A QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF UNDERGROUND LINK - PLACE IDENTITY AND WAYFINDING

Abstract

Subterranean development has become prominent over the past decade to maximize the usage of land: A consequence from land scarcity and a paradigm shift towards sustainable development. By increasing useable space while reducing demand of land from the surface, developing underground it improves the condition of urban environment by leaving more spaces for green and public usage- above ground. Moreover, it increases the efficiency use of space by achieving a higher land use within the same plot of land area. Others adopt this development as an add-on to existing plots of developed areas as transportation network and link-ways between buildings. Development of the subterranean spaces however lacks sufficient consideration and integration of more universal wayfinding factors in its design planning during early design phase. Wayfinding is diverse and subjective where it differs from people and dependent on the environment they are in. There is a significant amount of research on wayfinding ranging from human factors to environmental factors in affecting the experience of wayfinding and one’s wayfinding ability. However, there is limited research showing universal factors that people adopt in wayfinding. This paper seeks to understand the type of elements that people adopts during wayfinding, hence being able to draw linkages between various elements and establish a universal factor for a specific site context so that architects and planners can integrate it in future design process and authorities are able to set up guidelines in assessing the efficiency of the underground link and provides possible solution to rectify any possible problem or issue and to alleviate the negative experience of underground wayfinding. The research of this paper will be conducted through literature reviews, online survey and case studies. Findings will be mapped using neural network method to assess the consistency of predefined factors against the outcomes of analysis result. Hence, an evaluation can be made on the design of existing underground link in terms of wayfinding.