A systematic methodology toward creating spatial quality in urban settings
type: CreativeWork
description: Urban settings, conceived and implemented in the climate of modern-day urbanisation and technology, show undesirable trends. In the typical situation, due to the absence of the urban dweller's participation in the planning and design process, prescriptive decision-making directs and shapes the urban environment on the basis of the objectives of the trained professional or a developer. The disciplines of architecture, urban design, and urban planning, well endowed with research in terms of their philosophical, cultural, and historical dimensions, traditionally overlook systematic and impartial methods in realisation of design objectives. In addition, architects generally focus within the confines of the immediate site, ignoring the wider context. Urban planners and designers tend to follow their perceptions of the urban setting and pragmatic objectives, and to overlook the elements which constitute spatial quality for others. Planning and design tasks performed in this way are prescriptive and perfunctory, and do not meet the urban dweller's perceptions of spatial quality. Although the planning and design disciplines can avail themselves of considerable intellectual resources, systematic methods to synthesise both the subjective opinion of the urban dweller and expert opinion of specialists are lacking. With current global scenarios, the need to develop methods for participation becomes even more relevant and urgent. The likelihood of high-density settings is ominous without changes in planning and design approaches. The overall objective of this thesis is to develop a methodology which meets the demands of the situations described. The data for this study are derived from a theoretical examination of the attributes which contribute to the perceptions of spatial quality in the urban setting. A thematic analysis, carried out against the background of factors, such as spatial patterning, links social well-being with characteristics of the urban environment. Consistent …
abstract: Urban settings, conceived and implemented in the climate of modern-day urbanisation and technology, show undesirable trends. In the typical situation, due to the absence of the urban dweller's participation in the planning and design process, prescriptive decision-making directs and shapes the urban environment on the basis of the objectives of the trained professional or a developer. The disciplines of architecture, urban design, and urban planning, well endowed with research in terms of their philosophical, cultural, and historical dimensions, traditionally overlook systematic and impartial methods in realisation of design objectives. In addition, architects generally focus within the confines of the immediate site, ignoring the wider context. Urban planners and designers tend to follow their perceptions of the urban setting and pragmatic objectives, and to overlook the elements which constitute spatial quality for others. Planning and design tasks performed in this way are prescriptive and perfunctory, and do not meet the urban dweller's perceptions of spatial quality. Although the planning and design disciplines can avail themselves of considerable intellectual resources, systematic methods to synthesise both the subjective opinion of the urban dweller and expert opinion of specialists are lacking. With current global scenarios, the need to develop methods for participation becomes even more relevant and urgent. The likelihood of high-density settings is ominous without changes in planning and design approaches. The overall objective of this thesis is to develop a methodology which meets the demands of the situations described. The data for this study are derived from a theoretical examination of the attributes which contribute to the perceptions of spatial quality in the urban setting. A thematic analysis, carried out against the background of factors, such as spatial patterning, links social well-being with characteristics of the urban environment. Consistent …
author: Thomas, Derek Charles
keywords: Spatial Quality
date published: 1989
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:22:54Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Environmental Humanities

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/38816