Urban Design Aesthetics

Abstract

Design reviewers make judgments based on their opinion of how physical features influence the evaluative quality of the building and its surroundings. What features evoke favorable evaluative responses? Although some people may view aesthetics as qualitative and idiosyncratic, researchers have continued in their search for general principles. This article reviews that research, with particular attention to building exteriors. The article defines and examines three kinds of aesthetic variables-formal, symbolic, and schemas. It highlights the importance of enclosure, complexity, and order as formal variables, of style as a symbolic variable, and of atypicality in relation to schemas. It discusses the relationship of these variables to evaluative response. As different kinds of evaluative responses may be appropriate and desirable for different kinds of places, this article considers the dimensions of evaluative response. The analysis suggests that design review seeking pleasantness should encourage order, moderate complexity, and elements of "popular" styles; design review seeking excitement should encourage high complexity, atypicality, and low order; and design review seeking calmness should encourage high order and naturalness. Acknowledging potential variability across contexts, this article offers aesthetic programming and evaluation as alternate ways to develop and refine guidelines for design review.