Objectives

This project was undertaken to study the range and types of aesthetic controls for the built environment found in an international sample of communities.

The absence of such controls in the southwestern United States, for example, has resulted in deteriorating aesthetic quality at a time when rapid growth could and should be channeled properly to maintain and to improve the quality of the built environment.

The background to this project was the authors’ interest and experience in studies aimed at assessing the general public's perception of visual aesthetic quality. In the “Stronghurst study” (Harrington and Preiser, 1980), aesthetic compatibility was at issue. A sound, older residential neighborhood was confronted with new, industrial development at its perimeter, a type of development that would significantly alter the aesthetic quality of and views from that neighborhood. Three issues were investigated: (1) Is the general public capable of judgment and agreement concerning aesthetic issues? (2) Can the general public identify and reasonably judge visual aesthetic subcategories, such as massing, scale, ratio of window openings to wall surfaces, height, setbacks, landscaping, building color, and materials? (3) Can visual aesthetic guidelines be derived from empirical studies that may aid in conflict situations and arbitration concerning visual aesthetic compatibility of proposed developments with existing ones? The answer to all three questions was affirmative.

The “Sydney aesthetics study” (Preiser and Hall, 1980) consisted of showing slides of “believable”buildings to groups of respondents and systematically varying the description of building function.