The Effectiveness of Design Guideline Regulations for Improving Streetscapes

Municipal governments or developers make design guidelines to create harmonious streetscapes in new towns. The regulations, however, are often based on arbitrary decisions without any empirical research. The present study employed a visual simulation system to test the effects of such physical features of the buildings as color, height, flatness of the building façade and its recess from the street on pedestrians impressions of the place. Thirty subjects were asked to rate their impressions of “order”, “simple”, and to evaluate the atmosphere after experiencing the simulated scenes. The results revealed some relations between the physical features and the pedestriansi responses.