Space+and+Scale


 * Scale **

** []
 * Architecture Scale
 * Human scale in architecture:**
 * Human scale means "of a** scale **comparable to a human** **being".**

Humans interact with their environments based on their physical dimensions, capabilities and limits. The field of [|anthropometrics] (human measurement) has unanswered questions, but it's still true that human physical characteristics are fairly predictable and objectively measurable. Buildings scaled to human physical capabilities have steps, doorways, railings, work surfaces, seating, shelves, fixtures, walking distances, and other features that fit well to the average person. Humans also interact with their environments based on their sensory capabilities. The fields of human perception systems, like [|perceptual psychology] and [|cognitive psychology], are not exact sciences, because human information processing is not a purely physical act, and because perception is affected by cultural factors, personal preferences, experiences, and expectations. So human scale in architecture can also describe buildings with sightlines, acoustic properties, task lighting, ambient lighting, and spatial grammar that fit well with human senses. However, one important caveat is that human perceptions are always going to be less predictable and less measurable than physical dimensions. Human scale in architecture is deliberately violated: · for monumental effect. Buildings, statues, and memorials are constructed in a scale larger than life as a social/cultural signal that the subject matter is also larger than life. The extreme example is the [|Rodina (Motherland) statue] in [|Volgograd] (Stalingrad). · for aesthetic effect. Many architects, particularly in the [|Modernist] movement, design buildings that prioritize structural purity and clarity of form over concessions to human scale. This became the dominant American architectural style for decades. Some notable examples among many are [|Henry Cobb] 's [|John Hancock Tower] in [|Boston], much of [|I. M. Pei] 's work including the [|Dallas City Hall] , and [|Mies van der Rohe] 's [|Neue Nationalgalerie] in [|Berlin]. · to serve automotive scale. Commercial buildings that are designed to be legible from roadways assume a radically different shape. The human eye can distinguish about 3 objects or features per second. A pedestrian steadily walking along a 100-foot (30-meter) length of department store can perceive about 68 features; a driver passing the same frontage at 30 mph (13 m/s or 44 ft/s) can perceive about six or seven features. Auto-scale buildings tend to be smooth and shallow, readable at a glance, simplified, presented outward, and with signage with bigger letters and fewer words. This urban form is traceable back to the innovations of developer A. W. Ross along [|Wilshire Boulevard] in Los Angeles in 1920. Urban Scale **

One of the most important proportions in any architecture or urban architecture is the self-referential ratio of one distance to another distance or on size to another size, in other words scale. City elements and their size are in some scale ratio to the individual human being or to some activity of the individual human being. Even though these distances may not be readily discernable or may even be obfuscated by their large number and complex overlapping, they are still primary to how people perceive a city and must therefore be primary in how a city parts of a city are designed. (http://scholar.lib.vt.edu)



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 * City planning

Urban aesthetics
Planners can help manage the growth of cities, applying tools like [|zoning] and [|growth management] to manage the uses of land. Historically, many of the cities now thought the most beautiful are the result of dense, long lasting systems of prohibitions and guidance about building sizes, uses and features [|[24]]. These allowed substantial freedoms, yet enforce styles, safety, and often materials in practical ways. Many conventional planning techniques are being repackaged using the contemporary term [|smart growth] . There are some cities that have been planned from conception, and while the results often don't turn out quite as planned, evidence of the initial plan often remains. ( // See [|List of planned cities]  // ) For example: Ciudad Guayana-Venezuela. []

Safety
I n recent years, practitioners have also been expected to maximize the accessibility of an area to people with different abilities, practicing the notion of "inclusive design," to anticipate criminal behaviour and consequently to "design-out crime" and to consider "traffic calming" or "pedestrianisation" as ways of making urban life more pleasant. Some city planners try to control [|criminality] with structures designed from theories such as [|socio-architecture] or [|environmental determinism]. Refer to Foucault and the Encyclopedia of the Prison System for more details. These theories say that an urban environment can influence individuals' obedience to social rules and level of power. The theories often say that psychological pressure develops in more densely developed, unadorned areas. This stress causes some crimes and some use of illegal drugs. The antidote is usually more individual space and better, more beautiful design in place of [|functionalism] .[ // [|citation needed] //]

Slums
The rapid [|urbanization] of the last century caused more slums in the major cities of the world, particularly in developing countries. Planning resources and strategies are needed to address the problems of slum development. Many planners are calling for slum improvement, particularly the [|Commonwealth Association of Planners]. [|[26]] When urban planners work on slums, they must cope with racial and cultural differences to ensure that [|racial steering] does not occur. Slum were often "fixed" by clearance. However, more creative solutions are beginning to emerge such as [|Nairobi] 's " [|Camp of Fire] " program, where established slum-dwellers promise to build proper houses, schools, and community centers without government money, in return for land on which they have been illegally squatting on for 30 years. The "Camp of Fire" program is one of many similar projects initiated by [|Slum Dwellers International], which has programs in [|Africa] , [|Asia] , and [|South America]. [|[27]]

Urban decay
[|Urban decay] is a process by which a [|city], or a part of a city, falls into a state of disrepair and neglect. It is characterized by [|depopulation], [|economic restructuring] , property abandonment, high [|unemployment] , fragmented families, political [|disenfranchisement] , [|crime] , and desolate urban landscapes.

Reconstruction and renewal
//Main article:// // [|Urban Renewal] // Areas devastated by war or invasion challenge urban planners. Resources are scarce. The existing population has needs. Buildings, roads, services and basic infrastructure like power, water and sewerage are often damaged, but with salvageable parts. Historic, religious or social centers also need to be preserved and re-integrated into the new city plan. A prime example of this is the capital city of [|Kabul], [|Afghanistan] , which, after decades of civil war and occupation, has regions of rubble and desolation. Despite this, the indigenous population continues to live in the area, constructing makeshift homes and shops out of salvaged materials. Any reconstruction plan, such as [|Hisham Ashkouri] 's [|City of Light Development], needs to be sensitive to the needs of this community and its existing culture and businesses. Urban Reconstruction Development plans must also work with government agencies as well as private interests to develop workable designs.

Transport
Transport within urbanized areas presents unique problems. The density of an urban environment increases traffic, which can harm businesses and increase pollution unless properly managed. Parking space for private vehicles requires the construction of large parking garages in high density areas. This space could often be more valuable for other development. Good planning uses [|transit oriented development], which attempts to place higher densities of jobs or residents near high-volume transportation. For example, some cities permit commerce and multi-story apartment buildings only within one block of train stations and multilane boulevards, and accept single-family dwellings and parks farther away.

Light and sound
The [|urban canyon] effect is a colloquial, non-scientific term referring to street space bordered by very high buildings. This type of environment may shade the sidewalk level from direct sunlight during most daylight hours. While an oft-decried phenomenon, it is rare except in very dense, hyper-tall urban environments, such as those found in Lower and Midtown Manhattan, Chicago's Loop and [|Kowloon] in Hong Kong. In urban planning, sound is usually measured as a source of pollution. Another perspective on urban sounds is developed in [|Soundscape] studies emphasising that sound aesthetics involves more than noise abatement and decibel measurements. Hedfors [|[32]] coined 'Sonotope' as a useful concept in urban planning to relate typical sounds to a specific place.

Light pollution has become a problem in urban residential areas, not only as it relates to its effects on the night sky, but as some lighting is so intrusive as to cause conflict in the residential areas and paradoxically intense improperly installed security lighting may pose a danger to the public, producing excessive glare. The development of the full cutoff fixture, properly installed, has reduced this problem considerably.