How do university students perceive visual smog in historic city centers?

article in a collection out of WoS and Scopus

English

Purpose. In recent years, visual smog (also referred to as visual pollution) has been increasingly discussed, whether it is an interview in the media or is used by architects dealing with urban planning, or graphic designers and other experts in the field of visual communication. Visual smog consists in overlapping public space, not only urban, but also other landscapes, with a cloak of advertising that is not adapted to its surroundings. The situation of visual smog is already being solved in many world cities, but more and more attention is being paid to it in some Czech cities, such as Prague, Znojmo or Brno. The aim of the paper is to find out how university students perceive visual smog in historic city centers. Methodology. To better understand the issue, 449 university students from Brno University of Technology were contacted to find out the perception of visual smog. An online questionnaire survey focused on university students took place in March 2021. Young people were asked about their perception of visual smog in general and also within the city of Brno, which has a beautiful historic center and is the second largest city in the Czech Republic. Results. The findings show that the two biggest problems, respondents stated that visual smog reduces / destroys the uniqueness of a place and distorts the values of the architectural beauty of cities. Almost 80% of them agree with the initiative of cities to prepare manuals on how to visually present with respect to the values of the historic city, and instructions on how to know the regulations and obtain the necessary permits. Practical implications. The information found clearly shows that university students are very sensitive to their surroundings and realize that the number of advertisements is often large, so that it reduces the importance of the place, but also prevents faster orientation in urban areas. The respondents themselves were able to clearly state the places in the historical center of Brno where the biggest problem is and also came up with interesting suggestions on how to "fight" this problem, which can be beneficial for further use and solution of this topic.

visual smog, promotion, Czech Republic

KAŇOVSKÁ, L.; HAVÍŘ, D.

15. 6. 2021

University of Warsaw

Warsaw, Poland

19

19

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http://www.wz.uw.edu.pl/portaleFiles/7948-Summer%20Semin/ss_in_marketing/2021/Abstracts_2021.pdf