Which Street is More Beautiful?

Decatur Metro | February 17, 2012

Think of it as an early version of Facebook (aka “Facemash”) but with U.S. streets instead of Harvard co-eds.  But the great thing about it is that streets don’t have feelings, so feel free to judge the hell out them!

Actually the really great thing is that this project, entitled “Beautiful Streets“, which asks you to pick which street is “more beautiful” is ultimately looking at compiling data to identify the seemingly “tricky” aspects of a street that make it well loved.  By passing judgements on these hundreds of Google Streetviews you can help them achieve their goal of attempting to define what makes a street “beautiful”.

Maybe we should set up one of these for Decatur and see which street takes home the “sexiest street” prize.

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6 Responses to “Which Street is More Beautiful?”

  1. Mr. Bad Example says:
    February 17, 2012 at 9:36 am

    This is interesting stuff, but I suspect the data is going to be very hard to compile and analyze meaningfully. My master’s thesis was on the local perception of vernacular design in Virginia Highland, and I used a very similar visual preference survey method to test whether or not there is a significant difference in preference for that particular local vernacular between residents and non-residents. My statistical analysis of the survey results indicates that there is indeed a significant difference so what makes a street “beautiful” might change subtley from place to place. Thanks for pointing this out, DM.

  2. Scott says:
    February 17, 2012 at 10:06 am

    First off, this is cool.

    One potential critique, though, is that many of the pairings pit solid and well designed urban streets in states of extreme disrepair against grass/tree alternatives. The data might suggest that people prefer grass and trees over a traditional urban neighborhood but, in reality, it’s just showing that people prefer nature over blight, which is hardly a deep insight.

    I’m curious, once they have the data, if they’ll go back and look at the photos in terms of form, architecture, upkeep, presence of people, green-factor, etc., to try to find patterns of influence.

  3. Parker Cross says:
    February 17, 2012 at 10:42 am

    What fun, and how interesting. It made me think about a lot of things and got my creaky old imagination whirring. And are we picking between streets, or images of streets? That line of shacks, maybe that’s the Caribbean just beyond the picture, out of sight. What about the one with the dark clouds overhead and the twin, ominous “No Outlet” signs? What’s the difference between a street and a road?
    As I said, that was fun; thanks.

  4. JonC says:
    February 17, 2012 at 12:58 pm

    I want to read your thesis, Mr. Bad!

  5. Mr. Bad Example says:
    February 17, 2012 at 2:27 pm

    JonC, it is available electronically through the UGA library. The title is “An inquiry into the preference for local vernacular design in Virginia Highland.” I guess that will blow my anonymous cover here, but I trust your discretion…