Cognitive Maps in Behavioural Geography: The Case of Ege University Campus

In this article, how the university students perceive a regional university campus in Turkey was explored through cognitive mapping technique. The first part presents a literature review on the emergence of the behavioural approach within the discipline of geography, followed by the development of behavioural geography and cognitive mapping studies in Turkish. The empirical study was conducted at the Ege University campus in Izmir and the results are based on a sample of 100 university students. Each participant drew a map of the campus. The maps were analyzed according to the number, type and distribution of the components indicated and the initial starting point of the maps. Results indicate that gender is not a remarkable variable while location, spatial functions and utilization of certain places are significant in the mental representation