Loading...
3 results
Search Results
Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
- The emotional body in the main street: individual interpretations of biosensing data.Publication . Pedro, Tomás; Paiva, Daniel; Gonçalves, Ana; Ferreira, DanielaBiosensing is becoming a popular method among urban scholars interested in the experience of urban space. Biosensing refers to the capture of physiological signals such as electrodermal activity, brain activity or heart rate through wearable devices. Such signals can be used to understand individual physical, emotional and cognitive responses to the urban environment. It has been widely argued that biosensing allows scholars to reduce the burden on research participants, while obtaining more precise data on the affectivity of urban space. However, biosensing studies show a different scenario. It has been shown that biosensing data is often ambiguous and thus must be contextualized with qualitative data through interviews or diaries. Despite the acknowledgement of the necessity of mixing biosensing techniques with qualitative methods, there is little exploration of how research participants understand and interpret biosensing data. With this in mind, this paper presents the results of a biosensing study which has been conducted in Avenida da Igreja, Lisbon (Portugal) between May and September 2022. In this study, 20 individuals participated in a two-step activity. First, participants undertook individual walks wearing a Empatica E4 wristband, which measures electrodermal activity. Secondly, a post-walk interview in which the biosensing data was elicited was conducted. The results of these study highlight the differing interpretations of biosensing data and the generativity of undertaking in-depth conversations through the elicitation of biosensing data.
- Biosensing urban atmospheres: How do research participants interpret biosensing data?Publication . Pedro, Tomás; Paiva, Daniel; Gonçalves, Ana; Ferreira, DanielaWearable biosensors are becoming popular tools for urban scholars interested in the experience of urban atmospheres. Such devices capture physiological signals such as electrodermal activity, brain activity or heart rate, which can be used to understand individual physical, emotional and cognitive responses to the urban environment. For this reason, biosensors have been praised as tools that allow scholars to reduce the burden on research participants, while obtaining more precise data on the affectivity of urban space. However, ongoing biosensing studies show a different scenario. It has been noted that biosensing data is often ambiguous and thus must be contextualized with qualitative data through interviews or diaries. Despite the acknowledgement of the necessity of mixing biosensing techniques with qualitative methods, there is little exploration of how research participants understand and interpret biosensing data. However, such exploration is crucial to understand how biosensing can contribute toward participatory, inclusive and citizen-centric planning and design processes in the city. With this in mind, this paper presents the results of a biosensing study which has been conducted in Avenida da Igreja, Lisbon (Portugal), in which 20 participants undertook individual walks wearing a Empatica E4 wristband, which measures electrodermal activity. After the individual walk, an interview with the elicitation of the biosensor data was conducted with each participants. The results of the study are focused on the participants interpretation of biosensing data.
- Placing emotions in participatory urban designPublication . Paiva, Daniel; Ferreira, Daniela; Boavida-Portugal, Inês; Brito-Henriques, EduardoThere is increasing interest in the use of wearable biosensors, such as electrodermal activity sensors or electroencephalograms, in the study of individual physiological, emotional and cognitive responses to the urban environment. In this context, the application of biosensing techniques is paving the way for a greater attention to emotions and subjective well-being in urban design and planning. However, the use of biosensor data often substitutes and marginalizes the voices of participants, which is problematic in the context of urban design and planning as it might lead to technocratic and exclusionary interventions. With this in mind, we explore the application of biosensing techniques in participatory approaches to urban design, namely community mapping and scenario-elicitation. We draw on a study conducted in Lisbon, in which a group of twenty urban dwellers participated in two workshops which aimed to debate urban regeneration interventions in a main street. In the first workshop, participants were invited to undertake a walk through the main street wearing an electrodermal activity sensor and participate in a collective mapping session. In the second workshop, participants were invited to debate and select urban regeneration intervention scenarios created by urban designers based on the community map that was produced in the first workshop. The findings of this study highlight the main opportunities and challenges that might arise when introducing biosensing techniques in participatory methodologies.