“To see without being seen” landscape perception with primitive human preferences in urban restorative environments.

Abstract

The ambiguous relationship between humans and the environment runs back to millions of years and the concept ‘to see without being seen’ has been evolved from that era. As Appleton J claims, in his Habitat theory, the genes of our ancestors who preferred such environments are still with us and we still prefer environments with our biological instincts. Appleton interprets the environments which support the ability to see as ‘prospects’ and the environments which support not to be seen as the ‘refuges’ in his prospect-refuge theory. The perception or the preference of the users has been the most impacted factor in the success of any designed space. In this study four different Urban Restorative Environmentshave been selected to test the ‘prospects’ and ‘refuges’ preference of the users of those places. This is tested under four aspects of the ‘prospects-refuges’ relationship such as; Strong prospect (open view, open observing point), Inversely balanced (close view, open observing point), Perfectly balanced (open view and closed observing point) and Strong refuge (close view and close observing point) in order to inquire the subjective perspective of preference which claims that the preference is based on the individuals. The perception of the selected spaces of Beddagana Wetland Park, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte and Diyasaru Park, Thalawathugoda has been explored with the normal users as well as the experts in the Landscape design field. This study shows that the highest preference from both the user groups has been towards the ‘Perfectly balanced’ prospect refuge scenario which supports the ability to see without being seen. This resultmay be useful in designing specific spaces of urban landscapes.