The Visual and Auditory Images and Cognitive Characteristics on the Townscapes in Namwon City

The purpose of this study is to interpret the visual and auditory images and cognitive characteristics about townscapes in Namwon city. It was acquired the survey results about 8 types of verbal interviews and 2 kinds of sketch maps which are based on urban images from 102 Namwon residents. They held in a variety of images of Namwon in their minds such as Jiri mountain, clean environment, sightseeing, special products, urban/building structures, Korean classical music, historical novel, local sports, and emotional images. The nice streets or places which the residents recommended are the places which have abundant natural areas, psychological peace and rest, available space for physical activity, places for performances and events, and regional attractions. The streets or places which they didn't like are decadent places, and areas of crowded traffic. The transition times of visual and auditory scene can be classified with the Saemaul movement in the 1970's(the rural new community movement) and the improvement of the city in the 1990's. The elements of visual images in Namwon city on the basis of the cognitive maps were expressed such elements as paths, districts, nodes, edges, and landmarks. The elements of auditory images, which are on the basis of the concept of the soundscape, included sounds of narrative musical form unique to Korea; p'ansori, sounds of traditional markets, and sounds of nature. It was found that the imageability of visual and auditory images is relatively clear in specific areas in Namwon city.

남원시의 도시경관에 대한 시각과 청각의 이미지구조와 인지특성