Fractal Analysis of Street Vistas: A Potential Tool for Assessing Levels of Visual Variety in Everyday Street Scenes

Cooper, Jon; Oskrochi, Gholamreza

doi:10.1068/b33081

Cited by 45 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 27 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Therefore, fractal dimension refers to a particular type of complexity. It also describes irregularity in an object or pattern and can be calculated and presented as a number between 1 to 3 (Cooper & Oskrochi, 2008). For example, the fractal dimension of a simple straight line is 1, while the fractal dimension of an irregular line (such as a coastline) would lie between 1 and 2.…”

Section: Visual Complexity and Fractal Geometrymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Keller et al (1987) Further to natural elements, it was found that the fractal geometry can also be useful for quantifying the properties of human creations such as art, architecture and the built environment (Mandelbrot, 1982). Several researchers have used fractal geometry to analyse different aspects of urban environments (Batty & Longley, 1994;Cooper & Oskrochi, 2008;Vaughan and Ostwald, 2010;Perry, 2012). However, Voss (1987) argued that fractal dimension is only appropriate for natural forms with large scales and natural boundaries.…”

Section: Visual Complexity and Fractal Geometrymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to the literature review in Chapter 2, different aspects of visual appearance have been analysed by several other researchers using various methods (Bovill, 1996, Stamps, 2003, Cooper, 2008. Image processing was considered as a new tool by these researchers to analyse visual qualities of urban streetscapes.…”

Section: Visual Appearance In Visual Amenity Conflictsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They offer the potential for the statistical characterisation of places by providing a measurement of visual attributes (Cooper & Oskrochi, 2008). Therefore, fractal dimension and entropy were considered as potential tools to analyse the visual appearance of urban environments and to calculate the level of contrast and harmony in different scenes.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Quantification of visual properties of digital photos makes it possible to compare development applications. Image processing has been widely used by researchers in this field to quantify different aspects of the visual appearance, such as visual complexity, order and diversity (Mandelbrot, 1982, Tucker, 2004, Batty and Longly, 1994, Cooper and Oskrochi, 2008, Perry, 2012. Therefore, it was considered to be a high potential tool to assess the visual appearance of urban streetscapes.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Measuring visual attributes for assessing visual conflicts in urban environments

Tara¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The visual relationships between a proposed development and the existing urban setting have become increasingly controversial in the past two decades. Protecting and enhancing visual attributes of the current urban environment is regulated by a range of performance-based policies and regulations. However, every year many development conflicts occur between developers, local councils and residents resulting in costly delays in the development process. Visual amenity and character are two of the most contentious issues in these conflicts.Currently, conflict resolution based on these policies relies on experts' interpretation of what appears to be visually significant. Although visual amenity experts aim to provide an impartial and objective assessment of visual effects of proposed developments, their evaluations are sometimes mixed with personal judgments and lack enough centrality and reliability. The problem is compounded by the fact that there are no consistent approaches within and between localities and experts as to what is considered visually significant. The uncertainties and inefficiencies created by performance-based planning policies, to regulate the protection of urban visual quality, highlights the importance of developing reliable, measurable and repeatable approaches to analyse visual environments and to describe the urban character.Based on a postpositivist approach, a range of research methods using exploratory and descriptive approaches was used to answer the stated research questions. Therefore, the research design is split into three stages. The first stage involved reviewing the planning court cases in Brisbane from 2000 to 2012 to identify the overall different types of conflicts within the city. These conflicts were analysed spatially to determine their distribution and to look for any significant spatial patterns. Based on this review, four case studies were selected, and three measurable methods were developed to provide a higher level of quantitative assessment of visual properties of the urban character. In the last stage, the technical methods were evaluated by a panel of three visual amenity expert witnesses to investigate the effectiveness, usefulness and potential of these methods to be applied in expert assessments and court case resolutions.This research focuses on urban visual amenity conflicts in the city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and identifies the gaps and recurring issues inherent in expert assessments and judgments. Based on this knowledge, quantitative methods to assess visual amenity and character, with greater objectivity and reliability than existing methods, have been developed. The outcome of this research contributes to the field of visual assessment and character studies in landscape planning and assists decision makers and Environmental and Planning Courts to determine development conflicts with more objectivity and reliability.

show abstract

Section: Visual Complexity and Fractal Geometrymentioning

confidence: 99%