Parameters of contextual infill design: style, matching, diversity, distance, responses

Abstract

The objective of this study was to obtain empirical data on how well various contextual urban design principles work and thus assist in formulating evidence‐based planning. This paper reports findings from three studies, covering 51 environments and 164 participants, on how strongly these factors were related to visual appeal of a whole block of houses: (a) individual style of an infill house; (b) number of matches between an infill house and the houses in their contexts; (c) the diversity of the existing context; (d) proximity of an infill house to other houses; and (e) compatibility of the infill house with respect to the houses in their contexts. The strongest effect was found for the individual style of a new building, followed by the equivalence of judgments of compatibility and visual appeal, by the number of other houses the infill house matched, by existing visual diversity, and by distance. Policy guidance is provided for effects sufficiently strong to support evidence‐based decision making and withheld for effects for which the scientific support is currently insufficient.

Keywords:

• contextual design
• visual diversity
• entropy
• urban design policy
• architectural style
• visual compatibility