Collaborative Emotional Mapping as a Tool for Urban Mobility Planning

Abstract

In this article, we present a framework to collect and represent people's emotions, considering the urban mobility context of Curitiba. As a procedure, we have interviewed individuals during an intermodal challenge. The participants have described their experiences of urban mobility while using different transport modes. We have we used emojis as graphic symbols representing emotional data, once it is a modern language widely incorporated in everyday life as well as evokes a natural emotional association with the data we collected. We built an online geoinformation solution for visualising the emotional phenomenon. As a result, we found that the proposed methodology captures environmental factors as well as specific urban features triggering positive and negative/neutral emotions. Therefore, we validated the methodology of collaborative emotional mapping through volunteered geographic information, collecting and representing emotions on maps through emojis. Thus, here we argue this is a valid way to represent emotions and incorporate a modern language to maps. Based on the results and broader literature, we affirm this is a valuable alternative to increase knowledge about cities, once mapping emotions could assist urban planners in identifying variables, generating positive and negative feelings over the city space, which drives urban planning within a citizen-centred perspective.

Crowdsourcing Public Engagement for Urban Planning in the Global South: Methods, Challenges and Suggestions for Future Research

“…Finally, authorities, as well as researchers, should adopt more affordable methods such as open-source software (which allows access and replication of the methods) [111], as well as accessible and easy-to-use platforms such as Ushahidi (https://www.ushahidi. com/about/pricing, accessed on 9 May 2022).…”

“…Other solutions to socio-economic and cultural barriers include using emojis, pictures, checkmarks, and voice messages to reach the illiterate [63,69,111]. An interesting example in the GS would be the adoption of the interactive voice response (IVR) system in South Africa [69].…”

Benefits and Pitfalls of Emotional and Mobility Meb Mapping. A Case Study of Two Czech Cities

“…Emotional maps and comparable local mapping tools are used extensively in Czechia, particularly when mapping citizens' attitudes towards both physical and social features of the urban environment. Quantitative assessment of mapping results can help urban planners gain a better understanding of citizens' perceptions and improve the targeting of planned measures (Camara, Camboim, and Bravo 2021). Discussion sometimes arises about the validity of such mapping, complementation or substitution of traditional questionnaire surveys.…”