IN-PERSON ISTANBUL HERITAGE(S)

Abstract

The expansion of urban populations will be significant by 2030. Therefore, creating an efficient and inclusive wayfinding for young children is imperative for sustainable urban futures. Wayfinding systems traditionally utilize standard signage for navigational purposes; however, the purpose of this paper is to argue for the inclusion of cultural landmarks at local levels to enhance spatial awareness as well as overall user satisfaction. Additionally, by linking what might be called a city’s “cultural past” to its “mediation of the future,” this paper seeks to determine how local forms of heritage may be used cognitively as landmarks in the process of navigation. This research applies a multi-disciplinary approach using ethnographic participatory design workshops that involve children acting as co-designers. These workshops produced information regarding specific visual cues and/or landmarks that have cultural and/or local architectural significance to participants. Subsequently, this paper proposes a formal methodology for extracting these landmarks from participatory datasets and adding them into enriched wayfinding instruction. A case study provided in and around Udaipur, Rajasthan, India serves to demonstrate the practical application of the proposed framework. Results showed that using local cultural markers were more effective for navigational purposes than generic markers do, creating a greater sense of place and improving the speed of wayfinding. This research presents an easily replicable model to create intuitive, culturally relevant urban interventions by focusing on the lived experiences of young users in conjunction with the unique heritage of the built environment.