Management of the image of the city in urban planning: experimental methodologies in the colour plan of the Egadi Islands

Abstract

The debate over the value of the image of a city, which since the 1960s has been gaining wider room for reflection, has arisen as a criticism against the reductionism of the Modern Movement and highlighted the value of the qualitative aspects of an urban landscape. The question asked is if urban planning can in some way govern the image of a city. An investigation into which tools and strategies are necessary to defend the narrative of a city, its identity and its genius loci against the homologating forces that are transforming contemporary cities. The article explores the theoretical principles and methods being experimentally used to qualitatively manage the urban environment. Research investigates the innovative experimentation being carried out in Italy that has brought about the compiling of colour plans, and questions what their characteristics should be, so as to be effective in the management of the quality of an urban image. In order to focalise these crucial aspects, the case of the colour plan for the Egadi Islands is presented, illustrating the methods elaborated for the individualisation of the characteristics connoting its local urban landscape and the strategies adopted to cope with the risks to which they are exposed.

A Methodology to Regulate Transformation of a City’s Appearance Due to Energy Efficiency Building Renovations: A Case Study: Errenteria (Spain)

“…The alteration degree in a neighborhood with such a high number of buildings unfortunately Analyzing the CVD of Errenteria, it is seen that the complexes that reach values above 80 (nos. 3, 4, 8, 21, 24,25,34,35,36,37) are those built more recently, with a unitary project and blocks of identical typology. Due to their closeness in time, they have not yet been subject to renovation and maintain the original appearance.…”

“…The authorship, drafting and execution dates and other features of the project should be duly verified by bibliographic and archival research; -Typological homogeneity: although the concept of architectural typology has been defined and interpreted diversely over the course of history [34][35][36], we could understand it as being the set of architectural, compositional, construction-related and functional features of a building complex that result in a homogeneous image and enable its respective recognition as a landscape clearly identified in the memory of the urban fabric; -Chromatic homogeneity: color is a vital component of the urban landscape, as it offers unique visual experiences and a perception of the surroundings that affects citizens' emotions. The growing chromatic homogeneity of new façade skins depending on the fashions of the moment and the lack of integration with the color of the existing urban landscape are disfiguring the image of the city [37][38][39]; -Alteration degree: the interventions undertaken over the course of time have distorted to a greater or lesser extent the original configuration and image of the complex, hence conditioning the greater or lesser impact of future actions; -Recognized quality: the urban and architectural quality and singularity of the complex, consolidated in time and recognized in specialty publications and various media or obtained by other analysis methods [40]. Many building estates and complexes with high urban and architectural value built between the 1940s and the 1980s are still not included in heritage protection catalogues and run a high risk of being totally deconfigured by current and future interventions; -Authorship relevance: the recognized relevance of the designer or designers of the building complex should also be considered; -Location of the complex: the location of the neighborhood or building complex in the municipality's urban fabric can minimize or maximize the impact of any possible intervention; -Number of buildings: the built volume of the complex is another factor to consider due to its multiplying effect.…”

Use of Green and Water Areas in the Process of City Image Creation on the Example of Szczecin

“…In recent years, the topic of the image of cities has been increasingly addressed in research (Carmona, 2021;Badami, 2022;Suardi, 2023), including in the context of the use of green spaces in their construction (Garcia-Lamarca, 2021). Consideration of the possibilities of image creation should begin by answering the question of what image actually is.…”

A Study on the Visual Comfort of Urban Building Colors under Overcast and Rainy Weather

“…However, color is a complex dynamic phenomenon; it depends on the light color environment [6]. With the change in weather, buildings are constantly affected by factors such as lighting and environmental color [7,8], the color properties of buildings (hue, value, chroma) show great differences [9][10][11], and people's visual perception of architectural color also changes accordingly. Particularly in certain countries and regions, prolonged and persistent rainy weather can lead to reduced environmental visibility, causing visual recognition difficulties [12].…”