Emerging Methodology to Inform Design Evaluation: Mind the Perception

The predominant tools for evaluation of built environment features have been user response surveys and expert panel scoring, applied to actual environments or to visual representations of urban environments in drawing or model form (Nasar 1994, Ewing and Handy 2009, Adkins et al 2012). Here we propose to test the validity of combining electroencephalography (EEG) and virtual reality (VR) to overcome the problem of confounding variables in real environments or their representations and to elicit actual user responses in real time. This research combines a neuroscientific technology with an emerging design technology to record electrophysiological brain activity of participants in a well-controlled three-dimensional virtual audiovisual environment. Experimental subjects are immersed in three different virtual urban settings while wearing EEG equipment. A device called Emotive EPOC Insight, a low-cost mobile EEG recorder, will be employed to monitor the brain activities. The aim of this research project is to develop and test a methodology using data-driven approach, rather than user-reported, responses for evaluation of built environment design features.

https://doi.org/10.35483/ACSA.AM.108.52

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ISBN
978-1-944214-26-5