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Shikha Agarwal |
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A study on Wayfinding Behavior: Case Study Mumbai Local Trains Commuting System Supervisor: Prof. G G Ray Abstract: “Wayfinding is an ease with which one proceeds and facilitated though an environment from one location to another predetermined location” (Lynch, 1960). Way finding is part of everyday life and we all make sense of the direction through stored knowledge and spatial references. Indian society culturally has adhered to verbal assistance from passerby and crowd behavior for route information, orientation and movement in public environments. This is due to the fact, that in general, there had been little guidance in public spaces from text, graphics and audio formats for easy wayfinding. Hence people have adapted to the culture of ‘asking’ for their decision-making in unfamiliar places. This phenomenon is profoundly visible in Mumbai local train stations which involve complex large scale building architecture, chaotic public spaces and demand of fast execution of multiple set of task and activities. Verbal information is the most common strategy of communication among unfamiliar commuters as they do not understand information displays or do not know where to look for information. Poor information access is due to language barriers, poor literacy levels, unfamiliarity with local train and station environment and presence of sensory impairments. Verbal information is the most important strategy for wayfinding among unfamiliar commuters both sighted and non-sighted, as it is the fastest way to receive information and saves the time spent on looking for information and cognitive workload. But if the query is made is not clearly framed or not well understood by the person to whom the query is made, people are either misguided or left unguided. This kind of situation lead to loss of time, decreased safety, stress or discomfort, dependency on others and incur monetarily penalty if boarded a wrong train coach. People feel lost, in secured and unsafe. Poor wayfinding also negatively affects overall mobility of large crowds creating situations for collision, traffic jams, theft, trips, falls, accidents and deaths. In the light of the above mentioned concerns, the doctoral research will study the logic of wayfinding behavior when people face dynamic and overcrowded environments; assess information communication services provided by railways and propose a design based approach for improved way finding performance.
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