Meaningful perception of place: The most effective dimensions and factors

Abstract

The basis of the present study is to evaluate the process of meaningful perception of place, and to analyze the effectiveness of each factor influencing this process. It will also investigate the effects of various perceptional dimensions (including cognitive, affective, interpretative and evaluative dimensions) on the manner of perceiving different levels of place meaning. Arg Street in Mashhad city was selected as the study area and both the qualitative and quantitative methods were adopted. Techniques of semi-structured interview, and coding and hermeneutic methods were used to analyze the relation among different levels of place meaning and the effective factors and dimensions of environmental perception. Findings demonstrate that certain perceptional dimensions may have more effect on perception of particular levels of place meaning. The results indicate that ‘cognitive dimension’ is the most influential dimension in perception of the primitive level of place meaning, while ‘affective’, ‘interpretative’ and ‘evaluative’ dimensions play the most significant role in perception of the extreme levels of place meaning. Moreover, this research suggests a need for further studies exploring practical methods in our contemporary urban design projects, which can involve the perception of people with the most effective dimensions.