THE COMPLEX PROGRAM OF FORMING THE VISUAL IMAGE OF A CITY (KHARKIV)

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Abstract

This research paper continues a series of articles devoted to the problem of polluting the city visual environment with commercial signs, to which we refer billboards and posters, signboards, shop entrances and showcases, all kinds of announcements, arrows and pointers, facade plaques, advertisement banners and street banners, etc. The article gives a brief overview of some studies of foreign authors-theorists in the field of urban planning, architecture and urban design of the last decade, such as Anne M. Cronin, Jack L. Nasar, Artur E Stamps. It is noted that the primary focus in their works these authors make on perception and assessment of urban spaces visual qualities by a consumer, as well as on the effect of commercial signs (mostly negative) on a visual image.

The most attention in this article is given to the dispute with the architect Adriana Portella, who is Doctor of Science in the field of urban design and the author of the monograph “Visual pollution: advertising, signage and environmental quality”. The significant contribution of this scholar to the science dealing the above-described issue is emphasised; Adriana Portella’s research methods are described. The author has tried to identify the general tendencies in perception of the urban environment among consumers of different countries, ages and social strata and suggested the principles on which rules-regulators of placing commercial signs in the central historical areas of a city should be based.

The article describes a creative experiment-exercise, where various situations with the placement of commercial signs on an architectural object are simulated, and the resulting reactions and arising sensations are traced. An attempt to evaluate the cumulative visual image from the position of Gestalt psychology is presented. The article describes a creative experiment-exercise, where various situations with the placement of commercial signs on an architectural object are simulated, and the resulting reactions and arising sensations are traced. An attempt to evaluate the cumulative visual image from the position of Gestalt psychology is presented.