Evaluation of the Quality of an Urban Square

Abstract

As shown in the previous chapter, the evaluation of a building layout is difficult. The same applies to an urban layout. However, the basic evaluation of the quality of a plaza (P), that is the basic element of urban composition, is relatively straightforward. This chapter presents a method for an Automated Geometrical Evaluation (AGE) of a P. Firstly, nineteen plazas from various countries have been evaluated by twenty respondents in so called Human Subjective Evaluation (HSE). Secondly, a preliminary investigation of HSE including the identification of categories which are redundant is demonstrated. Thirdly, three normalized properties derived directly from a plan of P are introduced: smallness (S), enclosure (E), and regularity (R). Finally, the evaluation method of P based on these properties is discussed. AGE based on S, E, and R (NPSER ) shows good agreement with HSE. The quality rating based on NPSER of P, namely: fair, good, and excellent is presented. Some outlying cases are shortly discussed.