✏️ Concepts of Scales and Proportions in Sketching

Sketching is a fundamental tool for planners, architects, and designers to visualize spaces and communicate ideas. Two key principles govern effective sketching: scale and proportion. Without them, drawings lose their accuracy, realism, and communicative power.

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1️⃣ Concept of Scale

Scale is the mathematical relationship between the real-world size of an object and its representation on paper or digital media.

• Architectural/Planning Scale:
  • Large-scale (e.g., 1:100) → Detailed sketches of buildings, streetscapes.
  • Medium-scale (e.g., 1:1000) → Urban blocks, neighborhoods.
  • Small-scale (e.g., 1:10,000) → Entire cities, regional plans.
• Human Scale: Relates built environments to human dimensions, ensuring comfort and usability.

📌 Example: A park sketch at 1:500 scale shows benches, pathways, and trees, while a city master plan uses 1:50,000 to highlight land-use zones.

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2️⃣ Concept of Proportion

Proportion is the relative size of elements within a drawing or composition. Unlike scale (which is fixed), proportion ensures harmony and realism in how objects relate to one another.

• Human Proportion:
  • Classical rule → An average adult is about 7–8 heads tall.
  • Body parts have ratios (arm span ≈ height, hand ≈ face length, etc.).
• Object Proportion:
  • Buildings, trees, and vehicles should be sized relative to human figures for accuracy.
• Contextual Proportion:
  • A lamppost must look taller than a person, but smaller than a building.
  • A bicycle should not appear larger than a car in the same sketch.

📌 Tip: Use reference grids or modules to maintain proportions consistently in quick sketches.

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3️⃣ Sketching Human Figures & Activities

Planners often include people in sketches to show scale, liveliness, and usability of a space.

• Standing Figures: Used as a height reference (average 1.6–1.8 m).
• Sitting Figures: Depict benches, bus stops, outdoor seating.
• Activity Sketches: Walking, cycling, children playing, vendors working—help illustrate how spaces function.
• Silhouettes & Stick Figures: Quick, simplified human sketches are enough to convey movement and proportion.

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4️⃣ Sketching Natural Elements

• Trees: Represent scale of open spaces (small shrubs, medium trees, large canopy trees).
• Water Bodies: Ripples, reflective shading, proportionate to surrounding context.
• Topography: Hills, slopes, or natural barriers drawn in proportion to buildings and human figures.

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5️⃣ Sketching Man-Made Elements

• Street Furniture: Benches, lights, dustbins—scaled in relation to human use.
• Vehicles: Cars, buses, bicycles—drawn in proportion to road width and pedestrian figures.
• Buildings:
  • Door height (≈ 2 m) matches average human scale.
  • Windows, floors, and facades proportionally aligned with human activities.

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6️⃣ Why Scale & Proportion Matter for Planners

• ✅ Ensures realism in communication.
• ✅ Helps stakeholders imagine the usability of proposed designs.
• ✅ Provides a relatable human connection to space.
• ✅ Avoids distortions that mislead design decisions.

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🔑 In summary:

• Scale = fixed ratio between real and drawing.
• Proportion = harmonious relationship among parts.
  Together, they allow planners to sketch human figures, activities, and natural/man-made elements in a way that is accurate, relatable, and visually convincing.