Urban Scape
Aida Arjmandtabar; Raheleh Rostami
Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 19 June 2022
Abstract
Assessment and evaluation of the visual preference matrix based on the Kaplans’ theory in the natural and non-urban landscapes have shown that the people prefer landscapes that meet the audience’s needs under four perceived qualities, namely coherence, complexity, legibility, and mystery. ...
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Assessment and evaluation of the visual preference matrix based on the Kaplans’ theory in the natural and non-urban landscapes have shown that the people prefer landscapes that meet the audience’s needs under four perceived qualities, namely coherence, complexity, legibility, and mystery. However, this theory is yet to be effectively considered for urban landscapes. This theory has been proven in areas such as meadows, forest and fields but on the other hand urban landscapes are high density developments and are deprived of appropriate greenery. Considering that and the importance of residential streetscapes in light of their visibility on a daily basis, it was decided to evaluate the matrix of visual preferences in urban landscapes with an emphasis on the amount of green index in form of vegetation visible to urbanites and its kinship to natural landscapes of the same nature. In order to test this theory, pictures of residential streetscapes in the most populated district of Sari (Bakhsh-e-Hasht neighborhood) were used as a basis for comparison, and a public survey was performed where participants’ opinions were quantitively obtained via a structured questionnaire. In a descriptive correlational research method, analysis of the collected data using SPSS software showed that, despite the intensification of the green index in the urban landscapes, the visual preference matrix was not as effective as that of the natural landscapes, with the four variables of this matrix failed to significantly affect the visual preferences of the dominant public, although the ultimate preference was found to be independently associated with the green index and increased at higher green index values. The results also showed that structural factors of residential streetscapes such as the width of the pathway have affected on the influence quality of the four variables of this matrix on the final visual preference, in such a way that the narrower pathways are clearly stronger functions of the Kaplan matrix.
