Cognition of Front and Back in Urban Space and the Correlation with Urban Structure: Downtown Area of a Japanese City, Saga

Abstract

The objectives of this study are to reveal how a set of spatial meanings, front and back (omote and ura in Japanese), is recognized at the city scale and to clarify by conducting a case study the relationship between such spatial cognition and actual state of the urban structure of cities. Both front and back are recognized at the city scale and are by and large regarded attractive. In general, front is associated mainly with larger scale facilities and spaces in urban settings, while back is associated basically with smaller ones. The recognized domains as front and back fundamentally contrast and complement each other in their distribution patterns. The domain of front coincides with the districts in which commercial facilities or public buildings are located mainly on major streets with large traffic: it is planned for effective land use and is comparatively high in land price; contrarily, the realm of back corresponds with the areas in which entertaining businesses or residential facilities are situated mainly on minor streets with little traffic: it is generally low in land price. © 2002, Architectural Institute of Japan. All rights reserved.