Application of open source hardware and software in assessing the varying levels of perceived safety in cities

Abstract

Although planning is said to be done targeting the people, plan-making processes in most instances are dominated by top-down approaches, giving very little regard to how people perceive or feel about the cities they live in. The perceptions or ‗emotions‘ urban areas trigger, and how these cause behavioural changes reflect the implications of planning and decision making upon them. Prior studies indicate that environmental factors are capable of triggering affective reactions in people. Thus, throughout the course of this study, it was attempted to understand how environmental factors affected University students‘ perceptions of safety, which were quantified on the basis of emotions, i.e. the calmness or stress felt, and walking speeds. Data on emotional states were captured in real-time by a technically-sound, low-cost device assembled using Free and Open Source Software and hardware. The study demarcated the areas perceived to be ‗safe‘ and ‗un-safe‘ by people, and ranked them based on their perceived safety. The reasons for this classification were then identified. The results concluded that the factors in the environment affected people‘s emotional states and walking speeds, as people walked faster in areas regarded as ‗unsafe‘ and slower in areas regarded as ‗safe‘. The data also explained the difference between the behaviour of males and females, when perceived safety was concerned, during different times of the day. This study introduced the chance to identify unconscious emotional reactions of people, which can be served as useful inputs for urban planning. Furthermore, the study will confirm the value of the real-time sensing device as a tool beyond traditional methods in