ABSTRACT
To be valid as a model for aesthetic experience in architecture a theory has
to survive the transition to the scale of the city.
Cities are architecture plus space and time. On this level the
aesthetic impact has much to do with the fourth dimension, what has been
termed the ‘diachronic’ aesthetic. The aesthetic sum is the product of an
accumulation of experiences as one negotiates the streets and piazzas of a
town. It is a serial experience interspersed with ‘standstill’ climaxes. In this
sense it is comparable to music, and, like music, it has its moments of
lyrical ‘melody’ connected by lower-key continuo passages.
