GRADE SEPARATION: ITS EFFECT ON THE PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF URBAN LANDSCAPE. CASE STUDY: HAMEDAN, IRAN

Abstract

Urbanization has brought about dramatic changes in the quality of the landscape in Hamedan, which is located in a mountainous area in the west of Iran. Not only these changes affect the people’s well-being, but also how they perceive the new landscape. This paper analyses the effects of newly built grade separations on the public perception of the urban landscape. In keeping with this aim, the survey was a suitable method to collect the people’s opinions on the quality of the urban landscape. Unity, complexity, order, and aesthetics are the main factors that affect the quality of the urban landscape and its perception. The structural equation model of the research showed that unity through aesthetics is the critical path that affects the people’s image of the city and their landscape preference. The results confirm that the public perception of the landscape quality, which is essential to planners, is affected by different kinds of intersection. Additionally, it specifies that the unique structure of Hamedan and its development in the last decades has a significant role in the people’s landscape preferences and on their perception of it.