Thesis subject
MSc thesis topic: Understanding citizens’ perception of urban densification through virtual reality
Spatial planning is about shaping the built and natural environment to meet the needs of people and communities. It is key in promoting sustainable development, which involves complex trade-offs among functionality, aesthetics, environmental and social needs. One challenge is understanding how people perceive and experience space, especially when they come from diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds.
Recent advances in virtual reality (VR), 3D modeling, and space syntax analysis offer powerful tools to simulate, visualize, and assess spatial scenarios in an immersive and measurable way. This project investigates people’s perception of the impacts of densification in urban environments using VR.
Background
Traditional planning tools often lack the ability to include simulations of affect, i.e. how a space feels. VR allows to create and test what-if scenarios in a highly realistic but controllable virtual environment. In this project, you will work with the game engine to create urban densification scenarios that vary in spatial characteristics such as greenness and development composition. Participants will experience these environments in VR, rate their impressions, and have their eye movements recorded (for assessing attention patterns). These user generated data will be compared with spatial syntax metrics derived from the simulated scenes to build a model that links urban features to human perceptions. The model can help identify thresholds, such as how much greenery is needed, for people to feel satisfied with certain types of spaces, offering evidence-based suggestions to support human-centered urban planning decisions.
Relevance to research/projects at GRS or other groups
This project fits within the broader focus of GRS on immersive visualization, participatory planning, and human-space interaction. The project is also supported by a university-wide research effort (WANDER) seeking to establish immersive technologies firmly in the portfolio of research and education tools for environmental and societal challenge.
Objectives and Research questions
- Identify spatial characteristics making changes to the urban environment feel more comfortable
- Explore the relationship between visual attention and perceived quality or preference
- Explore citizens’ preferences using objective spatial metrics
- Determine thresholds or trade-offs between potential future configurations
Requirements
- Interest in working with immersive technologies
- Interest in human perception and behaviors
- Interest in empirical studies and evaluations
- Experience with statistical and spatial data analysis
Literature and information
- Dembski, F., Yamu, C., & Wössner, U. (2019). Digital Twin, Virtual Reality and Space Syntax: Civic engagement and decision support for smart, sustainable cities. In Proceedings of the 12th International Space Syntax Symposium
- Askarizad, R., Lamíquiz Daudén, P. J., & Garau, C. (2024). The Application of Space Syntax to Enhance Sociability in Public Urban Spaces: A Systematic Review. In ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information (Vol. 13, Issue 7, p. 227). MDPI AG.
- Dane, G., Evers, S., van den Berg, P., Klippel, A., Verduijn, T., Wallgrün, J. O., & Arentze, T. (2024). Experiencing the future: Evaluating a new framework for the participatory co-design of healthy public spaces using immersive virtual reality. In Computers, Environment and Urban Systems (Vol. 114, p. 102194). Elsevier BV.
- Oprean, D., Spence, C., Simpson, M., Miller Jr, R., Bansal, S., Keller, K., & Klippel, A. (2019). Human Interpretation of Trade-Off Diagrams in Multi-Objective Problems: Implications for Developing Interactive Decision Support Systems. In T. Bui (Ed.), 52nd HICSS.
Expected reading list before starting the thesis research
- Flavián, C., Ibáñez-Sánchez, S., & Orús, C. (2019). The impact of virtual, augmented and mixed reality technologies on the customer experience. Journal of Business Research, 100, 547–560.
- Flavián, C., Ibáñez-Sánchez, S., & Orús, C. (2019). The impact of virtual, augmented and mixed reality technologies on the customer experience. Journal of Business Research, 100, 547–560.
- Kiefer, P., Giannopoulos, I., Raubal, M., & Duchowski, A. (2017). Eye tracking for spatial research: Cognition, computation, challenges. Spatial Cognition & Computation, 17(1-2), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/13875868.2016.1254634
- Dong, W., Qin, T., Yang, T., Liao, H., Liu, B., Meng, L., & Liu, Y. (2022). Wayfinding Behavior and Spatial Knowledge Acquisition: Are They the Same in Virtual Reality and in Real-World Environments? Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 112(1), 226–246.
- Li, T. (2020). 3D Representation of Eye Tracking Data: An Implementation in Automotive Perceived Quality Analysis [DEGREE PROJECT IN COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, SECOND CYCLE].
Theme(s): Human – space interaction; Empowering & engaging communities