Visual Impact in the Urban Environment. The Case of Out-of-Scale Buildings

Authors

  • Enrico Fabrizio DISAFA, Università degli Studi di Torino
  • Gabriele Garnero DIST, Università e Politecnico di Torino

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6092/1970-9870/2477

Abstract

Recently, there has been an increasing need to apply methods for the estimation of the visual impact of buildings that are out-of-scale on its surrounding urban space, such as skyscrapers. In this paper, a method developed by the authors for the visual impact of buildings based on the viewshed analysis is applied to the out-of-scale buildings of the city of Turin. The method goes beyond the sole information if a cell is visible or not, which is typical of viewshed analyses, and also takes into account the various factors that cause the visual attenuation with the distance such as the visual acuity, the contrast between the target and the surrounding, the atmospheric visibility and the recognition process of the subject. The application of this methodology is done on two out-of scale buildings of the city of Turin – Italy (two skyscrapers, one of which is under construction, located in different areas of the city). From the visibility maps, in various conditions, it can be noted how the new buildings are or will recently be major landmarks not for the entire city but also for the surrounding municipalities.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Enrico Fabrizio, DISAFA, Università degli Studi di Torino

Architect, PhD in Energy technologies at the Polytechnic of Turin and PhD in Civil Engineering at the INSA de Lyon, is assistant professor at the Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences of the University of Turin.

Gabriele Garnero, DIST, Università e Politecnico di Torino

Professor of Geomatic at Degree Courses in Forestry and Environmental Sciences at the University of Turin and in Planning Sciences at the Polytechnic of Turin.

References

Arabacioglu BC, 2010, “Using fuzzy inference system for architectural space analysis”. Applied Soft Computing 10 926-937.

Batty M, 2001, “Exploring isovist fields: space and shape in architectural and urban morphology” Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 28(1)123-150.

Benedikt M L, 1979, "To take hold of space: isovists and isovist fields" Environment and Planning B 6(1) 47 – 65.

Dalton RC, Dalton N, 2001, “OmniVista. An Application for Isovist Field and Path Analysis” In Proceedings 3rd International Space Syntax Symposium Atlanta 2001, pp. 25.1-25.10.

De Rossi A, Durbiano G, 2006, “Torino 1980–2011. Le trasformazioni e le sue immagini” (Allemandi & C, Torino).

Fortuin GJ, 1951, “Visual power and visibility” PhD thesis, University of Groningen (NL).

Franz G, Wiener JM, 2005, “Exploring isovist-based correlates of spatial behavior and experience” In Proceedings of the 5th International Space Syntax Symposium Delft, NL. TU Delft Press.

Garnero G, Fabrizio E, in press, “Visibility analyses in urban spaces: a raster-based approach and case studies” submitted to Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design.

Godone D, Garnero G, 2013, “The role of morphometric parameters in Digital Terrain Models interpolation accuracy: a case study” European Journal of Remote Sensing 46 198-214 [WOS: 000318651700011 SCOPUS: 2-s2.0-84875146197].

Guney C, Girginkaya A, Cagdas G, Yavuz S, 2012,”Tailoring a geomodel for analyzing an urban skyline” Landscape and Urban Planning 105 160-173.

Minucciani V, Garnero G, 2013, “Available and Implementable Technologies for Virtual Tourism: a Prototypal Station Project”, in B. Murgante et al. (Eds.): ICCSA 2013, Part IV, published in Lecture Notes in Computer Science LNCS 7974, pp. 193-204 [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-39649-6-14; SCOPUS: 2-s2.0-84880708338].

Moser J, Albrecht F, Kosar B, 2010, “Beyond visualisation – 3D GIS analyses for virtual city models” International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences XXXVIII-4/W15 143-146.

Shang H, Bishop ID, 2000, “Visual thresholds for detection, recognition and visual impact in landscape settings” Journal of environmental psychology 20 125-140.

Turner A, Doxa M, O’Sullivan D, Penn A, 2001, “From isovists to visibility graphs: a methodology for the analysis of architectural space” Environment and Plannng B: Planning and Design 28(1)103-121.

Wiener JM, Franz G, Rossmanith N, Reichelt A, Mallot HA, Bülthoff HH, 2007, “Isovist analysis captures properties of space relevant for locomotion and experience” Perception 36(7)1066-83.

Xia Z, Qing Z, 2004, “Applications of 3D city models based spatial analysis to urban design” International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences XXXV-Part B 325-329.

Downloads

Published

2014-05-12

How to Cite

Fabrizio, E., & Garnero, G. (2014). Visual Impact in the Urban Environment. The Case of Out-of-Scale Buildings. TeMA - Journal of Land Use, Mobility and Environment. https://doi.org/10.6092/1970-9870/2477

Issue

2014: INPUT 2014 - Smart City: planning for energy, transportation and sustainability of the urban system

Section

input2014

License

Authors who publish in this journal agree to the following:

1. Authors retain the rights to their work and give in to the journal the right of first publication of the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons License - Attribution that allows others to share the work indicating the authorship and the initial publication in this journal.

 

2. Authors can adhere to other agreements of non-exclusive license for the distribution of the published version of the work (ex. To deposit it in an institutional repository or to publish it in a monography), provided to indicate that the document was first published in this journal.


3. Authors can distribute their work online (ex. In institutional repositories or in their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges and it can increase the quotations of the published work (See The Effect of Open Access)