Isovist indicators as a means to relieve pedestrian psycho-physiological stress in Hong Kong

Abstract

The creation of a psychologically friendly outdoor environment has important quality-of-life implications for urban residents who live in cities with extremely high population density, such as Hong Kong. Prospect Refuge Theory is the most widely recognized theory that explains environmental emotional influence by referring to urban planning and architecture, and it can be quantified by applying isovist indicators. We aim to (a) conduct field measurements that record dynamic psycho-physiological stress, (b) calculate isovist indicators by introducing a new indicator-isovist time difference and then analyse their effects on stress, and (c) draw on findings to provide recommendations for urban planning and design. The experiment is conducted for the first time in a high-density city where 30 participants are asked to walk a predefined route. Each participant wears a portable smart band that records skin conductance response and a global positioning system (GPS) that records geographic coordinates. The results demonstrate that (1) an open space with a visual target set at a distance is the dominant factor that creates positive emotions in Hong Kong; (2) the new indicator-isovist time difference (D1) is valuable, as it is more significantly related to stress than the isovist level; (3) the living environment and cultural differences play an important role in the final result, i.e. people in Europe prefer relatively closed spaces while people in Hong Kong feel stress when the space is highly enclosed.

Urban stress and physiological arousal in early psychosis. A biosocial approach

“…However, this does not mean that people prefer an unlimited field of view" ( (Li et al 2016, p. 15). Similar results have been found in Hong Kong (Xiang et al 2021). However, conclusions differ on occlusivity, which refers to the degree of enclosure of a space (Xiang et al 2021), with contrasting effects on autonomic arousal.…”

“…Similar results have been found in Hong Kong (Xiang et al 2021). However, conclusions differ on occlusivity, which refers to the degree of enclosure of a space (Xiang et al 2021), with contrasting effects on autonomic arousal. Higher occlusivity can elicit both a sense of security (Li et al 2016) and stress (Xiang et al, 2021).…”

“…Researchers have explored physiological arousal using SC in a broad range of population categories, working with tourists (Kim and Fensemaier, 2015;Shoval 2018), police officers (Furberg et al, 2017), visually impaired adults (Massot, 2011), young men (Song et al 2015) and older adults (Pratiwi et al 2020;Neal, 2017;Tilley et al 2017). These studies focus on various activities, such as walking (Hogertz, 2010;Hijazi et al, 2016;Li et al 2016;Clark et al 2018;Engelniederhammer 2019;Xiang et al 2021), cycling (Zeile 2016;Werner 2019), commuting (Pykett et al 2020a) and driving (Healy and Picard, 2005). This body of literature is not turned towards questions of wellbeing and/or (mental) health (for an exception, see Pykett et al 2020a), and to our knowledge, there are no studies involving persons living with a diagnosis of psychiatric disorder.…”

“…However, in studies working on urban walking, several aspects of the social and built (physical) urban environments relating to physiological arousal are particularly interesting, since they resonate with research axes identified in urban mental health research (see Author & Author, 2020). These relevant features concern crowding density (Engelniederhammer 2019), visual fields (Hijazi et al 2016;Li et al 2016;Xiang et al 2021) and urban sequences (Li et al 2016;Xiang et al 2021).…”

Promoting Sustainable Development of Cultural Assets by Improving Users’ Perception through Space Configuration; Case Study: The Industrial Heritage Site

“…On the other hand, the perceptual properties are usually tested using surveys, whereas almost all of the geometric studies use isovist analysis. This kind of analysis, meanwhile, is a powerful method for quantifying the physical environment [46] as Dosen and Ostwald [47] investigated the correlation between the human perception of simple space and isovist measures. While isovist analysis considers a small number of relatively independent isovists in an intended space, isovist field analysis is associated with specified paths through space [48,49].…”