Neurourbanism. Enriching urban design process through new tools

Abstract

Objectives: The "Affective City" campaign, led by Federico De Matteis, underscores the idea that cities are not merely constructed from brick and stone but from affects, moods, atmospheres - those ineffable dimensions that are often overlooked in urban planning. Smart city research remains predominantly focused on technology, with an over-reliance on information and communication tools (ICT), Internet of Things (IoT) and AI-based solutions, often neglecting critical discussions around societal objectives and human-centric priorities. The emerging field of Neurourbanism acknowledged that urban environments significantly influence human existence, mental health and psycho-emotional well-being, providing the field of urbanism with useful design tools from the neuroscience field. This article underlines a human-centred interdisciplinary approach through
386 Resilient Communities Empowered by Collective Intelligence
which human values with their discrete dimensions can be infused into urban design processes, by leveraging a wide range of innovative tools specific to neurosciences. By this, enriched urban environments can improve the well-being of all users, in the spirit of an inclusive diversity. Prior work: The research is substantiated on established fields such as neurosciences, neuroaesthetics and already formulated concepts as environmental psychology and affective computing. Interdisciplinary applied research of the authors using affective computing tools is introduced. Approach: A narrative review based on using case studies and good practice examples has been employed, as well as a review of academic research in the field. In addition to this literature review, the first phase of an ongoing neurourbanism study is presented, which aims to use tools from human-computer interaction (HCI) and affective computing area. Results: This paper outlines how neurourbanism can be employed for emotional mapping and urban stress analysis, participatory urban design, monitoring health in cities, inclusivity and accessibility for mental health and for neuroaestethics studies and biophilic urban environments design that confirmed that green spaces in cities have sanative and restorative values. The experiment based on Self Assessment Manikin and EEG measurements confirmed that the perception of an architectural object in a urban context vs. without context is different. Implications: Understanding that architecture and urbanism are not only about form, rules and geometries, but also about human experience in space requires a holistic approach to design in urban planning that need to take advantage of these new available tools. The intersection between AI (big-data access) and Neurosciences offers transformative potential for urban planning with the potential to reinvent the urban planning design process through valuable new tools. Value: The research contributes in an interdisciplinary architecture-psychology-medicine-mathematics manner to the understanding and the opportunities of Neurourbanism in the context of today's design process.