Urban Design
Faeze Rahmani Jami; Maryam Mohammadi
Abstract
HighlightsIntroducing the methods of measuring emotions and emotional response in urban spaces and examining the advantages and disadvantages and the validity of each method.Developing a mixed method for measuring emotions in urban spaces.Identifying the physical and non-physical factors affecting users’ ...
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HighlightsIntroducing the methods of measuring emotions and emotional response in urban spaces and examining the advantages and disadvantages and the validity of each method.Developing a mixed method for measuring emotions in urban spaces.Identifying the physical and non-physical factors affecting users’ feelings in the urban space and their attraction and exclusion. IntroductionThe effects of emotions on all of man’s daily decisions are undeniable. Using, residing in, and leaving an urban space pertain to the users’ emotions. Therefore, it is important to measure and evaluate the users’ emotions in urban spaces. The purpose of this research is to identify the factors affecting emotions in urban spaces and prioritize them in the selected space.Theoretical FrameworkIn the first step, the literature was reviewed, and a conceptual model for measuring emotional response was then presented. Based on this model, emotions can be measured in three layers: physiological, perceptual, and behavioral. The users’ affective response in the urban space can be investigated on that basis. This case study addresses a sequence of Emamat Street in the city of Mashhad, Iran.MethodologyThe research was conducted based on a hybrid method. A biometric sensor (Empatica-E4) was used to collect data at the physiological level. Cognitive data were collected through walking interviews and videos. In addition, the speed of walking in the behavioral layer was measured. The resulting data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively, and the factors affecting the emotional response in this street were finally identified. The factors identified as a result of the analysis made in the above three layers were adapted to each other. Based on the exploratory analysis made through the SPSS software, the factors affecting the emotional response were prioritized. Twenty people participated in this survey and shared their emotional responses in the selected sequence of Emamat Street, which is one kilometer long.Results and DiscussionThe results demonstrated that the users’ emotional response was pleasant. According to the results of the data in the biological layer, it was found that the part with a dominant natural character conveys more peace. Moreover, the monotonous sections, the inactive environments of the street, and the part with heavy traffic cause unpleasant emotional responses. The analysis of perceptual data indicated that the presence of greenery and retails exhibits a greater effect on pleasant feelings. The analysis of movement speed shows that in environments involving attractiveness, there is a diverse, relaxed decrease in the speed of movement over the space and the desire to stay. Based on the results, it was found that factors such as greenery, traffic, land use and activity, behavioral patterns, crowd, and noise pollution have effects on the emotional response. In order to prioritize the factors affecting the emotional response in the above space, the data were analyzed in the physiological and cognitive layers in SPSS. The results were rather the same. It can also be concluded that among the factors affecting the emotional response, non-physical ones, such as natural elements, crowd, noise pollution, and land use and activity, have greater influences than physical factors like the type of flooring and facade. Among these, the greatest effects on the desired emotional response are exhibited by the type of activity including exercise, the presence of a group of elderly people, and the existing nature, including tall trees on the edge of the park, visible vegetation, and plants and decorative flowers present over the space. ConclusionThis study was designed to identify the factors influencing the affective and behavioral response in urban spaces. We first explained the conceptual framework of the research by reviewing the literature on studies conducted in this area and examining the theories related to the emotional response in urban spaces, factors affecting emotions within the city, and methods of measuring the affective and behavioral response in the city. The research methodology was developed along with a practical test for assessing the affective and behavioral response and the experiment path given the available tools and methods used in previous projects and studies.The results obtained from the analysis of the recorded data on the heart rates of the participants in the experiment, the speeds of their movement in each sequence, and their cognitive responses revealed that factors such as vegetation, vehicular traffic, land use and activity, behavioral patterns, crowdedness, and noise pollution are effective on the affective response, and, thereby, affect people’s senses. This research was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic; thus, the constraints ruling over urban spaces made it more difficult to perform the experiment with more participants. Obviously, conducting the experiment with a larger number of participants can bring about more reliable results. The reason for using a homogeneous age and social group was to decrease the probability of recording data outside the standard range. Naturally, doing research with a larger sample size would allow use of more diverse age groups. Based on the above findings, some suggestions are made for designing the space based on emotions, as follows.- The vegetation and greenery space has a significant impact in the creation of a feeling of peace. The variety in the color and type of vegetation may also increase the pleasant feeling. However, if the vegetation reduces visibility, it would be effective in the creation of an unpleasant feeling.- Water in the urban space beings about a feeling of naturalness and tranquility in users. However, in a space filled with crowd and noise pollution, the sound of water can increase noise pollution.- The ground floor in urban spaces obviously affects the pedestrians’ perception more than other floors. Thus, the transparency of the wall, its beauty, variety, and coherence have prominent impacts in the creation of pleasant emotions.- It is better to avoid building long, rigid, inactive walls. If there are such spaces, the ground for creating activity at certain intervals should be provided.- The street-crossing areas should be designed in parts of the route with sufficient visibility for drivers and pedestrians; moreover, the pedestrian lanes need to be clear.- When there is a potential for overcrowding, the movement and activity interference should be minimized to reduce the resulting crowdedness and arousal.- The context for the emergence of desirable behavioral patterns such as exercise in the park should be provided in all directions, and a certain space for undesirable behaviors should be predicted as well.AcknowledgmentWe are grateful to all the persons for scientific consulting in this research paper.This article is extracted from the first author's master thesis in titled "Identification of physical and non-physical factors affecting pedestrians' emotional response in urban streets and presenting solutions (Case study: Emamat street of Mashhad)" which was defended at the University of Art under supervision of Dr. Maryam Mohammadi.
Urban Design
elham zabetian
Abstract
A public urban space is successful when it attracts the citizens. The climate and thermal comfort conditions are factors affecting the usage pattern of sidewalks in public urban spaces. In general, awareness of sensory information and understanding of their complex process is called perception. Psychological ...
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A public urban space is successful when it attracts the citizens. The climate and thermal comfort conditions are factors affecting the usage pattern of sidewalks in public urban spaces. In general, awareness of sensory information and understanding of their complex process is called perception. Psychological aspects and their impact on the evaluation of thermal comfort makes a different perception of thermal sensation. Adaptation is the most important psychological factor affecting thermal comfort perception. Thus, the present article tries to develop an empirical model based on the studies assessing thermal psychological adaptation that can be tested in the future researches on several urban spaces. The empirical model is constructed through a conceptualization process based on a study of the basics and successful experiences worldwide. The model’s accuracy was first improved through inquiring ideas from 27 experts in this field and, second, taking advantage of Delphi’s reciprocal method. In the next stage, the aspects, scales and the subscales in the empirical model were ranked based on analytic hierarchical method (AHP). Expert Choice was used to determine each scale’s weight relative to its counterpart. In fact, the empirical model was applied to evaluate the studied concept. The model has two parts: a part assessing sense of place and another part assessing the psychological adaptation of thermal comfort. Based on the results, it can be argued that a model is necessary for blending the objective and subjective issues influencing the assessment of an individual’s adaptation for moving towards comfort in an urban space, because adaptation is a very important capability in enhancing the individuals’ presence in an urban space. Psychological reasons are the most important factors contributing to the adaptation enhancement. On the other hand, based on the studies conducted on the sense of place (that can be classified into various levels from alienation to devotion to place), such a sense can be effective in the creation of psychological adaptation that, in turn, is influential on the perceptions of comfort. Comfort is a multifaceted concept with many aspects that renders any research complicated. Thus, as an entry for such types of studies within the context of the urban design, this study attempts to concentrate only on one of its most important parts, i.e. thermal comfort. As it can be understood from a review of the global experiences in regard to thermal comfort perception, the thermal comfort perception and the thermal sense of individuals differ: the citizens can adapt themselves to the environmental comfort conditions for certain reasons (stemming from various levels of sense of place based on the findings of the current research), or, quite inversely, they could have lower adaptation threshold and leave the environment. The empirical model designed for assessing the relationship between the sense of place and thermal psychological adaptation in an urban space consists of various levels that are influenced by the individual factors. Thus, making plans for managing citizens’ behaviors in the urban space is a factor more important than physical planning to enhance citizens’ perceived level of comfort.
Urban Design
fatemeh biniaz; toktam hanaee
Volume 6, Issue 23 , August 2017, , Pages 17-28
Abstract
Perception of urban space is the first step in communicating with the environment. This perception leads to the formation of an image of city and thus a person’s cognitive map of space. The age group, sex, as well as the level of the familiarity of an individual with the environment have a significant ...
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Perception of urban space is the first step in communicating with the environment. This perception leads to the formation of an image of city and thus a person’s cognitive map of space. The age group, sex, as well as the level of the familiarity of an individual with the environment have a significant effect on shaping this process. In fact, perception occurs when it affects human senses. Therefore, the more distinct the urban spaces are, the more complete can be the picture formed in the minds of people. It should be noted that people of different ages have different expectations of space and remember the urban space accordingly. Therefore, it can generally be said that a more perceptible and easy-to-understand environment can be grasped easier and a more complete picture of its structure can be shaped in people’s minds.
By analyzing citizens’ cognitive maps and deducing their perceptual similarities, one can measure how the legibility of an environment influences the cognitive perception of adults of different ages. This article seeks to achieve this goal with the aim of creating a legible urban space for adults. Data collection methods in this study include: literature review, descriptive statistics, and cognitive mapping technique. The library method was used to formulate research background, theoretical principles and research framework. Field methods, questionnaires, cognitive maps and routing techniques were used to understand the cognitive perception of adults of different ages and to recognize perceptual similarities with respect to the indicators defined in the theoretical framework. In fact, with this technique, one can deduce perceptual similarities by using cognitive maps and studying the presence of five elements of Lynch – i.e. landmark, path, node, edge, district and range – in cognitive maps drawn by individuals of 15-28, 29-40, 41-52, and 53-64 years age groups. Chi-square test was used to determine the relationships between variables. The target group of the study is also 15-64 year old individuals who are either residents, businessmen or users of the environment. The sample size was calculated using Cochran’s formula to be 132 individuals.
The findings of this study suggest that cognitive similarities between adults in the 15-64 years age group are more affected by node and landmarks, and that other Lynch elements do not play a role in shaping the adult mental image of the study environment. Also, easy routing by people in urban spaces is not only affected by order, symmetry, complexity, and guidance signs in the environment. Cognitive maps also show that the vast majority of adults have mapped the environment based on sequential order according to Appelard classification. It should be noted that there is a direct relationship between elements of the environment and its readability for adults of different ages. Studies on readability of the node element also show that the activity alone cannot cause spatial differentiation and legibility of the node. Also, the façade and elevation of buildings alone cannot enhance the visibility and legibility of an edge.
