Evaluation of Walkable Spaces through Multi-Sensory Urban Experience

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Abstract

This study investigates how walkability variables and sensory experience affect each other. In order to carry out the investigation, discussions of both movement and sensory perception of space were carried out. The Commented Walk method, one of the Mobile Methods, was used as a methodological approach to gauge the multisensory perception experience of the interviewees. The degree of walkability was measured using parameters obtained from existing literature. Four locations were selected in Istanbul and analyzed multidimensionally through the lenses of walkability and sensory experience. To support the analyses made of the spaces’ physical components, it was determined that the results obtained by measuring the individual’s original experience could be used to effectively define that space’s character. The analyses revealed that examining the space through walkability parameters was not sufficient to explain the users’ perception of sensory stimuli. Ensuring movement continuity and a comfortable walking route allowed for an experience of spatial diversity as well as the perception of fragmented stimuli.