Ugliness of architecture, of buildings, and of cities has had its impact on the visual and mental experience of city dwellers for centuries. Disharmonious organization of buildings in a characterless urban fabric and monotonous repetition of buildings without any variety are accepted symptoms of poor aesthetics. Visual clutter arising from extensive use of billboards and unplanned urban sprawl for example and designs that are not receptive to the tastes and values of common people are characteristics of aesthetic problems (Venturi, Brown & Izenour, 1989). Exaggerated design treatments of architectural buildings that send “selfish” messages and stand as sculptures or monumental “heroic” symbols, termed the “Duck” by Robert Venturi, are problems of aesthetics. Streets or city spaces that are perceived as meaningless and do not reflect the social or environmental dimensions sought after by city dwellers are considered poor aesthetically. White (1988; 1980) cites that the omission of social life from city streets and spaces, and impeding sun and fresh air from reaching the ground by tall buildings and poor proportions result in unpleasing experiences. Environmental crises such as congestion and pollution in cities are also problems of aesthetics. Even people's behavior or misbehavior in cluttering the city or misusing its streets can also have its negative tool on aesthetic experiences. Cities all over the world strive to solve their aesthetic problems. Ones that do are reflected upon as “livable” cities; aesthetics becoming one factor contributing to the acceptable standard of living. Improved cities are also reflected upon positively by visitors such as tourists, contributing to repeated visitation thereby increasing economic benefits for the city.
The distinction between fixed, semi-fixed, and non fixed feature elements of the environment becomes handy in understanding the problem of aesthetics (Rapoport, 1990). Architectural problems cited above such as unpleasing forms, shapes, and styles are examples of the fixed feature elements. These are the most that are in control by the architect and designer. Cluttered billboards, poor street furniture are examples of semi-fixed feature elements that may contribute to problems of aesthetics. These types can sometimes be controlled by the architect but to a much lesser extent than the fixed features. Street congestion and behavior of people are examples of non fixed feature elements that can also have a big impact on poor aesthetics. The latter type is the least controlled by the architect but many times the most influential on the city's image. The problem of aesthetics raises fundamental questions such as: What are the criteria of “beautiful” architecture? Who decides on these criteria? How to implement what is beautiful?
Egypt and Cairo in particular, has experienced a tremendous and systematic aesthetic deterioration during the past few decades. This deterioration negatively affected the urban and architectural and sometimes rural character of the landscape. Consequently, in 2004, the government initiated the National Agency for Cultural Coordination under the responsibility of the Ministry of Culture to assist executive branches of the government with consultations in improving aesthetic quality. A recent seminar (Ebada, 2005), under their sponsorship, documents much of the problems of aesthetics in Egypt and ideas for resolving them. As the objective of this paper is to focus on modern directions, this brief outline of problems of aesthetics would suffice. As a result of the problems of aesthetics, which have been of concern throughout the ages, interested parties attempted to study aesthetics and find ways to make cities more pleasing. What constitutes the study of aesthetics is the topic of the next section.