A Spatial Analysis of Urban Color Harmony in Five Global Metropolises

doi:10.5814/j.issn.1674-764x.2022.02.007

Abstract

Abstract:

Harmonious urban color can reduce urban light pollution, relieve the urban heat island effect, improve the living quality and form a distinctive style. However, due to the manifold architectural styles, urban color in metropolises typically becomes complicated, which may destroy the color harmony of metropolises. Up to now, there has not been enough research on the quantitative expression of the degree of color harmony, and the research on comparing the urban color characteristics of different metropolises is also relatively insufficient. This paper firstly developed a method to quantitatively measure the degrees of color harmony (DCHs) of five metropolises in 2020: London, Tokyo, Chicago, Paris, and Beijing, by writing a Python program and using the Sentinel-2A remote sensing data. GIS buffers were then used to analyze the spatial distribution of the DCHs within each metropolis. In addition, 20 typical samples were selected to analyze the differences of the DCHs between residential and industrial areas. The results showed that: (1) The values of the DCHs of London and Tokyo were the highest, followed by Chicago and Paris, while Beijing was the lowest. (2) The values of the DCHs were increasing from the inside out in Chicago, Paris, and London, while those in Beijing and Tokyo were decreasing. (3) The values of the DCHs in industrial areas were much lower than in residential areas. Based on the above results, policy implications are provided for color management of these metropolises. Lastly, this study may provide a method for the rapid analysis the DCHs for other metropolises.

Key words: spatial analysis, urban color harmony, global metropolis, cityscape

CHEN Naige, XU Xiaofan, TAN Minghong, WANG Xianming. A Spatial Analysis of Urban Color Harmony in Five Global Metropolises[J]. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2022, 13(2): 238-246.

Figures/Tables 9

References 30

[1]	Bian W J. 2018. Study on the characteristics and the causes of urban color evolution based on new contextualism. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 189: 062071. DOI: 10.1088/1755-1315/189/6/062071. DOI
[2]	Boeri C. 2013. The city colour planning, between instances of conservation and need for renewal. Proceedings of the 12th Congress of the International Colour Association, 8-12 July 2013, http://hdl.handle.net/11311/862750.
[3]	Boeschenstein W. 1986. Expressive urban color. Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, 3(4): 275-285.
[4]	Cooper B A, Gowland C, McIntosh J. 1986. The use of color in the environment of the elderly to enhance function. Clinics in Geriatric Medicine, 2(1): 151-163. PMID
[5]	da Cruz N F, Oh D Y, Choumar N B. 2020. The metropolitan scale. Cities, 100: 102644. DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2020.102644. DOI URL
[6]	Elachi C, Zimmerman P D. 1988. Introduction to the physics and techniques of remote sensing. Physics Today, 41(11): 126.
[7]	Elliot A J, Maier M A. 2007. Color and psychological functioning. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16(5): 250-254. DOI URL
[8]	Faire L, McHugh D. 2019. Twelve shades of grey: Encountering urban colour in the street in British provincial towns, c. 1945-1970. Urban History, 46(2): 288-308. DOI
[9]	Fang C L, Li G D, Zhang Q. 2017. The variation characteristics and control measures of the urban construction land in China. Journal of Natural Resources, 32(3): 363-376. (in Chinese)
[10]	Feliu M J, Edreira M C, Martín J, et al. 2005. Study of various interventions in the façades of a historical building-Methodology proposal, chromatic and material analysis. Color Research & Application, 30(5): 382-390.
[11]	Gou A P, Wang J B. 2008. Research on the location characters of urban color plan in China. Color Research & Application, 33(1): 68-76.
[12]	Gou A P. 2013. Method of urban color plan based on spatial configuration. Color Research & Application, 38(1): 65-72.
[13]	Hu Y. 2014. Study on traditional building color culture and preservation strategies for Beijing historic area. Huazhong Architecture, 2: 183-186. (in Chinese)
[14]	Jechow A, Kyba C C M, Hölker F. 2020. Mapping the brightness and color of urban to rural skyglow with all-sky photometry. Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer, 250: 106988. DOI: 10.1016/j.jqsrt.2020.106988. DOI URL
[15]	Jiao Y. 2001. The demonstration of the urban architectural color and its planning. City Planning Review, 25(3): 61-64. (in Chinese)
[16]	Li X C, Gong P, Zhou Y Y, et al. 2020. Mapping global urban boundaries from the global artificial impervious area (GAIA) data. Environmental Research Letters, 15(9): 094044. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ab9be3. DOI URL
[17]	Lombera S J, Rojo J C. 2010. Industrial building design stage based on a system approach to their environmental sustainability. Construction and Building Materials, 24(4): 438-447. DOI URL
[18]	Martino A. 2017. Paris, Berlin, New York: The color of the city. World Literature Today, 91(1): 78-79.
[19]	Ozaki M. 1997. Urban color design based on cultural climate-Case study of Kyoto Ward, Tokyo. Proceedings of the 8th Congress, 25-30 May 1997, Kyoto. Japan, Color Science Association of Japan. https://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/10004241600/.
[20]	Pawson S M, Bader M K F. 2014. LED lighting increases the ecological impact of light pollution irrespective of color temperature. Ecological Applications, 24(7): 1561-1568. DOI URL
[21]	Qi J D, He B J, Wang M, et al. 2019. Do grey infrastructures always elevate urban temperature? No, utilizing grey infrastructures to mitigate urban heat island effects. Sustainable Cities and Society, 46: 101392. DOI: 10.1016/j.scs.2018.12.020. DOI URL
[22]	Sklair L. 2005. The transnational capitalist class and contemporary architecture in globalizing cities. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 29(3): 485-500. DOI URL
[23]	Stone E L, Jones G, Harris S. 2012. Conserving energy at a cost to biodiversity? Impacts of LED lighting on bats. Global Change Biology, 18(8): 2458-2465. DOI URL
[24]	Taha H, Akbari H, Rosenfeld A, et al. 1988. Residential cooling loads and the urban heat island-The effects of albedo. Building and Environment, 23(4): 271-283. DOI URL
[25]	Tsai V J D. 2006. A comparative study on shadow compensation of color aerial images in invariant color models. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 44(6): 1661-1671. DOI URL
[26]	Wang J B, Zhang L Y, Gou A P. 2020. Study on the preference of city color image selection based on the logistic model: A case study of Shanghai. Color Research & Application, 45(3): 542-557.
[27]	Wang X B. 2014. The cause of urban color pollution and countermeasures. Applied Mechanics and Materials, 641-642: 572-575. DOI URL
[28]	Wang Y, Zhang X, Yuan S. 2010. Color geography theory and its development in China. Tropical Geography, 30(3): 333-337.
[29]	Weiss M, Jacob F, Duveiller G. 2020. Remote sensing for agricultural applications: A meta-review. Remote Sensing of Environment, 236: 111402. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2019.111402. DOI URL
[30]	Zhao Y C. 2006. Difficult position and possibility of the color plan of Beijing City. Urban Studies, 6: 127-132. (in Chinese)

Metropolis	Period	Planning
Paris	1960s	Completing color plans for the Greater Paris area and selecting beautiful beige as the base tone
Tokyo	1970s	Conducting a comprehensive color survey on Tokyo and developing the first urban color plan with modern significance
Chicago	1970s	Chicago is defined by a dark color tone, which corresponds to the cold temperament of its financial capital
London	1980s	The dark blue was selected as the color of the buildings on both sides of the Thames River, and is suitable for the river water background after considering the environmental background
Beijing	2000s	Beijing introduced the “Regulations on the Management of the Facade of Buildings in Beijing to Keep Tidy and Clean”, and began the urban color management work

Metropolis	Period	Planning
Paris	1960s	Completing color plans for the Greater Paris area and selecting beautiful beige as the base tone
Tokyo	1970s	Conducting a comprehensive color survey on Tokyo and developing the first urban color plan with modern significance
Chicago	1970s	Chicago is defined by a dark color tone, which corresponds to the cold temperament of its financial capital
London	1980s	The dark blue was selected as the color of the buildings on both sides of the Thames River, and is suitable for the river water background after considering the environmental background
Beijing	2000s	Beijing introduced the “Regulations on the Management of the Facade of Buildings in Beijing to Keep Tidy and Clean”, and began the urban color management work

Percentage range (%)	Numerical range	Harmony level
0-25	<0.078	Highly harmonious
25-50	0.078-0.104	Generally harmonious
50-75	0.104-0.141	Generally disharmonious
75-100	>0.141	Highly disharmonious

Percentage range (%)	Numerical range	Harmony level
0-25	<0.078	Highly harmonious
25-50	0.078-0.104	Generally harmonious
50-75	0.104-0.141	Generally disharmonious
75-100	>0.141	Highly disharmonious

Metropolis	Regional type	Area number	Class type (%)
Metropolis	Regional type	Area number	Highly harmonious	Generally harmonious	Generally disharmonious	Highly disharmonious
Paris	Residential	1	0.2	48.1	44.7	7.0
	Residential	2	0.3	60.8	37.7	1.2
	Industrial	3	0.1	13.0	65.8	21.1
	Industrial	4	0	1.6	57.8	40.6
Beijing	Residential	1	0	16.3	55.2	28.5
	Residential	2	2.2	30.3	56.2	11.3
	Industrial	3	1.3	3.4	22.5	72.8
	Industrial	4	0	5.5	35.8	58.7
Tokyo	Residential	1	29.2	66.4	4.3	0.1
	Residential	2	91.5	6.6	1.9	0
	Industrial	3	0.1	7.7	29.1	63.1
	Industrial	4	0	2.1	22.4	75.5
London	Residential	1	35.1	39.9	18.7	6.3
	Residential	2	44.2	26.2	15.2	14.4
	Industrial	3	0.8	2.8	1.9	94.5
	Industrial	4	0.7	2.0	5.5	91.8
Chicago	Residential	1	3.9	25.9	44.9	25.3
	Residential	2	7.1	44.6	24.4	23.9
	Industrial	3	0.2	0.3	1.5	98.0
	Industrial	4	0	0	1.6	98.4