Actualización de vistas

In  order  to  examine  the  relationship  between  the  behaviour  of  practitioners  of  parkour  and   architecture  students  with  the  environment  that  they  physically  engage,  the  methodology   takes   into   consideration   an   analysis   of   their   reaction   towards   a   designed   tour   of   the   city   centre  of  Liverpool,  which  allows  them  to  represent  the  city  as  they  wish.    These  forms  of   touring   play   an   important   role   in   understanding   spatial   cognition   and   perception,   as   the   urban  geographer  Paul  Knox  describes,    

Cognition   and   perception   are   associated   with   images,   inner   representations,   mental   maps   and   schemata   that   are   a   result   of   processes   in   which   personal   experiences   and   values   are   used   to   filter   the   barrage   of   environmental   stimuli   to   which   the   brain   is   subjected,   allowing   the   mind   to   work   with   a   partial,   simplified   (and  often  distorted)  version  of  reality  (Knox,  Pinch  2010)  p.  225).  

Due  to  the  degree  of  psychological  analysis  that  is  required,  understanding  cognition  and   perception  of  mental  maps  are  deemed  as  being  beyond  the  scope  of  this  research  and  are   concepts  that  are  only  partially  discussed  by  authors  such  as  Knox.  One  author  who  does   investigate  these  concepts  in  more  detail  is  the  urban  design  theorist  Kevin  Lynch  and  his   concept  of  imageability.  Consequently,  Lynch’s  work  has  largely  influenced  developing  an   approach  in  this  study  for  understanding  how  individuals  moved  through  cities  in  relation   to  how  they  interpreted  its  visual  qualities.    In  his  seminal  text  The  Image  of  the  City  (Lynch   1960),  Lynch  uses  a  series  of  interviews  to  investigate  how  the  visual  descriptions  made  by   individuals  from  different  sectors  of  society  corresponded  to  their  experiences  of  the  cities   in  which  they  lived.  Lynch  revealed  that  participants  constructed  mental  maps  around  five   distinct   urban   elements:   paths,   edges,   districts,   nodes   and   landmarks.   The   outcome   of   Lynch’s   analysis   was   that   it   offered   a   sophisticated   system   for   understanding   individuals’   process  of  way–based  on  a  visual  language.  

  The   application   of   data   collection   techniques   comparable   to   the   Lynchian   model  was  chosen  for  this  study  as  it  provides  a  system  for  developing  the  sensory  process   in  which  individuals  define  their  engagement  with  urban  spaces,  and  their  sense  of  being   within   it.   By   examining   multi–layers   of   experience,   this   study   builds   upon   the   role   of   the   embodied   perspective   as   a   means   to   record   and   analyse   visual   and   non–visual   urban   qualities.  Unlike  the  work  of  Lynch,  for  the  purpose  of  this  study,  the  practice  of  video  film– making  has  been  identified  as  a  more  appropriate  form  of  documenting  the  relationships   between   people   and   spaces,   rather   than   the   creation   drawings.   A   significant   amount   of  

critical   attention   has   been   developed   around   the   notion   of   filmmaking   as   a   method   of   documenting  the  architectural  qualities  of  cities.  This  theme  is  reflected  in  but  not  limited   to,  the  work  of  Bruno  2002,  Koeck  and  Roberts  2010,  Penz,  and  Thomas  1997,  and  Webber   2008.  I  would  also  argue  that  the  notion  of  using  filmmaking  as  a  means  of  mapping  could   also  be  seen  as  a  means  of  capturing  a  sense  of  place.  The  aforementioned  authors  have   emphasised  filmmaking  as  being  part  of  a  lineage  of  efforts  made  throughout  history  such   as  painting  and  photography  to  create  representations  of  the  existential  qualities  of  place.   As  Castro  argues  the  desire  to  capture  or  communicate  the  qualities  of  a  place  is  innate  to   human  consciousness,  and  she  describes  how,  ‘cinema  is  traversed  by  what  could  be  called   a  mapping  impulse’  (Castro  201,  Koeck  &  Roberts  2010,  p.  144).  Castro’s  argument  is  largely   informed  by  the  work  of  the  critical  geographer  Brian  Harley  and  his  belief  that;  

There  has  probably  always  been  a  mapping  impulse  in  human  consciousness,  and   the  mapping  experience  –  involving  the  cognitive  mapping  of  space  –  undoubtedly   existed   long   before   the   physical   artefacts   we   now   call   maps.   For   many   centuries   maps  have  been  employed  as  literary  metaphors  and  tools  in  analogical  thinking.   There  is  thus  also  a  wider  history  of  how  concepts  and  facts  about  space  have  been   communicated,   and   the   history   of   the   map   itself   –   the   physical   artefact   –   is   one   small  part  of  this  general  history  of  communication  about  space  (Harley,  Woodward   1987,  p.  1).    

Castro  goes  on  to  elucidate  by  identifying  three  strategies  that  distinguish  cinema’s  visual   mapping  of  urban  space:  topophilia,  descriptive,  and  surveying.  Here,  the  act  of  filmmaking   is  examined  as  a  practice  that  highlights  a  study  of  the  personal  and  emotional  connection   to  places  rather  than  a  rationalised  and  standardised  analysis  of  space.  The  term  topophilia   itself  was  made  famous  by  the  French  philosopher  Gaston  Bachelard  in  his  seminal  text,  The  

Poetics   of   Space  to   heighten   awareness   about   the   existential   relationship   that   exists  

between   individuals   and   the   environment   that   they   are   situated   (Bachelard   1969).  The   concept  of  topophilia  is  of  particular  importance  to  this  study  as  it  identifies  the  intimate   connections  that  individuals  can  develop  with  their  surroundings  over  time.  Topophilia  also   presents  a  way  for  examining  the  role  that  memory  plays  in  differentiating  between  spaces   and  places.   Scholarly   work   that   examines   the   critical   distinction   between   the   conceptual   view   of  spaces   and  places   has   been   closely   examined   by   a   number   of   notable   academic   figures,   such   as   Henri   Lefebvre,   David   Harvey,   and   Yi   Fu   Tuan.   What  is  perhaps   most   significant  about  video  filmmaking  as  a  means  to  represent  place  in  comparison  to  other   methods   is   the   way   in   which   it   introduces   time   as   a   quality   that   can   be   experienced   alongside  visual  and  audio  characteristics  to  create  a  multi–sensory  experience.    

Although  this  study  does  consider  the  aforementioned  theories  of  film  as  a  form  of   documenting  place,  it  is  instead  focused  on  participants’  ways  of  seeing,  meaning  that  it  is   more   appropriately   understood   as   an   ethno-­‐documentary   of   city-­‐space.   The   emphasis   of   the   term   ethno-­‐documentary   highlights   that   capturing   the   audio-­‐visual   qualities   of   the   tours  through  video  is  used  to  document  an  individualised  response  to  a  specific  series  of   places,  rather  than  the  creation  of  a  cartographic  product,  which  attempts  to  visualise  the   configuration  of  spaces.