Efficient visualization of urban spaces

Abstract

Abstract. This chapter presents a new method for calculating efficiency and applies that method to the issues of selecting simulation media and evaluating the contextual fit of new buildings in urban spaces. The new method is called "meta-analysis". A meta-analytic review of 967 environments indicated that static color simulations are the most efficient media for visualizing urban spaces. For contextual fit, four original experiments are reported on how strongly five factors influence visual appeal of a street: architectural style, trees, height of a new building relative to the heights of existing buildings, setting back a third story, and distance. A meta-analysis of these four experiments and previous findings, covering 461 environments, indicated that architectural style, trees, and height had effects strong enough to warrant implementation, but the effects of setting back third stories and distance were too small to warrant implementation.

A Protocol for Evaluating Contextual Design Principles

“…No Car 5 Cars European streets Cars 0–8 24 18 −0.11 “New” Amsterdam 6 Distance Urban streets Meters 15–37 37 24 0.19 Stamps [ 24 ] 7 Distance Urban streets Meters 7.5–120 18 24 0.16 Stamps [ 24 ] 8 Distance Urban streets Meters 22.6–34.7 24 * 24 0.01 Stamps [ 24 ] 9 Distance Suburban streets Meters 31.5–245 90 25 0.11 Nasar and Stamps [ 74 ] 10 Diversity ...…”

“…From an evidence-based point of view, the topic of simulation validity has moved beyond the general question of whether simulations are valid at all for providing guidance regarding which refinements of simulations are most effective in different contexts. For example, measuring visual impacts along streets can be done with two images, while visual impacts in areas, such as open landscapes, will require four images [ 24 ].…”