Streets as experienced through the body, mind, and screen: The smartphone and the pedestrian's engagement with an urban public space

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of smartphone use on the embodied experiences of pedestrians in urban public spaces. Participants in this study engaged in leisure walks in a bustling urban environment. The study employed a multi-sensory, multi-modal data collection approach, which incorporated mobile eye tracking, screen capture, think-aloud, and participant data review. Findings revealed dynamic relationships between the urban pedestrians’ embodied experiences (“streets as experienced through the body”), digital content (“streets on the screen”), and spatial knowledge (“streets in the mind”). The study explored the “unfolding” practice between multiple versions of the surrounding environment and sheds light on the complex interplay of cognitive, experiential, and digital inputs in shaping pedestrian actions. Moreover, the study uncovers the paradoxical effects of smartphone usage and introduces both serendipity and familiarity into the pedestrian's journey through public spaces. Further, the implications of this research highlight the need for mobile media studies to embrace “messy” and “noisy” data for a more comprehensive understanding of the interconnections between minds, bodies, places, and mobilities.