Background: This article offers an alternative look at the experiential character of the built environment by combining objective analysis and subjective perception. The aim is to measure and elaborate on quantitative descriptions of 'hidden' urban characteristics, attempting to build correlations between different unseen but detectable qualities of cities. Methods: The study introduces an applied research method to quantify objective features of the built environment and the related subjective experience, prototyping a mobile phone application that both actively and passively measures urban parameters and human perceptions. To test the validity of the research process, a few experiments were performed in Cambridge, MA mapping out a series of different places. Results: The implementation of the application data in conjunction with the more passive, objective dataset extracted from complementary sensors, resulted in an alternative understanding of everyday spatial interactions and in a taxonomy of urban conditions-revealing the 'mood' of urban environments. Conclusions: The combination of objective and subjective datasets can help reveal more comprehensive insights and characters of spaces and places within the city, mediating between technology and the built environment and leveraging emotive perceptions of the urban actors in order to influence and inform design decisions.
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