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The Perceptual
Dimension
Based on material by Carmona, Heath, Oc, and Tiesdell (2003 and 2010)
The perceptual dimension
Awareness and appreciation of environmental
perception
Perception and experience of ‘place’
‘Sense of Place’ and ‘lived-in experiences’
Two parts
Environmental perception
Construction of place
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Environmental Perception
Perceive – be stimulated by sight, sound, smell or
touch that offer clues about the world around us
Gathering, organizing and making sense of
information about the environment
A more complex processing and understanding of
stimuli
Sensation vs. Perception
Blurry/overlap
Environmental Perception
Valuable senses in interpreting the environment:
Vision – the dominant sense; orientation in space; complex
Hearing – all-surrounding, no boundaries; emotionally rich
Smell – information poor but emotionally richer than hearing
Touch – more from feet (walking) and buttocks (sitting) than hands
These sensory stimuli are perceived and appreciated as an
interconnected whole (cumulative effect)
Vision is dominant, but urban environment is not only perceived
visually
Non-visual dimensions are underdeveloped and underexploited
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Environmental Perception
An environment’s ‘soundscape’ can be orchestrated
Focus on positive sounds: birdsong, children’s voices, crunching of
leaves, waterfalls, fountains
Positive sounds can make negative sounds like traffic
Four dimensions of perception that work simultaneously
Cognitive – make sense of the environment
Affective – involves feelings
Interpretative – encompasses meaning or associations from
environment
Evaluative – values and preferences; determined ‘good’ or ‘bad’
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Kevin Lynch’s 5 elements
(The Image of the City)
Paths – channels of movement
Edges – boundaries, transition
Districts – visually homogenous in texture
and/or land use
Nodes – places of intense activity
Landmarks – visually distinctive points of
reference; often together with nodes
The Image of the City
None of Lynch’s elements exists in isolation; all
combine to provide the overall image
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Meaning and Symbolism
All urban environments contain symbols, meanings, and
values
Semiology – the study of ‘signs’ and their meaning
Different types of sign
Iconic sign – a portrait represents the person
Indexical sign – smoke indicates fire (material
relationship)
Symbolic sign – classical columns represent grandeur
(constructed through social and cultural systems)
Meaning and Symbolism
Layering of meaning
First layer – denotation (a porch as shelter)
Second layer – connotation (a porch with a symbolic function)
The second layer can be more important than the first layer
(e.g. throne)
Meanings in the environment are produced and interpreted
There may be a difference between the intended message
and the received message: the ‘gap’
The gap is related to the ‘death of the author’
The environment may mean differently to different people
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Meaning and Symbolism
Three ways of expressing a building’s meaning:
The ‘Las Vegas’ way – a big sign in front a little building
The ‘Decorated Shed’ – efficient building, façade covered
with signs (most pre-20th century buildings)
The ‘duck’ – building form expresses its function (most
buildings in 20th century and beyond)
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Construction of Place
Sense of Place
The ‘genius loci’
People experience something beyond the physical and sensory
properties of a place
People are attached to the spirit of the place
Often persists despite changes in a city
It is easy to think of a successful place and experience it, but…
It is difficult to determine why it is successful
It is uncertain if that success can be replicated elsewhere
People transform a ‘space’ into a ‘place’
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Sense of Place
Successful places typically have an ‘urban buzz’
Jane Jacobs (1961) calls it an “intricate ballet in which
individual dancers and ensembles all have distinctive
parts which miraculously reinforce one another and
compose an orderly whole.”
Successful public spaces are characterized by the
presence of people, in an often self-reinforcing process
Itmust be a ‘transaction base’ (Montgomery, 1998), with
economic, social, and cultural transactions
People have to use the space
Indicators of Vitality
According to Montgomery (1998):
Variety of land uses, enabling self-improvement
Local businesses and shops
Night-time activity (e.g. varying opening hours)
Street markets
Various meeting places (cinemas, wine bars, pubs,
restaurants, diners) of varying kinds, prices, and quality
Space for ‘people-watching’
Variety of building types, styles, and designs
Active street life and street frontage
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Placelessness
“There’s no there there.”
Placelessness signifies absence or loss of meaning
The three processes that contributed to placelessness:
Globalization (but can also be used to make places)
Mass culture (destroys local culture)
Loss of attachment to property (people don’t feel they belong)
‘Invented’ places – a result of standardization
Superficiality
Other-directedness
Lacking authenticity
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