Can Pedestrians' Physiological Signals Be Indicative of Urban Built Environment Conditions?

Abstract

Pedestrians' physiological signals [e.g., electrodermal activity (EDA) and gait patterns] offer a unique opportunity for assessing the urban built environment, by deepening our understanding on human-environment interactions. Leveraging physiological signals collected in outdoor ambulatory settings has thus been attempted in several studies. Yet a question still remains about whether and which physiological signals could present direct associations with negative environmental stimuli observable in the urban built environment. Motivated by this, the paper examines the association between physiological responses and negative environmental stimulus, through the design of an experiment that exposes subjects to a strong negative environmental stimulus (i.e., replica of a dead animal body) in outdoor ambulatory settings. The experimental results (n=31) confirm significant associations between the presented environmental stimuli and physiological signals (i.e., EDA and gait patterns), and also indicate that physiological signals could portray individuals' varying degree of sensitivity to the presented stimulus. These findings highlight that pedestrians' physiological signals provide meaningful information on direct responses to the surrounding urban built environment.