As mentioned earlier, the consideration of environmental aesthetic entails the explanation of underlying factors as well as their utilization in the analysis of urban spaces within urban designing process. Besides, environmental aesthetic elements are also subdivided into two categories: cognitive-semantic and visual-forms qualities. The visual-forms elements entail the contextual environment such as subjective landscape and forms of the city. On the other hand, the conceptual-cognitive factors include the cognitive attributes of behavioral and social environment such as mental and image landscapes of a city. Majority of urban designs experts also explain the qualities of an effective urban design via ordinary approach that focus on leading environmental aesthetic factors towards a consideration of urban design. Besides, it has also been realized that the environmental aesthetic factors have also played a pivotal role in the establishment of an effective competitive city structure. In addition, the presence of different patterns of urban structures belonging to different civilization, majority of different forms of cities in the world have certain thing in common which demonstrates the existence of common principle underlying their designs and developments into a major city.
Many experts however, posits that the survival of such cities are pegged on the environmental aesthetic factors such as the cognitive-conceptual and visual-form elements involved in the urban designs and the organization of the cities on the global space. The diagram below demonstrates development of a city involving city forms, main structures and the environmental aesthetic factors.
The above diagram summarizes the contextual perspective of a city development as far as the correlation of different values of the population is concerned.
Livability Definition
Livability is a very important attribute of any city. It forms the basis upon which the different elements of a city are related to its residents both permanent and the temporary or visiting individuals. A city basically entails the entire urbanized region in an urban set up. Livability of a city entails a wide range of attributes that constitutes the best elements that promotes individual lifestyles in a city. In particular, livability of city is defined by various aspects such as: equity, participation, and accessibility which generate substance in the concept of livability. The quality of lives experienced by individuals within a city is linked with their capacities to access different infrastructural aspects such as communication networks, transportation, sanitation and water among others. Similarly, other elements that constitute the elements associated with a livable city are: affordable housing, meaningful employment opportunities, food, clean air space, parks and open spaces among others.
In the contemporary review of global architecture, it is important to consider the global architecture based on global perspectives namely: The East, West and African Architecture among other domains. However, the development of architectural designs in Africa has been largely skewed to the west. One of the main causes of this scenario is the existence of limited amount of research focusing on the Eastern and Far-Asian architecture an aspect that has derailed a comparative adoption and moderation between east and west architectures. However, no form of architecture is superior to the other but the distinction is appearances often dictate the choice of one as opposed to the other. In this regard, if future researches focus immensely on the Eastern architectures, it may result in critical change in city and building designs.
In particular, equity is often defined by the potential of access to infrastructural layouts and social amenities of a city to its population. Livability of any city is also determined by other elements such as ability to partake in decision-making platform on matters affecting the development of the city in order to meet their mutual needs. Livability can therefore be considered as the quality of life that city residents and visitors have access to presently, short-run and in the long-run. In this regard, sustainability within the city layout entails the ability of a city to sustain high quality of life that if offers its residents. These attributes are perceived as potentially capable of enhancing the social-economic and environmental welfare pf the contemporary and future city residents.
Livability Score
In other scenarios, livability in a city also entails an urban system which results into social, physical and mental welfares of all inhabitants. It includes the desirable and delightful urban spaces offering sacred and cultural enrichments. The main principle that generates huge returns to these aspects of equity, accessibility and empowerment also prescribes to the development of an efficient city layout based on a credible city design. Any livable city is potential of offering an individual with a healthy life and an opportunity to engage in easy movement through bicycle, foot, cars or other forms of public transportation. Livable city is one that accommodates all people regardless of their ethnic, social and cultural origins. In many instances, a livable city provides a link between the past and future with a significant courtesy of history or its origin. In this regard, any livable city is associated with the potential to contain the past through protection of important historical statutes with considerable measures to restrain wastage of natural resources for both present and future prosperity. In this regard, this implies that any livable city also provides sustainable lives for its residents and non-residents.
Any architectural work must be able to deliver a better environment for the population in consideration. In order to develop a modern city based on best architectural practices, the designers must consider the current fate of the city residents, both permanent and non-permanent residents in order to steer along the prospects of enhanced city life. In this regard, the architectural work must be anchored on the development of a solid framework upon which the society is grounded upon. The regional cultural is intertwined with the regional environment. Consequently, in the process of establishing specific designs, the environment upon which the specific designs are established must be given a central priority.
In this context, a livable city must be able to sustain the need of its current population as well as future generation without compromising the ability of future occupants to satisfy their natural needs. In this case, both physical and social elements of a livable city must collaborate in order to enhance returns from the community and individuals as constituents of the community of residents. Livable city also entails presence of common spaces that are centers of social lives and a focus for the entire community. It must be established as a progressive network from the central region to the outskirts where pedestrians and bicycle paths contributes to the general framework of the entire social life and community life in general.
Urban Design Guidelines
The city’s designs have been framed on a specific planning and design guidelines that are required to enhance the lives of the city population. In particular, the presence of immense supplies of water, liquid money and a waste disposal mechanism is very important in promoting a progressive growth in the urban development as far as mutual existence is concerned. Besides, a city development process has a principle focus on the realization of a distinct metropolitan area which is an ideal process of enhancing operational-based attributes of a city. In particular, a city must be established with all the potential to perform its core functions in the long-run. This process is not merely limited to the establishment of the physical structures but also the social-economic and administrative relationships between different individuals in the society.
The prospects of livability are however based on two main faces namely: livelihood and ecological sustainability. Livelihood entails a concept where jobs are available for the population with potential to provide workers with decent housing under the auspices of wages compatible to their rents and access to effective services that enhance healthy habitats. The livelihood aspect of a city must be sustainable as well. In case the quest for housing and employment is resolved in a manner that continuously and irreversibly damage the city’s surroundings, then, the livelihood challenge is not fully resolved. On the other hand, ecological damage buys out livelihoods at the expense of individuals’ quality of life while the citizens are forced into trading green spaces and clear air contents for their wages. In this regard, any livable city must consider both elements simultaneously providing livelihoods for her citizens mainly as affluent in approaches that preserves the qualities of life of their environment.
Despite increased demands for livable cities, there has been increased realization of challenges influence city designs for livable cities. The designing and execution of livable city designs are two distinct aspects that are largely contested in the sense that several challenges are attributable to execution part. In particular, the diversity of a city population often place significant threats to the execution of the modern designs developed alongside international standards. In this regard, city designers and developers should consult widely and develop a civic exchange between them and the city residents in order to create strong awareness of adopting and executing a city model with the highest returns on investments as well as potential future benefits that the communities are likely to leap from the new models. The development of practical city designs is fundamental to the growth of effective urban settings with a central focus on the communal benefits in the long-run. For instance, the considerations of the environmental impact of a city development are one of the approaches for which adoption of green buildings and efficient waste management processes, including recycling, is centered.
