The Impact of Built Enclosure of Urban Space on Pedestrian Expereience

Abstract

The design quality of physical surroundings has an impact on how users behave, the user here is the pedestrian. Urban design literature suggests that the enclosure of urban space can impact the way a space is perceived by the pedestrian and their experience through it. This study aims at understanding what kind of influence, if any, urban enclosure has on a pedestrian moving through a space? To understand this two case studies of Jaipur market streets with different kinds of built enclosures are studied and the experience of pedestrians through them is analyzed. The methodology of the study is both quantitative and qualitative. In quantitative, a study of the built enclosure is carried out through quantification of different parameters that has an impact on pedestrian experience, and in qualitative, the pedestrians are interviewed about their experience through the street. The quantitative data has been obtained from on-site observations and mapping. This data is then analyzed for different parameters of the space, a few analysis maps are generated by space syntax. Through the study it was found that difference in the enclosure of an urban space impact the pedestrian experience through the space. This study finally proves how sense of safety and comfort are directly propoertional to the height-to-width ratio of the urbans space. This study can act as one of the many steps towards understanding how different enclosures of urban space can affect a pedestrian and can help in making important design decisions while designing an urban space inside a city, moving forward to a more human-oriented design.