Human-centered urban design analytics integrating data-informed and evidence-based approaches: A micro-renewal case in Shanghai

Abstract

This study proposes an analytical approach for quantitatively evaluating the human-scale street quality and providing precise design interventions, which usually depended on expert subjective experience and intuition. With the help of multi-sourced urban data and wearable biosensors, both data-informed and evidence-based approaches have been integrated to achieve the measuring of spatial activities and space perceptions. For the dimension of spatial activities, Location-based Services (LBS) data was applied to construct a target user portrait, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) images were applied to efficiently record spatial behaviour. For the dimension of space perception, a series of biosensor devices, including ProComp Infiniti Encoder, E4 Wristband and Eye-tracker were applied to collect data of skin conductance (SC), electromyography (EMG), electrodermal activity (EDA) and eye focus. A road from a Shanghai new town was selected for case study, which was initially built around 1990s and now requires micro-scale renewal. It is a useful representative for many Chinese new towns. By evaluating these key dimensions precisely, this approach could act as an efficient method for site analysis and propose appropriate design interventions. In short, this study contributes to the development of human-cantered urban design by providing a new perspective integrating the large and small data.