Defining Salient Elements of Environment and Memory

Abstract

Several studies have focused on the physical and architectural features of landmarks. Other studies mentioned the cognitive and semantic aspects of landmarks. It can be noted that there is a methodological and/or onthological dichotomy in the determination of landmarks: subjective landmarks and objective landmarks. In addition, even though there are some studies that classify landmarks considering their locations, there is no study that focuses on the placement of landmarks in syntactical spatial configuration. The syntactical location is important especially in historical cities. Landmarks generally exist in the centre (or in integrated areas) of the old city. As the city grows and extends, it employs new centres and landmarks. In time, the people and the perspectives of the people who live in the city, and the focal points of the city may change. If so, what makes a building landmark? Its architectural features? Its function? Within this context, the case study in this paper has two steps. First, people will be interviewed for the subjective landmarks. Then, the objective landmarks of Ayvalik will be determined according to the criteria shown in the literature. In the end, the objective and subjective landmarks will be compared and evaluated.