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OK - let me try something for the sake of argument (with no real empirical justification of course:-). Scaling phenomena tend to refer to those relationships between two variables where either one or both are considered linear on a logarithmic scale - so for instance the largest something and the second largest are an order of magnitude different in size as are the second and third largest, etc. It seems reasonable that the experiencing subject might notice order of magnitude differences between different situations in the world and so possibly learn associations between pairs of variables of this kind. It is perhaps less obvious that they would notice differences between normally distributed variables? So let us consider space syntax 'intelligibility' - the correlation between local and global measures of the graph. If one or both of the measures are highly skewed (and both tend to be) then the correlation may be learnable if it exists. This perhaps offers a mechanism through which part of Lynch's concept of legibility might be realised and where 'scaling' would be useful characteristic of the underlying variables. It is just a thought. The problem might be that scaling phenomena tend to be ordered purely on the dimension of interest- largest, second, third etc. and not in the subject's experiential order which must be according to the order of connections in the network. Perhaps with bivariate correlations and in the long run the association to be learned des not depend on the experiential order? Alan Bin - I think it would be worth reviewing the following papers which may be relevant to your argument: Kim, YO and Penn, A (2004) Linking the spatial syntax of cognitive maps to the spatial syntax of the environment.<http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/278/> ENVIRONMENT AND BEHAVIOR , 36 (4) 483 - 504. 10.1177/0013916503261384<http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0013916503261384>. (Also Young KIm'a PhD thesis which lends support for feature recognition related to scale.) Carvalho R, Penn A (2004) . Scaling and universality in the micro-structure of urban space.PHYSICA A vol. 332, 539-547. 10.1016/j.physa.2003.10.024<http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physa.2003.10.024> Hillier, B. and Iida, S. (2005) Network and psychological effects in urban movement. In: Cohn, A.G. and Mark, D.M., (eds.) Proceedings of Spatial Information Theory: International Conference, COSIT 2005,Ellicottsville, N.Y., U.S.A.,September 14-18, 2005. (pp. pp. 475-490). Springer-Verlag: Berlin, Germany http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/1232/ Also Nick Dalton's PhD thesis on point intelligibility and recognisable urban areas. On 20 Dec 2012, at 17:23, David Seamon <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote: Bin, I looked at this new link but, from what I can tell, the article is the same as the one at the earlier link. I have to say I don't understand what you're arguing. You really don't offer a convincing justification for why this scalar focus is so important (note your justification is a brief two sentences that really aren't clear in what they mean!). As I said to you in the last email, I really don't think one's "conscious" image of a place is that crucial in knowing that place or traversing that place. Phenomenologically, what is needed is a thorough developmental study of how people, experientially, come to know a new place and how an unrelated set of environmental elements come to cohere in some organized understanding of place. But, still, below all this, is the power of body-subject, which you provide no context for whatsoever. I am sorry but I am really not sure what you are arguing makes sense. And I especially don't see your jump to using the axial maps and the red "lines" as somehow the scalar mechanism. I agree that, in Lynch's research, paths were the dominant elements for most people, and the paths usually "imaged" were the most integrated pathways. But I still think that is "after-the-fact" knowledge in relation to what successful traversal of a place is experientially (and thus phenomenologically). I hope you'll read my GEOGRAPHY OF THE LIFEWORLD, because it was my first effort to point out the considerable weaknesses of any cognitive approach to spatial behavior and environmental conception. The book is available in its entirety at my university website. The link is: http://www.arch.ksu.edu/seamon/books_intro.htm Sorry not to be more positive about your work. I just think you should be careful and not spend a lot of time on a "theory" that may not be accurate. David Seamon ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bin Jiang" <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2012 9:56:17 AM Subject: [SPACESYNTAX] The image of the city Hi, I thought this paper might be of interest to some of you: http://arxiv.org/abs/1212.3703 With this, I am humbly looking forward to your comments and criticisms in particular. Happy holidays to you all! Bin -- -------------------------------------------------------- Bin Jiang Division of Geomatics, KTH Research School Department of Technology and Built Environment University of Gävle, SE-801 76 Gävle, Sweden Phone: +46-26-64 8901 Fax: +46-26-64 8758 Email: [log in to unmask] Web: http://fromto.hig.se/~bjg/ -------------------------------------------------------- European Associate Editor Computers, Environment and Urban Systems: An International Journal ICA Commission: https://sites.google.com/site/commissionofica/ Geomatics Program: https://sites.google.com/site/geomaticsprogram/ ICA Workshop: https://sites.google.com/site/icaworkshop2013/ SENSORCITY: https://sites.google.com/site/sensorcityproject/