A transdisciplinary approach to oppressive cityscapes and the role of greenery as key factors in sustainable urban development

Abstract

Through the recent process of urban development, characterized by urban expansion and redevelopment, industrialized countries have witnessed a surge in the number, scale and complexity of urban structures. However, it has become difficult to keep urban space adaptable to environmental realities and our cities don't completely meet the demands of society. These demands include the sustainable upgrading of social infrastructure and the regeneration of attractive urban space that is not only safe and highly efficient, but also consciously takes into account psychological influence. In this research "oppressive" refers to cityscape featuring highrise buildings that cause negative psychological pressure on residents. Oppression is a barrier to achieving sustainable urban development and current research is a step towards addressing this barrier. This paper tries to bring the research of oppression to the international scientific society to present parts of years of Japanese research in this field. Through various methodologies researchers have proved that cities have oppressive and depressive affects on residents but the influencing factors are not completely measured. This research discusses the key parameters of psychological health by assessing the impact of trees effect on real urban oppressive environment. This paper also compares the largeness and quality of trees' affect against other physical factors in the city environment. Two experiments were conducted, one in the real Tokyo urban environment -as a mega city and the other utilizing 3-dimensional computer software to simulate the real urban environment in an experiment room. Totally, 60 participants from the field of architecture looked at specific images and responded by filling in a pre-designed questionnaire. Results indicate that oppression which increases as building's solid angle increases is significantly influenced by the existence of trees and the sky factor. The placement of trees or planting design in the urban area is important.

Measuring oppressiveness of streetscapes

“…5 presents a significant increase in oppressiveness perception when a building's solid angle increases. This finding is consistent with those of Asgarzadeh et al (2009), Byun et al (2011), Hwang (2007, and Takei and Oohara (1978). Since the solid angle is directly related to the building mass in a streetscape, the higher the building rises, the larger the solid angle becomes.…”

“…Lange has suggested that scenes where buildings are dominant or where there is lack of vegetation elements in the landscape tend to receive lower preference ratings (Lange, Hehl-Lange, & Brewer, 2008). It is also suggested that the placement of trees in front of buildings decreases the unpleasantness of the environment although distance of viewer to trees does not have an influence (Asgarzadeh, Koga, Yoshizawa, Munakata, & Hirate, 2009;Asgarzadeh, Koga, Yoshizawa, Munakata, & Hirate, 2010).…”

Relationship between outdoor walking path preferences and street environment of older adults in a suburban area

“…SVR was higher around low-rise detached houses. A significant increase in the sense of oppression was observed as the solid angle of the building increased 56 . Stereo angles are directly correlated with the mass of buildings in a streetscape; therefore, the lower the building, the smaller the stereo angle 57 .…”

Studying oppressive cityscapes of Bangladesh

“…The psychological influence of nature and environmental surroundings on the human mind is welldocumented. Particularly, exposure to the sky and greenery seem to be of high importance to our psychological health and productivity [1], [2]. Currently, there are many research projects to understand the effect of designing classrooms and work spaces with natural light and exposure to greenery.…”