Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors and participants
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- Section I Theory
- Section II Empirical studies
- Section III Applications
- Editor's introduction
- 27 Visual needs in urban environments and physical planning
- 28 A survey of aesthetic controls in English speaking countries
- 29 Scenic-beauty issues in public policy making
- 30 Coping with aesthetics and community design in rural communities
- 31 Toward theory generation in landscape aesthetics
- 32 Aesthetic regulation and the courts
- References
- Index of authors
- Subject index
30 - Coping with aesthetics and community design in rural communities
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors and participants
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- Section I Theory
- Section II Empirical studies
- Section III Applications
- Editor's introduction
- 27 Visual needs in urban environments and physical planning
- 28 A survey of aesthetic controls in English speaking countries
- 29 Scenic-beauty issues in public policy making
- 30 Coping with aesthetics and community design in rural communities
- 31 Toward theory generation in landscape aesthetics
- 32 Aesthetic regulation and the courts
- References
- Index of authors
- Subject index
Summary
Introduction
The aesthetic of small rural communities, as with any other community, is a function of their historical growth and development. While one would expect that the concepts, ideas, and methods of planning and design that operate in major urban centers could easily be converted and applied to these small urban spaces, in reality, this is not true. Scale is not the most dramatic difference. Rather, it is the dynamics of change that make comparisons difficult. Unlike their larger urban counterparts, these towns have not developed into large, dynamically changing organisms. Rather, their scale and size have been arrested at some earlier stage of development, leaving a simple comprehensible environment that is not only aesthetically but also, to many, socially pleasing. The physical form of these towns reflects their homogeneity of life style, attitudes, and values. Stability or decline is a better description of their dynamics. Thus although there are indeed shifts in scale, there are also major differences in problem focus that challenge traditional planning and design methods.
This paper is not intended to present new research. Nor is it intended to develop new theory. It is a collection of thoughts about the effectiveness of current research and planning tools that may be applicable in rural settings. These thoughts result from this author's personal experiences working with smaller rural towns on the Columbia Plateau of eastern Washington. This concept casts some shadow of doubt on the efficacy of many of the more traditional assessments of aesthetic quality.
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- Information
- Environmental AestheticsTheory, Research, and Application, pp. 449 - 458Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1988
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