Cognitive mapping as a link between the urban designer and space user Dr. Marwa Adel Elsayed 1 , Dr. Walaa S.E. Ismaeel 2 1 The British University in Egypt, Marwa.Adel@bue.edu.eg 2 The British University in Egypt, Walaa.Salah@bue.edu.eg Abstract: The Visual Identity of open spaces results from our cognitive image. This can be the result of both physical and non-physical ties to the landscape change. It affeĐts users’ perĐeptioŶ aŶd provokes their senses. Recent researchers revealed there is a gap between the intended design developed by the urban designer and the users' cognitive map of the space. The research aims to determine the most important factors that the urban designer should keep into consideration to reduce this gap. The research used semi-structured interviews & mapping tool to analyse the landscape change over the past 10 years for open space food courts in three new residential communities in Egypt. The result presents a comparison between the three perspectives for landscape change; 1) theoretical guidelines for designing urban space elements, 2) urban designer's design approach and 3) users' cognitive map for open spaces. This method can be used to convey, share and exchange information for landscape designers, urban planners and decision makers. Keywords: Cognitive map, Cognition, Landscape Change, open Space. Introduction: Human cognition is a reflection of what is processed in memory as a result of the perception of featured elements and experiences. This is developed into knowledge and understanding of the surrounding context and includes processes of reasoning and judgment (Adams & Aizawa, 2010; Lewandowsky et al., 2012). It depends on a set of physical and psychological factors. The former constitute factors related to the design of spaĐe eleŵeŶts, ǁhile the later ĐoŶstitute faĐtors related to users’ age, sedž, ŵetaďoliĐ activity, culture and occupation (Berto, 2005). Yet, few studies have provided an empirical basis to consider the use of cognitive maps in designing open spaces in Egypt (Marwa Adel El Sayed and Ayman Mahmoud Hassan, 2015). This contradicts with the poor knowledge that urban designers and landscapers have about users' cognitive map (Marwa Adel El Sayed and Ayman Mahmoud Hassan, 2015) The study is divided into two parts with ten years apart. It aims at comparing the principles of landscape design change through the main cognitive factors indicated in the first part of the study for open space food courts. According to Oxford dictionary, Food court is defined as the area in a shopping mall where fast-food outlets are located. The study uses analytical methods and techniques to structure and display the case study data. It also uses structured interviews to characterise users' cognition towards open space design. Literature review Previous studies have attempted to understand the relationships between landscape characters and how this affects visual perception. Some studies used statistical analysis such as multivariate analysis, cluster analysis (Hagerhall, 2000; Hoffmann-Kroll et al., 2003; Ruiz & Domon, 2009), photographs and interviews (Polat & Akay, ϮϬϭϱ; Ņitaǀska, 2011).