Mapping Urban Environment by Geometry(es) and Perception(s)

Abstract

Different ways of representing urban environment or city correspond to diverse ideas in considering them. On this respect, the studies tradition based on history and urban morphology use mostly the geometric survey at architectural and urban scale to interpret and describe the city or its parts. On the other hand, the approach based on experience, like the townscape of Gordon Cullen, prefers sketches, drawings, perspectives, watercolors. So analytical techniques respond to design approaches and different cultural interpretation and almost three are the emerging key concepts in facing analysis of urban places: further, the urban morphology and environment approaches, another one shows its relevance: the idea of ambiance wherein is crucial subjectivity and sensory perceptions. To fulfill a description not only based on quantitative parameters but also on qualitative requirements, it needs reconsidering the “map” and taking into account what is now emerging from new digital technologies.