2015 AAAS Annual Meeting (12-16 February 2015)

February 12 - 16, 2015

Visualizing the Experience and Use of Space in the Built Environment

Human activity and the built environment interact in complex ways. We design buildings and public spaces to accommodate our actions and movements; at the same time, the built environment has a defining role in how we use it. Advances in the methods of data collection and analysis, modeling, and visualization of research results increase our capacity to assess spatial experiences in an interdisciplinary way and improve the design process. These experiences may happen at different scales: the individual building and the neighborhood. This session discusses progress in simulating socio-cultural use of buildings in building models that architects use during the design process. It moreover builds on knowledge on the spatial experience of disabled people, introducing a consulting service aimed at inspiring architects' creativity and enhancing their understanding of the sensory qualities of space that go beyond visual traits and the user experience in general. The use of public space at the neighborhood scale in diversifying neighborhoods is analyzed with visual anthropological and geographic referencing methods. Together, they enable new modes of social scientific analysis and furnish important cues for architects and urban planners. Insights into the anthropology of the design process, architecture, and urban public spaces lead pathways to technical, social, and policy innovation.