Cross-cultural aspects of streetscape perception
Submitted: 2024-03-08
|Accepted: 2024-06-07
|Published: 2024-06-28
Copyright (c) 2024 VITRUVIO - International Journal of Architectural Technology and Sustainability
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Downloads
Keywords:
architecture, sidewalk, walkability, cyclability, cross-culture, urban forms
Supporting agencies:
Abstract:
Public space auditing is an efficient tool for urban planning of active mobility infrastructures. It enables real estate developers and urban planners to judge the level of comfort their design of sidewalks and public places can provide. Most of the research focus on the methodology to characterize the satisfaction of a public space, but there is a lack of knowledge about inter-cultural aspects of such methods. Our main research question is whether there is consistency in the way in which French and Spanish auditors perceived an urban streetscape: would they rate a public space the same and what features would be differently audited. We selected three urban identities of a modern district representing a variety of urban form: a public place with a tramway station, a commercial street designed as a strip mall, and green residential area with leisure activities. Each of these points of view were audited by a pool of French and Spanish participants according to criteria related to buildings’ architecture and sidewalks’ design for walkability and cyclability purposes. Both virtual reality and real scenes of the public spaces were recorded in videos and provided to participants for rating purposes. Architectural ambiances were measured with qualitative scales, quality of public space was measured with two integrated indicators of pedestrian level of service, and the accordance of infrastructures for active mobility was probed with individual scales. Results from the audit suggest that some streetscape impressions may be quite similar when assessed with various types of measurement, in different cultural contexts: scale, size and architectural style stimulate the same kind of feelings, and the quality of public spaces were perceived equivalently by the two communities as well as bikeability. Dissimilarities in perception occurred for the perception of materials and general feelings of the areas, and in the rating of walkability and in preferences for walking.
References:
Belaroussi, R., Pazzini, M., Issa, I., Dionisio, C., Lantieri, C., González, E.D., Vignali, V., & Adelé, S., 2023. Assessing the Future Streetscape of Rimini Harbor Docks with Virtual Reality. Sustainability, 15(6), p.5547. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065547
Biljecki, F., & Ito, K. (2021). Street view imagery in urban analytics and GIS: A review. Landscape and Urban Planning, 215, p.104217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2021.104217
Calvillo Cortés, A.B., & Falcón Morales, L.E. (2016). Emotions and the Urban Lighting Environment: A Cross-Cultural Comparison. SAGE Open, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244016629708
Coburn, A., Vartanian, O., & Chatterjee, A. (2017). Buildings, beauty, and the brain: A neuroscience of architectural experience. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 29(9), pp.1521-1531. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_01146
Ewing, R., Clemente, O., Neckerman, K.M., Purciel-Hill, M., Quinn, J.W., & Rundle, A. (2013). Measuring urban design: Metrics for livable places (Vol. 200). Washington, DC: Island Press. https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-209-9
Ferrer, S., Ruiz, T., & Mars, L. (2015). 'A qualitative study on the role of the built environment for short walking trips', Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 33, pp. 141-160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2015.07.014
Gomez-Tone, H.C., Martin-Gutierrez, J., Bustamante-Escapa, J., Bustamante-Escapa, P., & Valencia-Anci, B.K. (2021). "Perceived Sensations in Architectural Spaces through Immersive Virtual Reality", VITRUVIO - International Journal of Architectural Technology and Sustainability, 6(2), pp. 70-81. https://doi.org/10.4995/vitruvio-ijats.2021.16253
Huang, G., Yu, Y., Lyu, M., Sun, D., Zeng, Q., & Bart, D. (2023). 'Using google street view panoramas to investigate the influence of urban coastal street environment on visual walkability', Environmental Research Communications, 5(6), p. 065017. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/acdecf
Issa, E., & Belaroussi, R. (2024). Designing an immersive visit for public space assessment. To appear in Edelweiss Applied Science and Technology.
Jaskiewicz, F. (2000). Pedestrian level of service based on trip quality. Transportation Research Circular, TRB.
Jing, J. (2022). 'Seeing Streetscapes as Social Infrastructure: A Paradigmatic Case Study of Hornsbergs Strand, Stockholm', Urban Planning, 7(4). https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v7i4.5776
Juul, V., & Nordbø, E.C.A. (2023). 'Examining activity-friendly neighborhoods in the Norwegian context: green space and walkability in relation to physical activity and the moderating role of perceived safety', BMC Public Health, 23(1), p. 259. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-15170-4
Kim, S.N., & Lee, H. (2022). Capturing reality: Validation of omnidirectional video-based immersive virtual reality as a streetscape quality auditing method. Landscape and Urban Planning, 218, p.104290. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2021.104290
Kuliga, S.F., Thrash, T., Dalton, R.C., & Hölscher, C. (2015). Virtual reality as an empirical research tool-Exploring user experience in a real building and a corresponding virtual model. Computers, environment and urban systems, 54, 363-375. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2015.09.006
Liang, X., Zhao, T., & Biljecki, F. (2023). Revealing spatio-temporal evolution of urban visual environments with street view imagery. Landscape and Urban Planning, 237, p.104802. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2023.104802
Lu, Y., Yang, Y., Sun, G., & Gou, Z. (2019). Associations between overhead-view and eye-level urban greenness and cycling behaviors. Cities, 88, pp.10-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2019.01.003
Marković, S., Stevanović, V., Simonović, S., & Stevanov, J. (2016). Subjective experience of architectural objects: A cross-cultural study. Psihologija, 49(2), pp.149-167. https://doi.org/10.2298/PSI1602149M
Mouratidis, K., & Hassan, R. (2020). Contemporary versus traditional styles in architecture and public space: A virtual reality study with 360-degree videos. Cities, 97, p.102499. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2019.102499
Müggenburg, H., Blitz, A., & Lanzendorf, M. (2022). 'What is a good design for a cycle street? - User perceptions of safety and attractiveness of different street layouts', Case Studies on Transport Policy, 10(2), pp. 1375-1387. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cstp.2022.04.021
Ramirez Juarez, R.N., Grigolon, A.B., & Madureira, A.M. (2023). 'Cyclists' perception of streetscape and its influence on route choice: A pilot study with a mixed-methods approach', Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 99, pp. 374-388. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2023.10.029
Ruggeri, D., Harvey, C., & Bosselmann, P. (2018). Perceiving the livable city: Cross-cultural lessons on virtual and field experiences of urban environments. Journal of the American Planning Association, 84(3-4), pp.250-262. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2018.1524717
Ordóñez-Barona, C. (2017). How different ethno-cultural groups value urban forests and its implications for managing urban nature in a multicultural landscape: A systematic review of the literature. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 26, pp.65-77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2017.06.006
Ruprecht Consult, TRT, Transport & Mobility Leuven, POLIS, UITP Advancing Public Transport, and Euro Cities. Technical Support Related to Sustainable Urban Mobility Indicars (SUMI), 2020. https://transport.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2020-09/sumi_wp1_harmonisation_guidelines.pdf
Tabatabaie, S., Litt, J.S., & Muller, B.H.F. (2023). 'Sidewalks, trees and shade matter: A visual landscape assessment approach to understanding people's preferences for walking', Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 84, p. 127931. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2023.127931
van den Berg, P., Weijs-Perrée, M., Dane, G., van Vliet, E., Liu, H., Sun, S., & Borgers, A. (2022). A comparative study of urban park preferences in China and the Netherlands. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(8), p.4632. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19084632
Wang, J., & Foley, K. (2021). Assessing the performance of urban open space for achieving sustainable and resilient cities: A pilot study of two urban parks in Dublin, Ireland. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 62, p.127180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2021.127180
Wang, R., Lu, T., Wan, C., Sun, X., & Jiang, W. (2023). Measuring the Effects of Streetscape Characteristics on Perceived Safety and Aesthetic Appreciation of Pedestrians. Journal of Urban Planning and Development, 149(3), p. 5023020. https://doi.org/10.1061/JUPDDM.UPENG-4314
Wei, Z.H.U., Jiejing, W.A.N.G., & Bo, Q.I.N. (2021). Quantity or quality? Exploring the association between public open space and mental health in urban China. Landscape and Urban Planning, 213, p.104128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2021.104128
Yu, K. (1995). Cultural variations in landscape preference: comparisons among Chinese sub-groups and Western design experts. Landscape and Urban Planning, 32(2), pp.107-126. https://doi.org/10.1016/0169-2046(94)00188-9
