Physiological and psychological influence of multi-media in urban business districts

Abstract

• Visual media contents evenly distributed on the walkway facade constantly attract the attention of visitors and extend their visual engagement. • Visitors spend 71% of their time gazing at visual media that occupy only 31.4% of the walkway facade area. • The gaze time for visual media installed on outdoor walkways is 10% longer than that for visual media installed on indoor walkways. • Visitors feel 64.4% more comfortable with the visual-audio environment in indoor walkways than in outdoor walkways. • Visitors evaluate the video content with matching background music as the most comfortable combination scenario (top 1 out of 20). Understanding the complex interaction between human needs and physical facilities in public spaces remains a challenge given the knowledge gap in sustainable cities design and research. This study selected six typical urban business walkways to compare the physiological and psychological effects of a visual-audio environment dominated by visual media on visitors. A total of 180 visitors were randomly selected on 6 walkways to collect physiological and psychological data, and visual-audio environment data were collected in the matching location. Results show that visual media are the most attractive content type in the multi-media system of business walkways, and their attractiveness is evenly distributed among all visitors. This type of media also continuously extends the engagement of visitors during their visiting time. Specifically, visitors spend 71% of their time gazing at visual media that occupy only 31.4% of the walkway facade area. Visitors also stare at videos for a longer time compared with text and images. The different visual-audio interactions in the walkway have different effects on visitors’ eye movements. These visitors also have different evaluations between indoor and outdoor walkways. Specifically, visitors feel 64.4% more comfortable with the visual-audio environment in indoor walkways than in outdoor walkways. Visual-audio interaction has varying effects on visitors’ comfort. Combining images with sound elements generates positive feedback, and visitors feel comfortable when the video content matches the music. The types of music played in indoor and outdoor walkways lead to differences in the temporal variability of acoustic environments. The results of this work contribute to an optimized design of multi-media installed on different functional business district walkways, which in turn can enhance the attractiveness of urban business district areas and bring a comfortable experience to visitors.