CEAE Distinguished Speaker Series: Using Eye-tracking Tools to Assess Urban Street Elements with Justin Hollander, PhD, FAICP

This presentation will explore how street designs with varying degrees of green and complete street elements (GCS) generate different unconscious responses. Our research involved still images and videos to capture a realistic way to mimic the visual experience of a pedestrian in our study area, Devens, Massachusetts. We also asked participants to rate their emotional responses to the images presented. The research found multiple differences in how the brain processes images with low GCS versus high GCS with green elements of green to provoke key fixation points.  Participants' preference responses correlated with these preattentive responses. The study's discoveries explain why new urbanist layouts promote walkability, liveability, and users' peripersonal space extension.

Bio:

Justin B. Hollander, PhD, FAICP, is a Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University (USA). He has written eleven books and over 50 refereed journal articles on a range of topics related to the planning and design of human settlements.  Prof. Hollander is regularly called upon as an expert for a variety of media sources on urban planning and design issues, including The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, TIME Magazine, and USA Today. He was recently inducted as a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners and hosts the Apple podcast “Cognitive Urbanism”.