How Do Nature-Based Solutions’ Color Tones Influence People’s Emotional Reaction? An Assessment via Virtual and Augmented Reality in a Participatory Process

Abstract

Simulations of urban transformations are an effective tool for engaging citizens and enhancing their understanding of urban design outcomes. Citizens’ involvement can positively contribute to foster resilience for mitigating the impact of climate change. Successful integration of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) into the urban fabric enables both the mitigation of climate hazards and positive reactions of citizens. This paper presents two case studies in a southern district of Milan (Italy), investigating the emotional reaction of citizens to existing urban greenery and designed NBS. During the events, the participants explored in Virtual Reality (VR) (n = 48) and Augmented Reality (AR) (n = 63) (i) the district in its current condition and (ii) the design project of a future transformation including NBS. The environmental exploration and the data collection took place through the exp-EIA© method, integrated into the mobile app City Sense. The correlations between the color features of the viewed landscape and the emotional reaction of participants showed that weighted saturation of green and lime colors reduced the unpleasantness both in VR and AR, while the lime pixel area (%) reduced the unpleasantness only in VR. No effects were observed on the Arousal and Sleepiness factors. The effects show high reliability between VR and AR for some of the variables. Implications of the method and the benefits for urban simulation and participatory processes are discussed.

Visual post-occupancy evaluation of a restorative garden using virtual reality photography: Restoration, emotions, and behavior in older and younger people

“…There might be occasions when specific temporal limits for the POE contrast with a temporary inaccessibility to the area (e.g., deadlines defined by contracts between the parties involved in the environmental renovation or the institutions/community need for accessing information, temporary inaccessibility due to ineffective alignment with other landscape interventions that prevent the access to the area or difficult weather conditions), hence having the chance of anticipating a visual POE through virtual reality would offer the advantage of having preliminary data, before developing a traditional POE onsite. In such perspective, the proposed exp-EIA© method can be fruitfully applied also in the actual physical environment, as it is designed for integration into an app for mobile devices ( Piga et al, 2021b ). This would allow a direct comparison of data, overcoming the limitation of the pre-determined POVs applied in this study and letting the participants free to explore the environment.…”

Mapping the In-Motion Emotional Urban Experiences: An Evidence-Based Method

“…As a matter of fact, the APP and the exp-EIA© method were developed to specifically foster collaborative and human-centered urban design processes with an evidence-based approach. Indeed, this tool allows users to collect, analyze, and spatialize subjective reactions to specific environments, i.e., describing the intangible features of spaces through the perspective of its users; the outcomes are presented in various forms, including geolocated psychological data [52][53][54]. When applying the exp-EIA© method via City Sense, participants have to: (1) register to the app and input their socio-demographic information, for statistical and data filtering purposes; (2) fill in a brief questionnaire related to the chosen neighborhood, including a question on how familiar they are with the area on a 5-points Likert scale and a multiple choice question with multiple select answers option concerning the main reasons for frequentation (e.g., work, shopping, social relations).…”

Greening Cities, Shaping Cities: Pinpointing Nature-Based Solutions in Cities between Shared Governance and Citizen Participation

“…Piga et al [23] examine the effects of NBS on people's emotions, focusing on the reliability of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) simulations as means for engaging citizens in participatory processes. Their case studies explore the reaction to existing and designed NBS, showing that some color tones of NBS, namely green and lime, reduce the unpleasantness experienced while viewing the urban environment.…”