The city space perception between the real and the virtual

Abstract

The article presents an investigation conducted with primary school students at the Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana. The aim was to determine whether the perception and image of urban space have changed over the years. The test contained eleven questions. The students had to choose which ones to answer in order to describe their favorite place in the city, and leave unanswered those that were not significant for her. The same test was administered in 2001 and 2019. Here we present the comparison between both results. They were evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively. Despite the fact that spatial perception is multisensory, touch is one of the senses that was less referred to in both cases, as opposed to vision. Our initial assumption was that with the advance of digital media, the perception of real space would be more concise. But in 2019, there were a number of students who were more specific than in 2001, suggesting to us that they have developed a greater sensitivity to space. Nevertheless, the general findings suggest that we should reconsider the pedagogical process. Some suggestions are presented in the conclusion.