ABSTRACT
This chapter is designed to explore in a preliminary fashion student views of the world as reflected in freehand sketch maps. In The Image of the City, Lynch (1960) indicated the utility of such sketch maps for obtaining insights into how people mentally structure the city and which elements are perceived as important. Such information is not readily obtainable by other means, which perhaps accounts for the wide application of this essentially projective technique. It has been used in studies of cities (Appleyard, 1970; Gulick, 1963) and portions of cities such as the Central Business District (Saarinen, 1968) and neighborhoods (De Jonge, 1962; Ladd, 1970). In this chapter an application of the freehand sketch map technique on the world scale is discussed. It was expected that the distinctive ethnocentric views of different areas would be likely to emerge on such maps. It seems important in a world continually upset by international conflicts to try to gain an understanding of variations in world views (Klineberg, 1965; Kelman, 1965; Stagner, 1967). This would seem to be an essential starting point in education for international understanding.
