- Urban Character and Viewscape Assessment Study: Community Visioning Prototype as the Basis for Land Use Regulation    135 kb by    Burcher, Lise | lburcher@uoguelph.ca    Short Outline The methodology serves as a prototype for community visioning and attribution of value to existing urban core areas. The results of the assessment are visualized with digital built form modelling, which is used to revise land use zoning regulations. Abstract Urban planners and designers have often depended upon their own personal and professional opinion when engaged in urban character and viewscape assessments of existing communities. This paper describes a methodology that was developed and tested to enable citizen identification and attribution of collective community value to architectural and landscape features and views within an urban core area. The community value was then used as the basis for land use regulation reform to both protect and enhance the features, spaces and views identified. The Visitor Employed Photography technique (Chenoweth and Cherem) was utilized by a broad cross section of citizens to photographically document architectural and landscape features and views the citizens considered to be important in the downtown core area. A content analysis was then conducted by the study team and then refined based on community response. The following six core area assessment categories were developed through community input; ypology identifying iconic views; Districts defining a visually cohesive area; Significant Urban Spaces that are representative of the urban character; ignificant Views identifying viewscapes and panoramic views; Primary and Secondary Axes consisting of viewscapes along street corridors; and Landmarks as distinctive elements that contribute significantly to the character of the area. The urban character and viewscape assessment was then linked to a highly articulated digital built form model to serve as the visualization platform upon which to model proposed architectural and landscape interventions for community response. The visual assessment and digital model were then utilized to recommend changes to the existing land use regulatory framework to ensure compatibility with intended outcomes. This study serves as a prototype for community visioning and engagement in the determination of community value and visualization methods. Keywords Community visioning, visualization, land use regulations Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2005: Making Spaces for the Creative Economy   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper