Aesthetics in the Local Environment - the experience of visual aesthetics in Ekeberg/Gamle Oslo

This report describes the inhabitants' experience of the visual qualities of their neighbourhood in the Ekeberg/Old Oslo town area before and after the opening of the Ekeberg-tunnel. The aim of the study was to develope a tool for the objective and subjective registration of visual qualities. With basis in a pilot study from 1994, we wanted to look at which role vegetation, buildings and roadway play in forming an overall impression of a street. The study showed that reducing the traffic had no direct influence on visual qualities. The physical improvements, made possible by the traffic reductions, did however have an effect. Strømsveien and Galgeberg were the streets that had seen the largest improvements from 1994 to 1996.