Urban and Regional Development Planning
Narjes GHaempanah; Ebrahim Molavi; Mohammad Omidvarian
Abstract
Abstract
Urban walls hold significant influence over the quality of urban spaces, making them one of the most impactful environmental elements. Enhancing their quality contributes to an overall improvement in the physical aspects of a city. While the urban landscape and its aesthetic indicators are ...
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Abstract
Urban walls hold significant influence over the quality of urban spaces, making them one of the most impactful environmental elements. Enhancing their quality contributes to an overall improvement in the physical aspects of a city. While the urban landscape and its aesthetic indicators are well-established, the question arises regarding the influential components that shape the urban landscape. Hence, the objective of this scholarly article is two-fold: to identify effective solutions for enhancing the aesthetic dimension of urban walls in terms of their objective-physical aspects, and to prioritize these solutions based on the perspective of citizens who frequent the Eram sidewalk in Qom city. Determining the sample size was achieved through Cochran's formula, resulting in a total of 384 participants. The research methodology employed was practical and aligned with the nature of the study, employing a descriptive-quantitative approach to answer research questions. To analyze the collected data, the Lisrel software was employed for designing the structural equation. The research findings highlight the need for improvement in various components of the urban landscape when it comes to the walls of the Eram pedestrian area. These components include enhancing the beauty and visual variety in wall decorations, paying attention to facade additions, and diversifying the texture of materials utilized. Notably, citizens rated the absence of disturbances and visual disruptions as positive and appropriate, assigning it a high impact factor of 0.82. This component emerged as their top priority when indicating their visual preferences. By addressing these findings and incorporating the indicated solutions, urban planners and policymakers can effectively enhance the aesthetic appeal of urban walls, thereby improving the overall perception and experience of citizens within urban spaces.
Keywords: Objective-Physical, Aesthetics, Urban Wall, Eram Sidewalk.
Introduction
The Eram pedestrian street in the city of Qom holds significant importance due to its rich cultural background, distinctive spaces, historical landmarks, and its strategic central location within the historical context of the city. The considerable presence of citizens, pilgrims, and tourists within this urban space, being the only utilized sidewalk in Qom, has motivated the authors to explore the wall of this sidewalk.
Literature Review
Khakzand et al. conducted a study on the factors influencing the design of urban structures with an emphasis on aesthetic and environmental considerations in Valiasr Street, Qeshm. The research findings highlight the aesthetic aspects from both the public and experts' perspectives.
The indicators of proportion, cleanliness, balance, and order in the objective dimension, alongside attachment to the place, meaningfulness, calmness, and readability in the psychological dimension, are identified as the primary factors for evaluating facade. In urban design and development, the physical-aesthetic dimension is regarded as the most critical element in creating a pleasant and enjoyable atmosphere within the urban environment.
Methodology
This research adopts a descriptive-quantitative and practical approach. The data collection process involves field observations, questionnaires, and documentary studies. To identify objective-physical indicators for assessing the aesthetics of the urban wall, a Likert scale questionnaire with five levels has been designed, and data has been collected through its administration. In alignment with the research objective, the structural equation modeling (SEM) method has been selected for data analysis. The data preparation was initially performed using the SPSS software, followed by analysis employing Lisrel for the purpose of applying the structural equation modeling method. The sample size was determined using Cochran's formula, considering an error level of 5%, resulting in a required sample of 384 respondents.
Results
The Cronbach's alpha value obtained in this research is 0.63, indicating an acceptable level of reliability for the questionnaire.
Fit Indices of the Structural Equation Model (SEM) in Research
Index
Threshold
Calculate
Chi square / degree of freedom
Less than 3 is good. Less than 5 is acceptable
4
Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA)
Less than 0.05 good, 0.05 to 0.10 medium, greater than 0.10 bad
0.023
P-Value
Less than 0.05
0.03062
Structural Model and Standardized Coefficients of the Research
As reported by the participants, the measurement of beauty is influenced by various factors. Particularly, the absence of disturbance and visual disruption emerged as the most significant factors, with a substantial impact factor of 0.82. Additionally, the coloring component displayed the highest coefficient among other indices, while the diversity index in material texture exhibited the lowest coefficient, measuring at 0.07.
Discussion
To investigate and prioritize the indicators in the present study as perceived by users of the environment, visual depictions of the wall's condition along different sections of the sidewalk were analyzed. By comparing the images and assessing the impact factors of the components from citizens' perspectives, it becomes evident that environmental and cultural factors significantly influence objective-physical indicators. To illustrate this point further, let us examine the component related to assessing the presence of confusion and visual disturbances, which demonstrates the highest factor load with an impact factor of 0.82. Notably, a considerable portion of the northern section of the Eram sidewalk is associated with the expansive Al-Ghadir commercial complex, the park in front of the shrine's courtyard, and the walls of the Holy Shrine itself. The simplicity and inherent beauty of this area seem to have led citizens to overlook the numerous visual disturbances encountered in the southern section, where shops and corridors are located.
As for the component concerning diversity in texture and material quality, it exhibited the lowest factor load with an impact factor of 0.07, representing a mere 2.52% of total opinions. The low coefficient of this component is not affected by the presence of ongoing construction at the southern end of the sidewalk or the physical deterioration of some walls along its entirety. Through these analyses, we gain insights into how citizens prioritize various indicators related to the environment, thereby shedding light on the factors influencing their perceptions of beauty and visual quality in the studied area.
Conclusion
The findings of the analyses reveal that the component related to assessing the presence of disturbance and visual disruptions in the Eram sidewalk's wall exhibits the highest factor load, scoring an impact factor of 0.82. This indicates that, according to the majority of respondents, the visual disturbances on the wall are either minimal or not significantly bothersome. Notably, this component garnered approximately 29.60% of the respondents' votes, reflecting their attitudes towards the visual aspects of the sidewalk space.
Following closely, the component pertaining to wall color achieved an impact factor of 0.72, securing around 26% of positive votes from the respondents. Subsequently, the skyline component earned an impact factor of 0.66, garnering approximately 24% of positive votes.
