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This study assesses changing aesthetic values and their characteristics in urban environments based on human perception. With this in mind, a model for assessing the aesthetic values of the urban environment based on the three steps of human cognition has been developed to elaborate the user's perception in different urban environments.

The results of the survey confirm that by changing urban morphology the aesthetic perception of the environment also changes. The finding of this research opens up a new window for urban planners to assess the aesthetic effects of the elements of urban spatial configuration for future urban development.

This study attempts to assess housing developments on the island of Cyprus by referring to the various actions taken and policies implemented during different periods as a result of changing socio-economic and political dynamics. From this perspective, the methodology of the study is based on an assessment of housing developments throughout periods which coincide with certain socio-political thresholds in the history of the island, such as the year 1974, which resulted in the division of the island into two as Northern and Southern parts, and the year 2004, in which the overall setting is changed as Southern part of the island became member of EU. The overall developments and transformations in housing developments are considered as a mirror image of the actors, actions and associations in building activity throughout the periods referred to in this paper. Nicosia as the capital city of the island, has experienced different spatial transformations, and is comprised of a diversity of housing schemes ranging from the low cost housing units of urban workers, located next to the centers of traditional employment, to the large refugee housing estates and to the institutionalized social housing settlements. In this regard, the study aims to understand, interpret and learn from past experiences in the field of housing developments in order to provide lessons which will serve to support future sustainable living environments, since the current situation is at a critical point, and is currently requiring the interest and attention of the responsible authorities.

The visualisation and the level of abstraction of complicated organic relations within an urban setting still remains a major problem with regard to urban discipline. This paper captures the dialectic relation within the urban network, in which the interaction between the spatial process of becoming and the temporal state of being is fundamental. ‘Envelopment’ is developed from and based upon Giddens’ structuration theory. It enables visualisation of ‘relations’ and, as problem-setting matrices, allows the fundamentals of the urban network to be itemised within forms of relationships: modalities. Deleuze and Guattari’s philosophy of deterriorialisation is also adopted into urban studies to support further investigations in respect of decoding and Translating ‘modalities’ as fundamentals in achieving continuous reproduction of Envelopment-as a topological space. Generally, topological space is defined in terms of processes and relations, Vocabularies are accepted as essences of urban dialog embodied in the system, needs to be visualised and meanings to be assigned according to their role and position in the system. In envelopment, system will be considered as macro-scale, multi-scalar topology, where all other modes of relations (amongst people, space and time) can be elaborated. The language game of Wittgenstein, as a metaphoric tool allows us to explore and group the modes of relations as vocabularies; “set of modalities”, enabling dialog upon their role and position in the system. Although the approach of Envelopment can be used as a tool, in enabling the representation of the equilibrium of state and process characteristics of system; it also helps as a tool in enabling the representation of macroscopic space-time scale; enabling representation of urban development and enabling representation of change in urban narrative. The various implementation of the Envelopment will be represented as a final discussion of the paper.