On the Validity of Immersive Virtual Reality as Tool for Multisensory Evaluation of Urban Spaces

Abstract The Europe2020 document indicates a new strategy to turn EU into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy. At local level urban planning policies may help to reach these aims. Several research works proposed the Immersive Virtual Reality as tool to evaluate the effectiveness of these interventions. Nevertheless people's perception within virtual environments still needs to be verified. In this study, two groups of participants had to provide subjective measures related to the global, acoustic and visual quality of a real environment or of a multisensory reproduced version in Immersive Virtual Reality. Outcomes highlight the ecological effectiveness of this multisensory tool.

[1]  G. Brambilla,et al.  Responses to noise in urban parks and in rural quiet areas , 2006 .

[2]  Johannes Parlindungan Siregar,et al.  Assessment of Public Space Quality Using Good Public Space Index (Case Study of Merjosari Sub District, Municipality of Malang, Indonesia)☆ , 2014 .

[3]  Luigi Maffei,et al.  Merging physical parameters and laboratory subjective ratings for the soundscape assessment of urban squares. , 2013, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[4]  Massimiliano Masullo,et al.  The influence of visual characteristics of barriers on railway noise perception. , 2013, The Science of the total environment.

[5]  D. Dubois,et al.  A cognitive approach to urban soundscapes : Using verbal data to access everyday life auditory categories , 2006 .

[6]  Jürgen Döllner,et al.  Immersive Visualization of Virtual 3D City Models and its Applications in E-Planning , 2012 .

[7]  David Whitaker,et al.  The importance of auditory-visual interaction in the construction of ‘tranquil space’ , 2010 .

[8]  Miguel Ángel Artacho-Ramírez,et al.  Exploratory Study of the Influence of the Sensory Channel in Perception of Environments , 2014 .

[9]  Ismail Said,et al.  Integrating the Community in Urban Design and Planning of Public Spaces: A Review in Malaysian Cities , 2015 .

[10]  Luigi Maffei,et al.  Perspective of the soundscape approach as a tool for urban space design , 2010 .

[11]  Massimiliano Masullo,et al.  The Effects of Vision-Related Aspects on Noise Perception of Wind Turbines in Quiet Areas , 2013, International journal of environmental research and public health.

[12]  Enrique Alcántara Alcover,et al.  EXPLORATORY STUDY OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE SENSORY CHANNEL IN PERCEPTION OF ENVIRONMENTS , 2014 .

[13]  Matthew Carmona,et al.  Public Space: The Management Dimension , 2008, Public Space Reader.

[14]  Massimiliano Masullo,et al.  Immersive virtual reality and environmental noise assessment: An innovative audio-visual approach , 2013 .

[15]  Massimiliano Masullo,et al.  Individual reactions to a multisensory immersive virtual environment: the impact of a wind farm on individuals , 2012, Cognitive Processing.

[16]  Massimiliano Masullo,et al.  Electric Vehicles and Urban Noise Control Policies , 2015 .