Mesographic analysis: determining graphic objects as urban objects

This paper explores the potential for a new analytical tool to inform better understanding of the relationship between graphic objects and urban objects for the purpose of design. The starting point is a review of the macro-micro issue leading to the development of new ways to depict the intermediate, or meso, level that interweaves the two. New ways to explain this relationship are developed using graphic theory in the form of diagrams and photographic images as research-driven data. Examples are used to illustrate how the ‘mesographic’ level offers potential for analysing the impact of graphic interventions to improve knowledge and understanding about the built environment. These show how small scale interventions have changed human behaviour, and more complex systems on an urban scale may challenge perceptions about how the products of architecture, landscape architecture, planning and engineering are understood. Possibilities for using mesographic analysis are offered for future research that may be undertaken independently or as part of a transdisciplinary research inquiry.