The Role of the Visual Aesthetic Quality of Public Space in Appropriation Processes of Large-Scale Residential Areas = Lielmēroga dzīvojamo rajonu publiskās ārtelpas vizuāli estētiskās kvalitātes nozīme tās izmantošanas procesos
Authors:   ,   Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, Kusmane Agnese 
Published: July 2021

Agnese Kusmane's (Mg.art.) Doctoral thesis “The Role of the Visual Aesthetic Quality of Public Space in Appropriation Processes of Large-Scale Residential Areas” is based on the topicality of the theme: residents' dissatisfaction with the quality of public space in large-scale residential areas being one of the most important aspects of topicality. The aim of the work is to evaluate the impact of the visual aesthetic quality of public space on the intensity of its appropriation in large-scale residential areas and provide landscape and building architects with the methodological framework for the reconstruction of public spaces in these areas. In order to achieve the aim of the thesis, the following tasks have been carried out: environmental psychology findings on aesthetic quality evaluation connecting metric values, configurational components and space-forming elements have been compiled, creating Matrix of Visual Aesthetic Quality of Space; brief overviews of the history and current state of large-scale residential areas in Riga and Berlin has been provided; a semi-structured interview method has been developed and applied for the study of spatial quality assessment of residents in three large-scale residential areas of Riga, amending the Matrix with data obtained through the semi-structured interviews; the relation between the intensity of public space appropriation and the landscape design and spatial organization in Berlin residential areas has been studied with the observation methods, controlling and refining the Matrix of Visual Aesthetic Quality of Space; a method for measuring spatial quality based on the Matrix has been developed. Several methods have been used in the work, including the monographic, semi-structured interview, deduction, participatory observation. There are four chapters in the work. The first chapter analyses the literature dedicated to the research of spatial quality, its impact on the intensity of outdoor appropriation. Based on the findings of environmental psychology, a category-based initial version of the Matrix of Visual Aesthetic Quality of Space is developed. The Matrix correlates the assessment of the visual aesthetic quality of the public space and the expected intensity of appropriation. The first chapter concludes with the development of methodological steps aimed at improving and refining the Matrix. The second chapter examines large-scale residential areas of Riga and Berlin from a historical and contemporary perspective. The demographic characteristics of the population are also considered. In the second chapter, it is concluded that residential areas of Riga and Berlin are compatible for studying the impact of public visual aesthetic quality on the intensity of its appropriation, and the data can be converted into the Matrix. In the third chapter, the assessment of public space quality is performed through the initial version of the Matrix, finding out which spatial categories are represented in large-scale residential areas in Riga and Berlin. Further, semi-structured interviews are conducted in residential areas of Riga on the relation between the aesthetic quality of public space and the expected intensity of appropriation, the interview data are included in the Matrix, improving it. At the end of the chapter, observations are carried out focused on relation between the visual aesthetic quality of public space and the intensity of appropriation in Berlin; the obtained data is integrated into the Matrix of Visual Aesthetic Quality of Space, specifying it. The fourth chapter discusses the findings of the work on the relationship between the assessment of the visual aesthetic quality of the public space and the intensity of its appropriation. At the beginning of the chapter, the relation between the metric values, configurational components and space-forming elements of different spatial categories included in the Matrix and the intensity of outdoor appropriation is analysed in detail. Further, the chapter discusses the role of the blue-green structure in the context of public space appropriation forecasting. The fourth chapter concludes with methodological recommendations for the application of the Matrix of Visual esthetic Quality of Space. The paper concludes that the intensity of outdoor appropriation can be most accurately predicted in outdoor areas dominated by blue-green structure. The thesis consists of 172 pages. The thesis includes 30 tables, 80 figures, 3 appendices and 372 sources.