preference, probably involve the relation with the environment around (DE PAULA, 2010). If we admit that the relation of the man with the environment is affected by many factors like, social, physical or psychological, becomes necessary utilize one appropriate language to develop concepts of human experience, and try to create a definition of what is standard about the human behavior (LUME, 1999). Thus, the effort to understand the phenomenon of perception starts to be a complex

challenge, it can be a key to realize and connect the process of the mind with the environment. Kevin Lynch, architect and urban planner, made several contributions to the field of city planning through empirical studies that describe the way that the human been percept and navigate through the urban landscape, exploring the presence of the time and history of the cities, looking for ways by which we can sharpen the human perception of urbanization and physical forms of cities and regions. In his book, "The Image of the City", Lynch used three different cities as examples, Boston, Jersey City and Los Angeles, to study the human behavior, reaching the conclusion that people generally understands the city and its surroundings in a consistent and predictable way, forming mental maps from five basic elements to the urban structure: 1. Routes: these are the streets, sidewalks, railways and other ways of locomotion; 2. Neighborhoods: relatively large sections of the city distinguished by some identity or character; 3. Boundaries: perceived boundaries such as walls, buildings, and shorelines; 4. Strategic Points: points of convergence of people, such as cross walks or squares; 5. Land Mark: what are peculiar objects that can serve as a reference point. This way reaching the conclusion that mental maps are also the name given to a type of diagram, systematized by Buzan, aimed to managing information and knowledge acquired, responsible for understanding and solving problems, what is extremely important for the capability of create solutions to the adverse situations that can come to occur. Lynch thus has a great importance and influence in the fields of urban planning, architecture and psychology of environments.

Identity and Perception

In the process of drawing up a mental map the person is, above all, faced with preferences that are, in other words, places that it most identifies with, especially when memories are engraved in mind, in a direct or indirect way. 2

As Lynch says (1960, p. 1), "Nothing is experienced in itself, but always in relation to its surroundings, the sequences of elements leading to it, the recognition of past experiences." In an empiric point of view, generally speaking, the coexistence of the society and the human been with their environment is responsible for how the individual understands the landscape in which it is inserted, therefor the cultural background of the individual, the way he sees and examines the society, it is transmitted through its subjectivity to the making of their mental map. Following the reasoning of Yi-Fu Tuan, combining the concepts of the actions taken by individuals with the perception of the senses and its response to external stimulation, certain phenomena are clearly recorded, while other recede into the shadows or are blocked. Much of what we perceive has value to us for survival, and to provide some satisfactions that are rooted in culture. (TUAN, 1980, p. 4) Tuan says that attitude is a natural posture that exists through the perceptions of the individual in relation to it, forming a long succession of perceptions that are known as experience. Thus the perceptions of a child, who has a minor living time when compared to adults, will be transmitted in a more primitive form. We all live in intense contact with the environment in which we participates, and the perceptions of the environment are not only captured by external stimulus represented by subjectivity, but also by concrete factors such as the perception of the environment through the senses of the human body. [...] As diverse as are our perceptions of the environment can be, as members of the same species, we are bound to see things a certain way. All humans share common perceptions, a common world, because they have similar bodies. The uniqueness of the human perspective will become evident when we stop to ask how human reality should differ from other animals. (TUAN, 1980, p. 6) In the man, the vision becomes the sense more remembered when asked about the perception of space, not taking into account the relevance of the other senses, the vision being responsible for make the connection between the space and the person,

when the individual has no relationship with the place. From the moment that this relationship becomes frequent, the other senses become more prominent. About the relation between the person and its environment, Lynch states (1997,p.5) that the city is itself a powerful symbol of a complex society, showing the strong bond of being in relation to its environment. For Lynch the structure and identity of an individual (in the behaves of mental maps), can be decomposed into three components: identity, structure and meaning. The identity applies to the identification of an object, in other words, what is different from other things in an abstract way that capture the priorities of each individual and transfer it awareness to the mental map, showing the individual uniqueness sides and their winemaker. As a framework, we have the individual's relationship with the makers of the map object in question, relating his link with the environment and, ultimately, the meaning, which shows the human and emotional side before these objects, whether accessible or utopian,

represented subjectively on your map. Lynch says that the relation between identity and physical environment is what he calls, image ability, which means: [...] Feature, a physical object, which gives it a high probability of evoking a strong image in any given observer [...]. We could also call it the readability or perhaps visibility in a deeper sense in which the objects are not only likely to be seen, but also sharp and intensely present to the senses. (Lynch, 1997, p. 11) Thereby about the interaction between the citizen and the city, the citizen establishes a bond with its environment, developing a new point of view of the structures and its surroundings at the same time, not forgetting its basic concepts, founding a new way of understanding the society, reinforcing the chain of the empirical thinking.

The use of metal maps in participatory planning maps

In participatory master plans, the mental maps tend to be used heavily in the direction and organization of the suggestions, proposals and objections made by the people present during the public meetings, keeping them visible forming a basis for decisions to be taken. Integrating the use of the mental map can help to understand the urban and natural system, and how these aspects are really related and in that way, how they can influence positive or negative, in others aspects of a planning. This practice also allows the sharing of different perspectives of different individuals, helping to identify potential problems in this community, as well as major problems that might be priority to start the planning. Among the types of existing mental maps, the casual maps are used in the beginning of the process, identifying the strategic areas of development. With this type of map, the relationships among the topics raised by the lectures and technical community are identified, helping participants better understand the natural and urban system, the extent to which it is perceived the issues are closely related and that the actions in certain part of town planning tend to influence other sectors. Next to being an instrument for urban research, mental mapping can be an instrument for urban developments when giving enough support for defining programmatic proposals. The insight in existing and true identities, their expression in the urban landscape, community values and relations with the urban society as an overall context then must be elaborated into programmatic intervention and transformation. (Sulsters. W.A.) Mental mapping as a research instrument uses visualization of different maps of individuals within groups with specific characteristics. In this way insight can be gained in the more collective carriers of urban identity and the general functioning of an urban territory for specific groups.

Reference
Brunini,L.V. December,2010.O MAPA MENTAL: PERCEPO DO ESPAO E IDENTIDADE NO PROCESSO ENSINO-APRENDIZAGEM DA GEOGRAFIA.)

Available: http://www.unifev.edu.br/graduacao/o_mapa_mental_percepcao_do_espaco_e_identidade_no_proces so_ensinoaprendizagem_da_geografia-21-artigo.html

Mental mapping, viewing the urban landscapes of the mind (Willem A. Sulsters) KAPLAN,S. & KAPLAN,R.( Eds).(1982). Humanscape: ENVIRONMENTS FOR PEOPLE. Ann Arbor, Michigan. Ulrichs Books ,Inc. Lynch, Kevin. (1960).The Image of the City. MIT Press, Cambridge. MA Tuan,Yi-Fu. (1979). Landscapes of Fear. Pantheon Books, New York, NY. DE PAULA, L.T. (2010).MAPA MENTAL E EXPERINCIA: UM OLHAR SOBRE AS POSSIBILIDADES.Instituto de Geocincias Unicamp.