Affective dimension in cognitive maps of Barcelona and São Paulo

Abstract

This paper analyses the relationship between city and affection as revealed through an investigation into the feelings and emotions of a sample of inhabitants of Barcelona and São Paulo towards their cities. A study of affection in the context of a city has its origin in the assumption that it is possible to develop an ethical‐affective rationality in the creation of spaces of both public and private interest, a dimension that can serve to optimize the action of the inhabitants of a city. The theoretical/methodological approach adopted was essentially interdisciplinary, with a basis in social psychology, as can be seen in the data‐gathering instrument. In order to assess the city's affective dimension, individual interviews were carried out and a questionnaire was applied to individuals in groups. In the latter subjects were asked to make a drawing representing their city and to answer some questions regarding this pictorial representation. The sample consisted of 200 subjects, half of whom were from Barcelona and half from São Paulo. Most were in the age range 18–35, undergraduate or graduate students, with females and residents of the metropolitan areas of the two cities studied being in the majority. The qualitative data were classified according to their meaning and content, using the categories that had been established in the pilot study, namely contrasts, insecurity, pleasantness, and belonging. A statistical analysis was then performed on the resulting categories. After being categorized, catalogued, and qualified by metaphors, the responses gave the following images: city of contrast, city of attraction, city of destruction, city of surprises, city of movement, and pleasant city. These images show feelings and emotions about Barcelona and São Paulo that act as representations. This presents the need to revise the affective dimension in the meaning structure of cognitive maps as proposed by Lynch. As a result, the new category of affective maps is therefore proposed, as being the category that expresses affective meanings and serves as an indication of the level of esteem for the city, two aspects that act as reference points for the involvement and participation of a city's inhabitants.

Exploring the Spatial Image of Traditional Villages from the Tourists’ Hand-Drawn Sketches

“…Song et al [29] classified cognitive maps that reflect path topological relations but lack recognisability of district spatial elements as hybrid types. Bomfim et al [30] added individual type categories when exploring the emotional dimension of a cognitive map, which only included landmark landscapes but were more abstract and symbolic. Young [31] found that some cognitive maps basically have no spatial representation, but only consist of some landmark landscapes, such as trees and waterfalls.…”

Citizen satisfaction with public goods and government services in the global urban south: A case study of Cali, Colombia

“…Kobayashi, Preston, and Murnaghan (2011) look at how affect is produced from and through the experiences of people in place; they explore the sense of place produced by migrants from Hong Kong into Vancouver and Toronto. Bomfim and Urrutia (2005) investigate the feelings and emotions of a sample of people in Barcelona and Sao Paulo about their city. The responses, qualified by metaphor, identify dominant representations of feelings of a "city of contrast", "city of attraction", "city of destruction", "city of surprises", city of movement" and "pleasant city".…”

A Systematic Review into Factors Influencing Sketch Map Quality

“…The factor of familiarity of place is closely linked to the factor of place of residence. The better the respondents know the given place, no matter whether from primary or secondary sources, the more elements they draw, and with greater accuracy [7,74,[102][103][104]. The Evans, Marrero and Butler [105] study also discovered that the number of nodes and paths increases along with familiarity of place, but the number of significant elements does not change.…”