25 research outputs found
Appraising the intention of other people: Ecological validity and procedures for investigating effects of lighting for pedestrians
One of the aims of outdoor lighting public spaces such as pathways and subsidiary roads is to help pedestrians to evaluate the intentions of other people. This paper discusses how a pedestrians’ appraisal of another persons’ intentions in artificially lit outdoor environments can be studied. We review the visual cues that might be used, and the experimental design with which effects of changes in lighting could be investigated to best resemble the pedestrian experience in artificially lit urban environments. Proposals are made to establish appropriate operationalisation of the identified visual cues, choice of methods and measurements representing critical situations. It is concluded that the intentions of other people should be evaluated using facial emotion recognition; eye tracking data suggest a tendency to make these observations at an interpersonal distance of 15 m and for a duration of 500 ms. Photographs are considered suitable for evaluating the effect of changes in light level and spectral power distribution. To support investigation of changes in spatial distribution further investigation is needed with 3D targets. Further data are also required to examine the influence of glare
Rethinking place-making: aligning placeness factors with perceived urban design qualities (PUDQs) to improve the built environment in historical district
Understanding the concept of place is critically important for urban design and place-making practice, and this research attempted to investigate the pathways by which perceived urban design qualities (PUDQs) influence placeness factors in the Chinese context. Twelve hypotheses were developed and combined in a structural equation model for validation. The Tanhualin historical district in Wuhan, China was selected for the analysis. As a result, place attachment was verified as a critical bridge factor that mediated the influence of PUDQs on place satisfaction. Among the five selected PUDQs, walkability and space quality were revealed as the most influential factors associated with place attachment and place satisfaction. Accessibility was actually indirectly beneficial to place-making via the mediation of walkability. Corresponding implications and strategies were discussed to maintain the sense of place for historic districts
Adapting forest health assessments to changing perspectives on threats – a case example from Sweden
A revised Swedish forest health assessment
system is presented. The assessment system
is composed of several interacting components
which target information needs for strategic
and operational decision making and accommodate
a continuously expanding knowledge base.
The main motivation for separating information
for strategic and operational decision making is
that major damage outbreaks are often scattered
throughout the landscape. Generally, large-scale
inventories (such as national forest inventories)
cannot provide adequate information for mitigation
measures. In addition to broad monitoring
programs that provide time-series information on
known damaging agents and their effects, there
is also a need for local and regional inventories
adapted to specific damage events. While information
for decision making is the major focus of
the health assessment system, the system also contributes
to expanding the knowledge base of forest
conditions. For example, the integrated monitoring
programs provide a better understanding of
ecological processes linked to forest health. The
new health assessment system should be able to
respond to the need for quick and reliable information
and thus will be an important part of the
future monitoring of Swedish forests