ON THE VISUAL COMPLEXITY OF BUILT AND NATURAL LANDSCAPES

摘要

In this study, we analyze some critical points of the application of the box-counting method to the evaluation of the fractal dimensions of the natural and built landscapes. A brief theoretical discussion of the eventual drawbacks of the method is supported by experimental results of two box-counting programs applied to classical fractals. The optimized version of the algorithm, based on the results of computations for the classical fractal images, is proposed and employed for the evaluation of the complexity level of the chosen historical buildings and surrounding environment in the well-known case of Amasya city. The hypothesis of the relationship between the visual complexity of built and natural settings is analyzed for the Amasya case and for two historical Brazilian cities.