Evaluating Urban Image from Children's Perspective: The Case of Trabzon Ortahisar

Cities, which are significant spaces for the physical and mental development of children, are typically defined by paths, edges, nodes, districts and landmarks. The aim of this study is to identify the perceptual approaches of children, whose interactions with their surroundings are currently limited, towards the city, and to measure their interactions with social, natural, and historical environments. The research area encompasses the Ortahisar district of Trabzon province. The methodology of the study includes verbal surveys and mental maps. Six middle schools were randomly selected from different socio-economic regions to provide representation from various parts of the district. Data obtained from 256 surveys and 192 mental maps were analyzed using MAXQDA 2020 Analytics Pro. The Jaccard similarity index validated data reliability, showing an average similarity of 91.23% for surveys and 54.80% for mental maps. According to the findings, while nodes were predominant in verbal data, landmarks were more prominent in visual data. Moreover, a significant relationship was found between landmarks and historical sites (Spearman correlation = 0.744, N=256). Consequently, it was revealed that the northern part of the city is more comprehensible in the minds of children.

Keywords: Child; image of city; mental map; space perception.