EVALUATING THE ENVIRONMENTAL CUES FOR ORIENTATION: WAYFINDING IN A DISTRICT BAZAAR

Abstract

Finding one’s way through the built environment is an everyday task. Especially in unfamiliar and complex environments that are difficult to comprehend and navigate through may be discouraging and frustrating for first time users. Shopping, which is an essential activity to acquire goods for daily use and a form of leisure, can trigger irritation and disorientation when the shopping environment is unfamiliar and complex. People have to rely either on their previous experience with similar environments or on environmental cues they encounter while navigating. This study focuses on navigation and orientation in an outdoor shopping environment and aims to examine the internal and external information that affect wayfinding and spatial orientation. A questionnaire was administered to one hundred participants based on quota sampling in a district bazaar. The results verified that female participants focused on object properties (landmark information) and male participants focused on spatial properties such as location and spatial relations. Participants who were familiar with the bazaar were able to find their way and give verbal information. Furthermore, this study highlights the importance of verbal cues for orientation especially when other environmental (architectural, graphic and spatial) cues are lacking.