This paper evaluates the appearance and identifies the preferences for streetscape scenes regarding their appearance and as a place to live by three groups of people and analyzes the relationship between these preferences. Questionnaires in the LimeSurvey software were used to collect data and were filled in by 250 people as follows: 62 architects, 169 non-architects college graduates and 19 non-college graduates. A total of 12 scenes of streetscapes characterized by blind walls, blind walls with vegetation, garage doors and walls with openings were grouped into four sets with three scenes each. Non parametric statistical tests such as Kruskal-Wallis, Kendall W and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient were used to analyze the data. Among the paper’s contribution to the field and its practical architectural and planning implications are that architects tend to have a higher preference for scenes including buildings with doors and windows with a direct relationship with the street while non-architects tend to have a higher preference for streetscapes with the presence of vegetation. Nonetheless when the streetscape is characterized by blind walls or garage doors, with no vegetation or no clear visualization of vegetation, it tends to be rejected by the three groups. Moreover, the findings are clearly in line with Gestalt theory regarding the primary importance of direct and immediate sensory experience in explaining the streetscapes evaluations and preferences.
Becker, D., & Reis, A. (2004). O impacto das barreiras fÃsicas de condomÃnios horizontais fechados no espaço urbano. In Anais da 1ª Conferência Latino-Americana de Construção Sustentável, 10º Encontro Nacional de Tecnologia do Ambiente ConstruÃdo (pp. 1–15). ANTAC.
Bentley, I., McGlynn, S., Smith, G., Alcock, A., & Murrain, P. (2005). Responsive Environments: A Manual for Designers. Elsevier.
Berleant, A. (1999). On getting along beautifully: Ideas for a social aesthetics. In P. von Bonsdorff & H. Haapala (Eds.), Aesthetics in the Human Environment (pp. 12–29). International Institute of Applied Aesthetics.
Carlson, A. (2000). Aesthetics and the Environment: The Appreciation of Nature, Art and Architecture. Routledge.
Cold, B. (2001). Aesthetics, well-being and health. In B. Cold (Ed.), Aesthetics, Well-Being and Health: Essays Within Architecture and Environmental Aesthetics (pp. 11–23). Ashgate.
Cooper Marcus, C., & Sarkissian, W. (1986). Housing as if People Mattered. University of California Press.
Editorial. (2013). Revisiting and rethinking contemporary urban design: Professor Doctor Almantas Samalavicius interview with Nikos Salingaros, professor of mathematics at Texas University. Journal of Architecture and Urbanism, 37(3), 161–164.
Fawcett, W., Ellingham, I., & Platt, S. (2008). Reconciling the architectural preferences of architects and the public: The ordered preference model. Environment and Behavior, 40(5), 599–618.
Gehl, J., Kaefer, L. J., & Reigstad, S. (2006). Close encounters with buildings. Urban Design International, 11, 29–47.
Gehl, J. (2010). Cities for People. Island Press.
Gehl, J. (2011). Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space. Island Press.
Gifford, R., Hine, D. W., Muller-Clemm, W., & Shaw, K. T. (2002). Why architects and laypersons judge buildings differently: Cognitive properties and physical bases. Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, 19(2), 131–148.
Gjerde, M. T. (2015). Street Perceptions: A Study of Visual Preferences for New Zealand Streetscapes (Doctoral dissertation, Victoria University of Wellington).
Isaacs, R. (2000). The urban picturesque: An aesthetic experience of urban pedestrian places. Journal of Urban Design, 5(2), 145–180.
Jacobs, J. (1984). The Death and Life of Great American Cities: The Failure of Town Planning. Penguin Books.
Kaplan, R., Kaplan, S., & Ryan, R. (1998). With People in Mind: Design and Management of Everyday Nature. Island Press.
Lang, J. (1987). Creating Architectural Theory: The Role of the Behavioural Sciences in Environmental Design. Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Metha, V. (2009). Look closely and you will see, listen carefully and you will hear: Urban design and social interaction on streets. Journal of Urban Design, 14(1), 29–64.
Nasar, J. L. (Ed.). (1992a). Environmental Aesthetics: Theory, Research, and Applications. Cambridge University Press.
Nasar, J. L. (1992b). Perception and evaluation of residential street scenes. In J. L. Nasar (Ed.), Environmental Aesthetics: Theory, Research, and Applications (pp. 275–289). Cambridge University Press.
Nasar, J. L. (1994). Urban design aesthetics: The evaluative qualities of building exteriors. Environment and Behavior, 26(3), 377–401.
Nasar, J. L. (1998). The Evaluative Image of the City. SAGE.
Oreskovic, N., Roth, P., Charles, S., Tsigaridi, D., Shepherd, K., Nelson, K., & Bar, M. (2014). Attributes of form in the built environment that influence perceived walkability. Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, 31(3), 218–232.
Porteous, J. D. (1996). Environmental Aesthetics: Ideas, Politics and Planning. Routledge.
Reis, A. (2014a). Urban form and its implication for the use of urban spaces. In V. Oliveira, P. Pinho, L. Batista, T. Patatas, & C. Monteiro (Eds.), Our Common Future in Urban Morphology (pp. 1433–1443).
Reis, A. (2014b). Forma urbana tradicional e modernista: Uma reflexão sobre o uso e estética dos espaços urbanos. Arquisur Revista, 6, 70–87.
Reis, A., & Lay, M. C. (2003). Habitação de interesse social: Uma análise estética. Revista Ambiente ConstruÃdo, 3(4), 7–19.
Reis, A. T., Seadi, M. L., & Biavatti, C. (2016). Views from apartment buildings: An analysis by architects and non-architects college graduates. In C. Palasar & A. A. Fox (Eds.), Conference proceedings of the 47th annual conference of the Environmental Design Research Association (pp. 105–114). EDRA.
Reis, A., Seadi, M., & Biavatti, C. (2017). An analysis of aesthetic quality of buildings and urban scenes. In J. Shin, M. Narayan, & S. Dennis, Jr. (Eds.), Conference proceedings of the 48th annual conference of the Environmental Design Research Association (pp. 33–43). EDRA.
Sanoff, H. (1991). Visual Research Methods in Design. Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Stamps, A. (2000). Psychology and the Aesthetics of the Built Environment. KAP.
Trancik, R. (1986). Finding Lost Space: Theories of Urban Design. Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Ulrich, R. S. (1981). Natural versus urban scenes: Some psychophysiological effects. Environment and Behavior, 13(5), 523–556.
Weber, R. (1995). On the Aesthetics of Architecture: A Psychological Approach to the Structure and the Order of Perceived Architectural Space. Avebury.
Weber, R., Schnier, J., & Jacobsen, T. (2008). Aesthetics of streetscapes: Influence of fundamental properties on aesthetic judgments of urban space. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 106(1), 128–146.
White, E. V., & Gatersleben, B. (2011). Greenery on residential buildings: Does it affect preferences and perceptions of beauty? Journal of Environmental Psychology, 31, 89–98.