Evaluation of students' images of city center: Aksaray-Turkey

The relationships of human with the environment are built on the images in their minds. The human age, gender, education level, and the time spent on a place affect people's perception of the environment. Cities include numerous elements that can be perceived in the mental images of people. According to Lynch (1960), in the minds of people living in cities, the five primary elements comprise routes, edges, intersections, zones, and triangulation points. The current study primarily aimed to elicit images of the Aksaray City Center from the minds of the students attending the Aksaray University, Faculty of Education, Department of Social Studies Teaching. This study also aimed to determine the causes of differences in the perceptions of the students (time spent in the city, gender, residence neighborhood, and economic status) using the city center. The sketch map method was employed in the study. The students were asked to draw a map of the city center in their minds. The results primarily revealed that the city square, which is positioned in the main intersection of the city, was most frequently detected in the students' mental maps. This landmark was followed by the route leading to the university. © 2018, Association of European Geographers