Mapping the Emotional Experience of Travel to Understand Cycle-Transit User Behavior

Abstract

People experience emotions during travel. Driving, riding a bicycle, taking transit, and walking all involve multiple mental processes, potentially leading to various ranges of emotions such as fear, anger, sorrow, joy, and anticipation. Understanding the link between emotions and transportation environments is critical to planning efforts aiming to bring about a more environmentally sustainable society. In this paper, we identified, geo-coded, analyzed, and visualized emotions experienced by cycle-transit users, or CTUs, who combine bicycling and public transit in a single trip. We addressed two research questions: (1) What types of emotions do CTUs experience, why, and where? (2) How can mapping and understanding these emotions help urban planners comprehend CTU travel behavior and build a more sustainable transportation system? Based on 74 surveys completed by CTUs in Philadelphia, USA, we performed a content analysis of textual data and sketch maps, coded for emotional content, attached emotions with geo-referenced locations using GIS, and finally created four types of emotional maps. Overall, CTUs expressed 50 negative and 31 positive sentiments. Anger was the most frequently identified emotion, followed by disgust, fear, sadness, and joy. Twenty-five transportation planners reviewed the maps; the majority found that the maps could effectively convey an emotional account of a journey, opinions on routes and locations, or emotions attached to them. This paper advances theory and practice in two ways. First, the method privileges a heretofore little examined form of knowledge-the emotional experience of CTUs-and transportation planners confirm the value of this knowledge for practice. Second, it extends the study of emotional geographies to the transportation environment, pointing out venues for additional planning interventions. We conclude that mapping emotions reveals a more comprehensive understanding of travel experience that aids in better transportation planning and happier neighborhoods.

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

“…Q3: What is the role of multi-sensory and multi-dimensional IVR simulations in shaping public emotional responses to design proposals? Understanding public emotions attached to existing built environment is important for the participatory planning process [30,31]; we do not, however, understand how public emotions can be attached to future planning scenarios and how IVR simulations can initiate or amplify such emotional responses.…”

Cycling as a Sustainable Transport Alternative in Polish Cittaslow Towns

“…Cycling as a means of transport is good for people's health and changes city dwellers' health and well-being [6,[26][27][28][29]. It is clear from research that cycling has a positive effect on cardio-respiratory performance, especially in youth.…”

Perception of Spatial Legibility and Its Association with Human Mobility Patterns: An Empirical Assessment of the Historical Districts in Rasht, Iran

“…Additionally, a wide range of studies have been conducted in order to evaluate the role of legibility in urban spaces using the Space Syntax method [ 6 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 ]. Moreover, a set of studies have been focused on the role of spatial cognition using sketch drawings [ 25 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 ]. In addition, in order to attain a suitable method towards assessing the movement patterns of people in urban spaces, a number of studies have culminated their works using time-lapse methods [ 55 , 56 , 57 ].…”