A digital image of the city: 3D isovists in Lynch's urban analysis
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2008_Morello_Ratti_Environment_B_Planning.pdf
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778.5 KB
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Author(s)
Morello, Eugenio
Ratti, Carlo
Date Issued
April 2009
Journal
Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design
Publisher
Pion Ltd.
Citation
Morello, Eugenio and Carlo Ratti. "A digital image of the city: 3D isovists in Lynch’s urban analysis." Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 2009,36:5 p.837-853. © 2010 Pion Ltd.
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
New techniques to measure 2D and 3D visibility over urban spaces are presented in this paper. The concept of the isovist, that is, the visible space from a vantage point, could help in providing a quantifiable basis for Lynch’s urban analysis, as outlined in his book [Lynch, 1960 The Image of the City (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA)]. We also expand on the concept of 3D isovists and develop a new technique to calculate them on digital elevation models, whereby the same input information can be processed easily in pixel coordinates and in voxel space, that is, a 3D array of urban-visibility measures. The investigation of what we have called the ‘isovisimatrix’ seems to allow a very useful interpretation of visibility from a visual-perception viewpoint. The approach presented here suggests helpful applications for urban design, in particular for predicting the visual impact of new buildings on the physical context and understanding how open spaces may be used by people depending on visibility features.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. SENSEable City Laboratory
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1068/b34144t
