An Image-based Quantitative Analysis Of Street Spatial Configuration

The traditional methods for study the urban form view the city from the God’s eye perspective. Since 1960s, when Lynch raised the concept of "mental image" and investigated the identity and structure of city from citizens’ perspective, urban researchers begin to understand the city from man’s eye. Human perception is considered as the evaluation criterion for the built environment, which provides a novel idea to study the complexity of urban fabric. Hence the study on urban form is no longer limited in the domain of traditional architecture and urban planning, researchers start to borrow knowledge from psychology, sociology, etc. to study the urban form from man’s view. Moreover, the research method transformed from qualitative to quantitative along with the booming development of computer technology. This thesis develops a quantitative tool for the researchers and designers to study the street pattern from the perspective view. On the other hand, though the practitioner can envisage the street perspective through drawing, in computer or by hand, and adjust the plan according to the perspective, the accuracy of adjustment is hard to control. One reason is that he can’t predict the exact position alteration of the perspective as soon as he adjusts the plan; the other reason is that there is no specific evaluation criterion on the perspective, so the ideal perspective is vague. The similar confusion would happen when the academic judges the urban form from the perspective. This thesis links perspective to plan through a "template" and expresses the link in a formulation. Specific evaluation criteria on the perspective are explored and projected on plan. The link between the perspective and plan offers a research tool on urban form, and a quantitative analysis and evaluation system is established through moving image.