Finding the Optimal D/H Ratio for an Enclosed Urban Square: Testing an Urban Design Principle Using Immersive Virtual Reality Simulation Techniques

Abstract

Using immersive virtual reality (VR), this study examined the D/H ratio principle (where “D” means the depth or width of a public space and “H” means the height of its surrounding buildings.) that urban design theorists have suggested as an important design principle for public spaces. The authors built VR models of eight enclosed urban public squares with different D/H ratios ranging from 1/3 to 6/1. They then carried out an experiment in the form of a visual assessment survey using the VR models with 69 university students majoring in urban planning and compared the optimal D/H ratios from the experimental results with those proposed by urban design theorists. The statistical analysis of the experimental results revealed that the optimal D/H ratios for most qualities of public squares are larger than the optimal ratios claimed by theorists.

Planning participants’ preferential differences under immersive virtual reality and conventional representations: An experiment of street renewal

“…This was to have the experiment resemble normal participatory meetings where participants are mostly laypeople with limited knowledge of spatial planning and design. Kim and Kim (2019) also found the participants’ level of training in the field of urban design had a significant effect on most of the dependent variables in their VR study. The procedure of the experiment is as follows: Step-1: The participant provides personal information such as age, gender, major, etc. Step-2: The participant reads the instruction card which introduces the general plan of the site presented in text and figure.…”

Using Multi-Sensory and Multi-Dimensional Immersive Virtual Reality in Participatory Planning

“…This can be achieved by creating interdisciplinary 3D visual studies depicting future impacts (e.g., the effects of climate change) [16]. A study of eight urban public squares in Seoul, Korea, for example, demonstrated that IVR could overcome the limitations of existing studies, such as issues with viewing angles and visual distortions created by projecting 3D models onto 2D planes [23]. By mitigating such limitations, Portman et al found that VR mutually benefits both stakeholders and planners in the form of better understanding and feedback, respectively [16].…”

Perceived Safety and Pedestrian Performance in Pedestrian Priority Streets (PPSs) in Seoul, Korea: A Virtual Reality Experiment and Trace Mapping

“…First, to investigate perceived safety in PPS, a visual assessment survey was conducted using recorded virtual reality (VR) videos. Recent studies using VR have dealt with perception and cognition related to the urban environments [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ], and VR has been widely acknowledged as a research instrument [ 15 , 16 , 17 ]. In particular, VR could be used as a means to investigate the risk perception of pedestrians.…”