Toward the territorial meaning in walking and staying: use representational diagrams to invigorate imaginary walking

Abstract

As a common human behavior, walking has been regarded much as a bodily movement. To better understand the cognitive aspect, the paper inquires about how imaginary walking can enrich a landscape experience and what the role of the representational diagram is in facilitating the dual status of walking. To present the proposition tangibly, the paper raises three case studies, each being featured with a distinct relation between in-situ walking and imaginary walking. The type of representational diagram in each case also varies, which is conceived as a thematic map for the story in Florence (Italy), a historical transect for the scenario in New York State (United States), and a hybrid drawing for the re-imagination in Yuyao (China). These cases are based on personal experiences, with the previous two finished during the study of Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania and the third one afterward.