Mental Maps Research Articles

Experiences of war and peace in public spaces—Aleppo city case study

Urban public spaces are the interface of any city that could tell about the city’s dynamic and status quo. In addition, Urban public spaces play a pivotal role in shaping societies’ dynamics and can significantly affect conflict and peacebuilding initiatives. In a context marked by Conflict’s profound impact, this article aims to contribute to the knowledge base for informed urban interventions that foster positive interactions and reconciliation in post-conflict cities. The article seeks to explore the intricate relationship between urban spaces and their influence on war or to promote sustainable peacebuilding through investigating the various roles of the urban public spaces during the war and peacetimes via residents’ experiences of the diverse spaces’ functions that shaped the city’s status quo. In addition, considering the interplay of social dynamics, conflict history, and the mental spatial map of cities in public urban spaces can influence lasting peace or upcoming conflicts. This article focuses on Aleppo as a case study, understanding the positive and negative experiences from the residents’ perspective before and during the current war in Syria, and even distinguishes between two periods during the recent war, which are the active violence and after the end of the direct active violence, where it could inform the decision-makers and urban planners on the areas of focus while developing post-war urban public spaces to ensure its positive role in fostering peace and be able to deal with the social dynamic and the mental spatial map that developed along with the conflict history. The paper utilised a mixed-methods approach, encompassing a case study review of Aleppo City from an urban perspective and fieldwork involving focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews with Aleppian from different backgrounds and geographic areas that represent the social dynamic of the city, as well as approached Aleppian who are still in living in the city and those who flee out of it to ensure the coverage of different political direction in addition field work engaged with academia and technical from the city who shared their knowledge and experiences working in the city. Participants were prompted to reflect on their pre-war familiarity with public places and share their experiences. These experiences were categorized by enabling a comprehensive understanding of how conflict context influenced these spaces. The article results offer an understanding of the peace-guiding functions of the urban public spaces based on the city residents’ experiences that could inform architects and urban planners in designing spaces conducive to sustainable peacebuilding. The article’s findings underscore the importance of strategically designed urban public spaces in promoting peace and social cohesion.

Effectiveness of Using Mental Maps Using the Mindomo Mobile Application in the Training of Biology Teachers

In this article, the authors investigated the effectiveness of using mental maps using the Mindomo mobile application. As an evaluation criterion, we used the average percentage of correct answers to the test on the studied topic immediately after the end of the module and again after 3 months. The results indicate the effectiveness of such a tool as mental maps in learning, including in the long term; however, for long-term storage of information, the manual method of drawing turns out to be more effective than using a mobile application.

Being a child in Morelia: child spatial mobility over the years

ABSTRACT The systemic crisis in Latin America, exacerbated by market-driven urban development, has led to heightened social segregation and diminished public spaces for mobility and recreation. In Mexico, childhood is particularly affected, with the last two decades witnessing a decline in children's autonomy within public areas due to escalating violence and militarization. Employing a childhood geography approach, this article examines the gradual reduction in children's spatial mobility across four generations in Morelia, Mexico. It explores key factors influencing mobility: play activities, perceived risks, and the impact of motility, all viewed through a gender lens. The study involves four cohorts of 10-year-olds from different decades, employing qualitative methods like interviews and mental maps. Results reveal the detrimental effects of rapid, fragmented urban growth and increased violence on creating spaces for children. Consequently, interactions have shifted indoors, leading to supervised play in semi-private spaces and a shift from collective, autonomous play to limited social interactions

‘Geopolitics of Sympathy’: George F. Kennan and NATO Enlargement

ABSTRACT In the light of the dramatic escalation of the Russian war on Ukraine since February 2022, questions concerning the handling of Russia in the post-Cold War era, and the enlargement of NATO in particular, are timelier than ever. This article scrutinises the views of George F. Kennan, one of the most influential critics of the decision to expand NATO. It is widely accepted that Kennan’s opposition to NATO was grounded in realism about international affairs. A careful study of the development of his thinking, based on his private papers and archival sources from many countries, suggests that his perceptions of developments inside Russia and his imagination of the countries in Central and Eastern Europe were more important than any foreign policy doctrine. Kennan’s criticism was grounded in his ‘geopolitics of sympathy’, understood as a fusion of mental maps, sympathies and personal connections towards the region affected by NATO enlargement. However, Kennan’s geopolitics must be considered in conjunction with his ideas about international order, in particular with his defence of empire.

Сравнительно-географический анализ студенческих ментальных карт Ставрополя и Пятигорска

The article attempts to identify and analyze students’ mental and geographical representations of urban space. The two largest cities of the Stavropol Territory, which are student centers in the region, are considered. The information base of the study is based on social mapping during a survey of students in Stavropol and Pyatigorsk. The views and ideas of modern geographers on mental mapping of cities are analyzed and used in practice. The research methodology is based on the study of mental maps created directly by students. Using the spatial approach, the mental and geographical structure of the selected cities was identified and investigated. Student mental maps have a linear-node type of structure, in which linear elements correspond to the streets of the city, nodes are represented by different types of points of interest. Generalization of the collected data made it possible to compile and study a mental and geographical model of Stavropol and Pyatigorsk. In these models, mental clusters and the factors of their formation are identified and investigated. Universities have played an important role in the formation of mental constructions about urban areas among students. The quality of student mental maps depends on their location, place in the history of cities, and participation in urban processes. Using the example of urban transport, trade and food networks, a number of cases and practices of forming mental elements in students are considered. In the course of a comparative analysis of cities, their similar and specific features are determined from the point of view of student perception of urban space. Quantitative comparisons of cities are not possible, the potential of similar studies lies in highlighting urban uniqueness and solving local urban problems.

An Empirical Application of Mental Mapping to Analyze National Identity Among Ukrainian Students

The paper focuses on the sociological adaptation and development of the mental mapping method within the study of national identity. ‘Mental map’ is defined as a spatial image or model formed over time in the individual or collective consciousness, while the method of mental mapping is interpreted as a graphic representation of a certain area by an informant at the request of a researcher. The study is based on the empirical application of mental mapping to the analysis of national identity among Ukrainian students ( n=942). The paper outlines methodological and theoretical specifics of mental mapping and indicates perspectives of this method in the context of a visual sociological paradigm.

The formation of the architectural landscape of Szeged, Hungary. 1872-1930.

The article, written during the implementation of the international Russian-Hungarian project, is of an overview nature. The author's goal is to expand the understanding of Russian colleagues about the Hungarian architecture of the late XIX – first third of the XX centuries. Szeged was chosen as an example of a large-scale reconstruction: the city, almost completely destroyed by the flood of 1879, was rebuilt in a short period and became the "southern capital" of Hungary. Based on field research in 2022, three layers of the architectural and spatial landscape of Szeged are considered: "imperial" (borderless classicism and historicism), "national" (Magyar secession) and interwar (Art Deco). The article is illustrated with photographs of the Hungarian participant of the project G. Csonadi. The object of the study is the city of Szeged, located 169 km south of Budapest, near today's Hungarian-Romanian and Hungarian-Serbian borders, at the confluence of the Tisza and Maros rivers. It is the second most important city in Hungary, the most important point on the "mental map" of the country, the capital of the Hungarian plain and a symbol of the revival of the national spirit. The subject of the study is the process of constructing an architectural "image of the Motherland". In our work, we use an interdisciplinary approach, combining elements of history, architecture, cultural studies and social geography. This allows us to explore and analyze architectural heritage more deeply, its impact on the formation of the cultural landscape and social processes. Using the example of the southern Hungarian city of Szeged, the process of constructing the "image of the Motherland" developed in a time perspective is considered. We have identified several layers in the architectural landscape of Szeged: regular-imperial (Biedermeier, neo-Baroque, borderless classicism), national-romantic (from historicism in the spirit of the French Renaissance to the Magyar secession), interwar (Art Deco based on neo-Romanticism). We see that the "spirit of the times" and the "image of the Motherland" are not static and are embodied in various forms. The image of "little Vienna", resurrected according to the patterns of the Enlightenment era on the far periphery of the Empire, is being transformed under the onslaught of the nationally oriented bourgeoisie. Bizarre and eccentric architectural experiments sponsored by private original customers are replaced by monumental pathos ensembles that help citizens jointly survive the deepest collective psychotrauma. The Synagogue, the Cathedral, the University and the "sunny houses" embody different facets of the Hungarian identity.

Contributions of representing the elements of nursing practice in the ISO 18.104:2023 standard: a theoretical study.

To reflect on the contributions of representing nursing practice elements in the ISO 18.104:2023 standard. This is a theoretical study with standard analysis. Categorical structures were described to represent nursing practice in terminological systems and contributions identified in the parts of the version were analyzed. There is innovation in the inclusion of nurse sensitive outcomes, nursing action, nursing diagnosis explanation as an indicator of nursing service demand and complexity of care, representation of concepts through mental maps and suggestion of use of restriction models for nursing actions. It describes that the Nursing Process is constituted by nursing diagnosis, nursing action and nurse sensitive outcomes. Indicating a nursing diagnosis as an indicator will bring benefits for knowledge production and decision-making. Although care outcomes are not exclusive responses to nursing action, the modifiable attributes of a nursing diagnosis generate knowledge about clinical practice, nursing action effectiveness and subjects of care' health state. There is coherence in understanding the Nursing Process concept evolution.

Attractive places in an ostensibly unattractive town: Přerov through the eyes of its inhabitants

The assessment of place attractiveness is a complex issue that has been addressed in geography for several decades. This text aims to contribute to the current knowledge by exploring the potential existence and role of positively perceived (topophilic) places within generally negatively perceived urban environments. In the studied area, the town of Přerov (with a population of 41,000), the characteristics of these places and changes in their perception over time were investigated. Research data were collected using a questionnaire survey (n = 374) based on mental mapping. The “topophilia index” was utilized to assess the level of place attractiveness. It was confirmed that even in the town, which is generally perceived as unattractive, places with significantly positive meanings (urban green places, water bodies, the historic centre) exist. Such places are particularly appreciated for their natural beauty, tranquillity, and atmosphere. Furthermore, the findings suggest the occurrence and meaning of topophilic places remain stable over time.

Сопоставительный анализ геоконцептов «Пекин» и «Шанхай» в «наивной» географии Китая

This article focuses on the reconstruction and comparative analysis of the geocognitive concepts ‘Beijing’ and ‘Shanghai’ in the ‘naïve’ geography of China. The study is conducted within the framework of geocognitive studies developed by the Perm School of Computer Linguistics. Geocognitive studies, as a science of conceptualizing mental representations of space, enable a better understanding of people's mental maps, their perceptions of the world and adaptation in the surrounding space, which can be valuable in the development of urban projects, tourist routes, marketing strategies, and many other areas where geographic aspects are important. The method of material collection employed in the study is geocognitive mapping – an experiment aimed at creating ‘naïve’ maps conducted using the vector graphics web editor Creative Maps Studio. The research material consists of 96 ‘naïve’ maps of China created by student informants from universities in China representing 45 regions. The informants were asked to draw a map of China using the web editor and supplement the drawn objects with associations or representations related to them. The processing of the textual layer of all collected maps, necessary for subsequent modeling of geocognitive concepts, was carried out in the information system Semograph, and graphical explication of graphosemantic models of the geocognitive concepts was performed using the SciVi program. In the informants’ perceptions, the geocognitive concept ‘Beijing’ is a more complex semantic formation, based on the political role of the capital, linking the country in social, cultural, and historical aspects. The geocognitive concept ‘Shanghai’ encapsulates perceptions of an economic and commercial metropolis – the ‘Magic City’ of the modern global world. During the analysis of the cities, it was found that historical, sociocultural components, and personal experience significantly influence the associations and/or representations of informants.

Application of Urban Theories in Developing Participatory Planning Tools

Abstract For successful and efficient participatory planning, continuous improvement and assessment of its tools is needed. The aim of this research is to summarize the methodologies, process, and results of the participatory workshops carried out within the framework of the Genius Loci project implemented in the Šančiai neighbourhood (Kaunas, Lithuania), and to draw conclusions and insights on the effectiveness, advantages, and possibilities of using urban theories and approaches, such as mental mapping, sociotope methodology, and pattern language in participatory planning tools. The possibilities of application of the design thinking approach in facilitating the process and improving user experience are also discussed. The article includes a brief introduction to the activities of the Genius Loci project with the following focus on workshops, their methodologies, processes, and outcomes from the point of view of urban theories applied. The main outcome is the summary table demonstrating features of participatory tools (workshop sessions), elements of urban theories applied, and their evaluation followed by conclusions.

Workshops as a Relational Material Research Practice: Creating Space for Shared Knowledge

Workshops provide a flexible approach to studying complex issues. This paper discusses the methodological considerations involved in doing research through workshops and aims to further the understanding of how workshops can facilitate interactive and creative knowledge practices in case study research. The paper builds on two research projects - where workshops were used to study the practices of professionals’ use of digital tools at a consultancy firm and the everyday life of residents in a newly built city district. In the project about professional practices, three workshops were carried out with professionals from different disciplines and focused on their use of a specific digital tool, BIM. Post-its were used to introduce, explore and discuss different topics around everyday practices and digital tools, both individually and in various group arrangements. The three workshops built on each other and resulted in a concrete action plan for developing the company’s work regarding BIM. In the research about the everyday life, the participants in five workshops were asked to draw a map of their home and other meaningful places in the city district. These individual “mental maps” were then used as a starting point for discussing the residents’ everyday practices in a group setting. While the workshops in the two research projects targeted different groups and had different forms, they both made use of visual materials as a central aspect of workshops. Therefore, we analysed the workshops with a relational material framework to further understand how design choices affect research practice and research outcomes. From this lens, we analyse our choices in designing the workshops, the analytical processes and the consequences these choices have on what knowledge we create in interaction with the participants.

Embodying a self-avatar with a larger leg: its impacts on motor control and dynamic stability.

Several studies have shown that users of immersive virtual reality can feel high levels of embodiment in self-avatars that have different morphological proportions than those of their actual bodies. Deformed and unrealistic morphological modifications are accepted by embodied users, underlying the adaptability of one's mental map of their body (body schema) in response to incoming sensory feedback. Before initiating a motor action, the brain uses the body schema to plan and sequence the necessary movements. Therefore, embodiment in a self-avatar with a different morphology, such as one with deformed proportions, could lead to changes in motor planning and execution. In this study, we aimed to measure the effects on movement planning and execution of embodying a self-avatar with an enlarged lower leg on one side. Thirty participants embodied an avatar without any deformations, and with an enlarged dominant or non-dominant leg, in randomized order. Two different levels of embodiment were induced, using synchronous or asynchronous visuotactile stimuli. In each condition, participants performed a gait initiation task. Their center of mass and center of pressure were measured, and the margin of stability (MoS) was computed from these values. Their perceived level of embodiment was also measured, using a validated questionnaire. Results show no significant changes on the biomechenical variables related to dynamic stability. Embodiment scores decreased with asynchronous stimuli, without impacting the measures related to stability. The body schema may not have been impacted by the larger virtual leg. However, deforming the self-avatar's morphology could have important implications when addressing individuals with impaired physical mobility by subtly influencing action execution during a rehabilitation protocol.

HUMAP: Hierarchical Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection.

Dimensionality reduction (DR) techniques help analysts to understand patterns in high-dimensional spaces. These techniques, often represented by scatter plots, are employed in diverse science domains and facilitate similarity analysis among clusters and data samples. For datasets containing many granularities or when analysis follows the information visualization mantra, hierarchical DR techniques are the most suitable approach since they present major structures beforehand and details on demand. This work presents HUMAP, a novel hierarchical dimensionality reduction technique designed to be flexible on preserving local and global structures and preserve the mental map throughout hierarchical exploration. We provide empirical evidence of our technique's superiority compared with current hierarchical approaches and show a case study applying HUMAP for dataset labelling.

Landscapes of Galicia as Viewed through the Camera: Visualization of Belligerent Spaces of the First World War

This article analyses practices of capturing the experience of the First World War on the Eastern Front and the construction of militarized life worlds by combatants of the Russian Army and photojournalists. The author aims to determine the significance of the belligerent landscapes of Galicia in the formation of participants’ specific behavioural strategies and practices in the first industrial war. Methodologically, the author relies on the synthesis of approaches of spatial research and visual anthropology, conceptual provisions of landscape studies, and cultural geography. To analyse the photographic situation on the Eastern Front of the First World War, the peculiarities of the further existence of visual images in group and collective communication, identify techniques for constructing the image of the Galician environment in 1914–1915, the author refers to photographic sources of the Russian State Archive of Film and Photographic Documents. A key thesis of the study is the assumption that through the practice of photographing militarized landscapes, mental maps of alien space were constructed, and the imaginary appropriation of the territory annexed by the law of war took place. As a result, the author concludes that the landscapes of Galicia in photographs are a phenomenological construct, and not a direct reflection of reality or objective evidence. The photographic situation itself acts as an interpretation because photographers follow the imperatives of their own (prewar) life experience, the ideas formed by the prevailing discourses, consider the technical limitations of the era and shocking experiences in the spaces of death. The author also reveals the therapeutic function of war visualization and the role of the camera as a protective barrier for the photographer. The analysis determines the dynamic relationship of strategies for capturing military experience with the course of hostilities, as well as the need to study photographic albums dedicated to the life of individual units of the Russian Army or representing a series of images in a particular locality of Galicia as a whole and consistent photographic travelogue. The modern interpretation of military photographs makes it possible to reveal a layer of environmental consequences of the First World War in Eastern Europe which is latent for the photographer.

Decoding the Collective Image of Malmö

Public spaces, parks, walking, cycling, and transit paths in Malmö are designed to create an accessible and integrated city. In this study, three groups of first-year students were asked to draw their mental maps of Malmö to investigate how they perceive Malmö as a legible, conceivable, and connected city. The results reveal that these young residents have a clear picture of most public places and the predominant landmarks’ positions. Still, the links between many public places were unclear, not legible enough, or even negligible according to their drawings.

Comparative Study of the Structures of French and Yoruba Idiomatic Expressions

oruba and French languages are so rich in the use of idiomatic expressions which lend themselves easily in the hands of those who know the two languages, through limitless improvisation of idiomatic expressions. In friendly, family and societal conversations, idiomatic expressions occupy a unique place. Their importance cannot be over emphasized as they add beauty to the speeches that employ them and provide knowledge and wisdom for better and clear understanding of the messages being projected. This paper therefore, examines idiomatic expressions in both languages at different fora. The paper hinges on Cognitive Linguistics which claims that idiomatic expression, which is motivated by metaphor, is not merely a figure of speech, but a specific mental and neutral mapping that influences a good deal of how people think, reason and imagine in everyday life. It was complemented with Conceptual Metaphor Theory which postulates that human thought process are largely metaphorical, and human conceptual system is structured and defined in a metaphorical way. The examples of Yoruba idiomatic expressions used in the paper were taken from two authentic Yoruba text books; Yoruba idioms by M.A. Fabunmi and Asayan Akanlo Ede Yoruba by Ademola Olopade while French idiomatic expressions were taken from Dictionnaire Des Expressions Et Locutions, second edition by Allain Ray et Sophie Chantreau. Our findings reveal that, the idiomatic expressions in both languages have similar characteristics, similar functions and at times have mutual equivalence. Also idioms in both languages can have the same word patterns but different lexical items due to different cultures. Keywords: Yoruba, French, idiomatic expressions, cognitive linguistics, conceptual metaphor theory.

Óvodás gyerekek névmodellje

Onomastic research typically focuses on the place-name recognition of adult name users. Thus, little research has focused on the place name vocabulary and naming competences of children. This paper presents the results of a survey using a complex methodology to characterise children’s place-name knowledge in a comprehensive way. Comprehensive interviews were conducted with ten children aged 6–7 years, as part of which children’s place-name knowledge, place-name competence and mental maps were assessed. The results show that children’s place-name knowledge is much narrower and spatially more limited than adults’, essentially covering only the inner area of their own municipality. They also know the macrotoponyms of other places, but the conceptual representations of these names are rather schematic. Children’s travel descriptions and mental maps are based on an egocentric perspective. The results show that the methodology can be applied successfully and provides a comprehensive picture of children’s spatial knowledge and place perception.

Követéses helynévismereti vizsgálatok Tépén

Real-time studies are needed to provide empirical evidence for changes in toponymic knowledge. These studies can be completed by examining the relative toponymic knowledge of generations of the same age at different times: this is called a trend study. In a panel study, the data collection is repeated with the same individuals who participated in the first study. A combination of a panel and a trend study is the most efficient, which is why the author repeated their 2013 survey of toponymic knowledge in Tépe in 2023. As a first step in the more recent survey, interviews were conducted with 7% of the population in four generational groups. Here the research aimed to discern how the generational groups’ toponymic knowledge evolved in relation to each other. In addition, a panel study with 11 respondents was also completed. This study focused on changes in individual toponymic knowledge. Out of 11 respondents, only 2 individuals showed an increase in toponymic knowledge, while the other respondents exhibited a decrease to a lesser or greater extent. One important finding of the present study is that the change in toponymic knowledge is not a one-directional process: not only did new names appear on the mental maps of younger and middle-aged respondents, some also disappeared.

Helynév-szociológiai vizsgálatok Jablonca községben

The study presents the results of research into the use of toponyms in Jablonca (Silická Jablonica), a Hungarian settlement in Slovakia. According to the results of the 2021 census 91.76% of the population in this border village is of Hungarian nationality. The village community is characterised by Hungarian-Slovak bilingualism. Consequently, the place-name collection revealed both Hungarian and Slovak place names for some areas. The paper describes the sociological aspects of the research, which aimed to investigate the inhabitants’ knowledge of place names. The paper reviews the non-lingual factors that influence the knowledge of place names. Research was conducted via interviews, questionnaires and asking respondents to draw a mental map. The results showed that place of birth, ethnicity and mother tongue, as well as occupation and leisure activities, are the main factors that determine knowledge of place names. Hungarian dominates the residents’ place name use, with only a minority knowing place names in Slovak (i.e., those shown on a map). The study of place-name knowledge within the family shows the importance of family knowledge in the transmission of place-names.