Lecture 2: Review

Perception

Mirko began this week on the topic of perception. He used a Charlie Brown magazine cartoon to began the discussion. My interpretation of perception is how we view and see certain things. Our minds break down the image and transform that into a function for us to understand the complexities of it. This begs the question. Do we all see the exact same thing? Most likely yes, but if we have never seen the object before then it is not recognisable to us and we have no connection to it. Take the Parthenon for example. To a tourists eye they see a decrepit historical building connected to the maiden goddess Athena, slowly withering away into even more of a ancient ruin. To a designers and architects eye they see a engineering wonder. A marvel of colonnades gentle holding up an almighty entabulator. A pure work of craftsmanship highlighting the skills of Classical Greece.

http://www.123rf.com/photo_9722030_greece-parthenon-sketch.html

The idea of perception carried on through the work of Jane Jacobs. Mirko asked the question. How do people use space? In my opinion space is an object of interaction, whether that be private or public. Taking this further the idea of how people use the city space can be discussed and can be broken down into some key criteria:

1. People use the city to work and socialise. Does this occur?

2. They must first feel comfortable in the environment in which they are situated. 

3. The city needs to be accessible and be linked different areas. 

4. It must be a hub for activities and a place for comfort. 

As shown in the lecture Pruit Igoe in St Louis was a poor example of this and did not meet any of the criteria stated above. Everyone may perceive the city in a different manner, however, they still all need to feel a sense of every single one of the four items above for the city to be a city.

The works done by Kevin Lynch and Gordon Cullen are a good example of how we each perceive things differently. They both did a thorough analysis of cities and yet only choose certain points to highlight and discuss. They found that some things seemed more important and critical to them than other stuff. We all do the same thing without even knowing it.