A Model for Analysing Effects of Urban Spatial Configuration on Aesthetic Perception

This thesis addresses the relationship between the elements of urban spatial configuration and human perception in contemporary urban spaces to understand how particular elements of urban spatial configuration can effect on people’s aesthetic perception. By qualitative grounded study in this research it hypothesised that the procedure of aesthetic cognition has different meanings and characteristic based on the elements of urban space configuration in different urban contexts. In this regard, theories of aesthetic evaluation of urban environment and the methodology for assessing aesthetic quality of urban environment investigated to take out the indicators of urban aesthetic based on human perception process. Then the indicators organized based on the process of human cognition in psychology into four main stages which are a study on a) the elements of urban space configuration (micro or macro) b) different approaches in organization between the elements (static or dynamic) c) subjective characteristics of good organization (formal or symbolic) d) effects of this organization on human cognition which leads to hedonic value (human aesthetic response). The outcome of this study reveals that every single aesthetic responses to the urban spaces regarding to the environmental configuration which is the outcome of interrelationship between immediate states of involvement, contemplative feeling, and sensual desire. It also enhances the knowledge concerning the role of symbolic and formal meanings of urban space configurations on aesthetic understanding of the environment. The study also proposed a methodological proposal (which prepares opportunities to be applicable in different scales of urban design) to apply the suggested model in each and every context. iv Keywords: Urban spatial configuration, Aesthetic properties, Aesthetic cognition, Cognition process.