Ninth International Conference on The Constructed Environment

Abstract

The neighborhood environment plays an important role in urban citizen’s quality of life related with walkability, mobility, neighborhood revitalization, and economic development of the community. However, traditional evaluation approaches (e.g., neighborhood survey, field observation, and passively-collected urban data) primarily rely on inherent human subjectivity which cannot answer how urban citizens physically and mentally respond to the surrounding built environment. In this context, this study explores the potential use of physiological signals from pedestrians (e.g., electrodermal activity (EDA), heart rate, and gait patterns). To demonstrate this, the experiment was conducted in Lincoln, Nebraska, and participants were requested to walk on a pre-defined path of 1.26 km with the wearable devices (e.g., wearable inertial measurement units, a wristband-type wearable device, and a smart phone). Results indicate that “distress hotspots” identified by physiological signals include adverse built environmental features such as broken house, a container for gas storage, and poorly maintained sidewalks. The outcome of this research will help to understand the effect of built environment in neighborhood.