Editing Bridge (section)

==Aesthetics==
[[File:Utrecht 'Prins Claus brug'.jpg|thumb|The Prins Clausbrug across the [[Amsterdam–Rhine Canal]] in [[Utrecht]], Netherlands]]
[[File:Stari_Most22.jpg|thumb|The [[World Heritage Site]] of [[Stari Most]] (Old Bridge) gives its name to the city of [[Mostar]] in Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
[[File:Bridge to Pier 6, Gatwick North Terminal - geograph.org.uk - 74055.jpg|thumb|The bridge at [[Gatwick Airport]] in London, under which planes pass]]
Most bridges are utilitarian in appearance, but in some cases, the appearance of the bridge can have great importance.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Bruc̈ken: Asthetik und Gestaltung |trans-title=Bridges: aesthetics and design |last=Leonhardt |first=Fritz |date=1984 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=0-262-12105-0 |location=Cambridge, MA |oclc=10821288}}</ref> Often, this is the case with a large bridge that serves as an entrance to a city, or crosses over a main harbor entrance. These are sometimes known as signature bridges. Designers of bridges in parks and along parkways often place more importance on aesthetics, as well. Examples include the stone-faced bridges along the [[Taconic State Parkway]] in New York.

Bridges are typically more aesthetically pleasing if they are simple in shape, the deck is thinner in proportion to its span, the lines of the structure are continuous, and the shapes of the structural elements reflect the forces acting on them.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://roads-waterways.transport.nsw.gov.au/business-industry/partners-suppliers/documents/centre-for-urban-design/bridge-aesthetics-guidelines.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://roads-waterways.transport.nsw.gov.au/business-industry/partners-suppliers/documents/centre-for-urban-design/bridge-aesthetics-guidelines.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |title=Bridge Aesthetics. Design guideline to improve the appearance of bridges in NSW|date=February 2009}}</ref> To create a beautiful image, some bridges are built much taller than necessary. This type, often found in east-Asian style gardens, is called a [[Moon bridge]], evoking a rising full moon. Other garden bridges may cross only a dry bed of stream-washed pebbles, intended only to convey an impression of a stream. Often in palaces, a bridge will be built over an artificial waterway as symbolic of a passage to an important place or state of mind. A set of five bridges cross a sinuous waterway in an important courtyard of the [[Forbidden City]] in Beijing, China. The central bridge was reserved exclusively for the use of the Emperor and Empress, with their attendants.