Street edge subdivision: Structuring ground floor interfaces to stimulate pedestrian visual engagement

Abstract

There have been numerous attempts to identify what makes the ground floor interfaces of street edges engaging for pedestrians. Their subdivision has often been highlighted as important, predominantly, in line with functions along their length. However, the effect of subdivision on street edge engagement has not been empirically tested. We use mobile eye-tracking to systematically examine where and for how long pedestrians visually engage ground floors in relation to their subdivision. We consider three scales of subdivision: morphologically defined plinths (different building ground floors), territorially defined segments (different areas of territorial ownership) and spatially defined micro-segments (different spaces separated by pillars and partitions). Results show that segments dominate ground floor visual engagement, with micro-segments also having a significant influence. Plinths were shown to have no direct effect upon such engagement. We subsequently use these findings to show how subdivision should be approached by design decision-makers when seeking to actively encourage pedestrian engagement with ground floors along street edges.

Research Contents, Methods and Prospects of Emotional Architecture Based on a Systematic Literature Review

“…The current state of affairs has been evaluated by many studies through emotional engineering techniques. For example, Simpson, James et al verified how pedestrians are visually exposed to different elements of streets and street edges in real-world environments through the use of mobile eye-tracking glasses [21]. In order to investigate the neurocognitive state of subjects in real-world environments in typical urban environments and in urban green environments, Ilker Erkan et al collected and interpreted heart rate, EEG, and eye-movement data and behavior, and it was found that the urban green environment had a more positive effect on the subjects [29].…”

Human-centric computational urban design: optimizing high-density urban areas to enhance human subjective well-being

“…The subdivision of building masses into visually distinctive segments or parts significantly influences the pedestrians' visual engagement. The presence of more plinths, defined as distinct segments in the building mass, leads to longer visual engagement with the ground floor of the building mass (Simpson et al, 2022) and might result in livelier perceived environments.…”

Exploration of a Rural Street Environment: The Difference in Sight between Villagers and Tourists

“…Through a literature search, it has been found that most of the previous studies on spatial experience use real-life photos [13,14], real-life videos [15,16], and VR virtual environments as stimulus materials [17,18]. The research on the use of the real environment as a stimulus material in the street environment is being enriched, showing a trend towards authenticity in experimental stimulations [19][20][21]. In order to explore the real feelings of subjects on the dynamic changes in the environment in the street-environment space, two-dimensional pictures and the virtual environment without the state of walking are not enough to achieve a real reduction, and the collected data are often limited to the study of a single element, while real-scene research also means more detailed and greater data analysis and processing.…”