Color in the urban environment: A user‐oriented protocol for chromatic characterization and the development of a parametric typology

This article presents a user-oriented protocol that can be used to characterize chromatic attributes of an urban area. A need for both affordable and reliable assessment method of color has been observed in the field of urban design. The challenge is to provide statistical answers to these two questions: how is color organized, how does it develop its own structure in the city? The main purpose of the research is hence to investigate mean color types within the city via the implementation of a characterization tool; an urban area of the four main classes (historic center, periurban housing districts, working-class neighborhoods, and commercial zones) being characterized by a specific color palette, or a layout of specific color types. The developed instrumentation allows the assessment of the homogeneous and consistent features of an urban district. Their characterization protocol was tested through an application to several streets of the city of Liege (Belgium). © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 42, 131–142, 2017

[1]  José Luis Caivano,et al.  Research on color in architecture and environmental design: Brief history, current developments, and possible future , 2006 .

[2]  Zena O'connor,et al.  Environmental colour mapping using digital technology: a case study , 2006 .

[3]  Seongah Chin.  Colour scheme supporting technique based on hierarchical scene structure for exterior design of urban scenes in 3D , 2012 .

[4]  Amir Ameri.  Architecture Pedagogy, Cultural Identity, and Globalization , 2008 .

[5]  M. Meng,et al.  Intracaval germ cell tumor thrombus. , 2011, Urology.

[6]  Theano Fanny Tosca.  Dreams of light for the city , 1994 .

[7]  Ngoc Luan Nguyen,et al.  Chromatic mutations in suburban areas , 2012 .

[8]  Theano Fanny Tosca.  Coexisting or mingling: The visual aspect of the problem in the urban context , 1990 .

[9]  Sébastien Lefèvre,et al.  Apport de l'espace teinte-saturation-luminance pour la segmentation spatiale et temporelle , 2006 .

[10]  Nicolas Tixier,et al.  Comment observer une ambiance , 1998 .

[11]  Aiping Gou,et al.  Research on the location characters of urban color plan in China , 2008 .

[12]  J. Embrechts.  Développement d'une nouvelle approche paramétrique du rendu des couleurs. Application à l'analyse et à la conception d'ambiances colorées. , 1987 .

[13]  Theano Fannie Tosca.  Environmental Colour Design for the Third Millennium: An Evolutionary Standpoint , 2002 .

[14]  Galen Minah,et al.  Colour as Idea: The Conceptual Basis for Using Colour in Architecture and Urban Design , 2012 .

[15]  Jacques Teller.  La régulation morphologique dans le cadre du projet urbain. Spécification d’instruments informatiques destinés à supporter les modes de régulation performantiels , 2001 .

[16]  Sn Sergej Yendrikhovskij,et al.  A computational model of colour categorization , 2001 .

[17]  Jorge Gil,et al.  On the discovery of urban typologies: data mining the many dimensions of urban form , 2011, Urban Morphology.