The Campus and the Sense of Belonging to Place and Structure

Abstract

The research investigates the role of the Campus Landscape Design inachieving a complete semio-communicational structure that creates a continuousdialogue between the perceiver and the physical entity of the urban environment (through the unconscious recall of meanings and semiotic indexes implicit therein)and achieves individuals' sense of belonging to place , thereby emphasizing thehuman ,social and cultural role of the university and its vital contribution in buildingup the Whole Man .The absence of a comprehensive theoretical framework for therole of the Landscape Design in achieving a semio-communicational structure for thecampus urban environment ,constitutes the main research problem.This problemarises from the lack of knowledge in the previous architectural literature in providingclear theoretical frame-work concerning the above mentioned role (as a result ofliterature concentration on fragmented and separate attributes) , as well as the absenceof a dialectic and reasonable interrelation between architectural theories and scientifictheories in the fields of Structuralism and Semiotics . In view of the problem underinvestigation , the aim of the present research is defined as arriving at theestablishment of a comprehensive theoretical model , by which are determined theprinciples and mechanisms of the role of the Landscape Design in achieving a semiocommunicational structure for the campus urban environment . Arriving at this aimrequires the building of the theoretical framework in the light of the main researchhypothesis, and eventually the extraction of the research conclusions andrecommendations . The result of the research , led to clear mechanism for the role oflandscape design in achieving a semio- communicational structure for the campusurban environment . This mechanism is formed by the reaction and simultaneity of thecomponents of the three basic characteristics of place structure (cognitive , spatial andbehavioral). By applying this mechanism , the designer will be able to createmeaningful environments that achieve people’s sense of belonging to place .