Ubiquitous computing technologies and an array of readily available sensors provide urban researchers with access to data acquisition and analysis tools related to the built environment. This paper presents the possibility of utilizing sensor data from a wearable eye-tracker to analyze human attention patterns when navigating urban environments. This is the outcome of a series of experiments conducted by students and researchers at the GSD Responsive Environments and Artifacts Lab in the spring of 2015. Through a comparative study of the test subjects' eye gaze data during a street walk and post-walk mapping exercise, this research shows and compares several layers of inconsistency: the difference between what exists in the built environment and what is seen, the portion of existing information that is both taken in through the eye (as determined by our eye tracking software) and what is remembered or processed into memory. An additional metric is drawn from the maps produced by the subjects, showing the elements that are remembered from prior experiences and those that pertain specifically to the testing period. These inconsistencies provide detailed clues when reexamined against Kevin Lynch's urban "imageability" studies of the individual: not only accounting for what leaves an impression on people's mind, but also allowing the opportunity to analyze why certain urban elements are more relevant than others.
['Allen Sayegh', 'Stefano Andreani', 'Lezhi Li', 'Jake Rudin', 'Xiaodi Yan']
A New Method for Urban Spatial Analysis: Measuring Gaze, Attention, and Memory in the Built Environment