An Investigation into the Home Environments of 10-14 Age Group Children in the Cognitive Maps

Abstract

Nowadays, urbanization is increasing and children’s relationship with their living environment is becoming more and more important. This study aims to examine the urban imagery elements in children’s minds concerning the urban space in which they live and to show how children reflect spatial information about their home and home environment in their cognitive maps. A field study was conducted with children (n=387) in the Kadıkoy neighborhood of Istanbul during the fall semester of the 2021-2022 academic year. The study group was selected using stratified random sampling. Questionnaires and cognitive maps were created with children aged 10-14 years. IBM SPSS 25.0 statistical program was used to analyze the research data. The study used descriptive data analysis to determine frequencies and percentages. The results of the study are divided into two categories. The first consists of drawing an image map of the real environment and determining the image elements, and the second consists of spatially analyzing the content of the cognitive maps drawn by the children. Spatial content analysis of cognitive maps; i) explanation of home environment in children’s cognitive maps following Lynch’s methodology (path and
landmarks); ii) Matthews’ categories for classifying children’s drawn cognitive maps. The research findings show that i) paths are drawn more frequently as landmarks in children’s cognitive maps, but landmarks are drawn in more detail and defined in writing. The second finding of the study is ii) that the reflection rate of children’s functional cognitive map drawings (elements of the built environment) from the immediate environment of their home is quite high. This study of children’s city images and cognitive mapping abilities is likely to give researchers in fields including city planning, architecture, educational sciences,
cognitive psychology, and child psychology a new perspective.