Team members: Yan Qian (yq2371) Mengyao Chen (mc4569) Xuyan Zhao (xz3269)
1. Introduction
As urban planners and designers, one of the most crucial elements to consider is how space is used and how people behave. In this project, we chose the steps of Low Plaza as the site for our investigation. We used infrared sensors, as well as temperature and humidity sensors, to count people’s sitting behavior in different microenvironments. After gathering and evaluating the appropriate data, we intend to make recommendations to students about the optimal time and spots to sit on the steps.
2. Approaches
We aim to collect data for this study from two key sources: environmental changes and human behavior. Temperature and humidity sensors allow us to collect temperature and weather conditions (whether or not it rains) on various days. Using infrared sensors, we intend to measure people’s flow and the number of people sitting on the steps on the corresponding dates, divide the number of people sitting on the steps by the total number of people to obtain a ratio, combine this ratio with the environmental data on the corresponding dates, analyze it, and arrive at a final result.
3. Insights
For instructor:
Designers and planners intended to choose a small, rather congested space within the university, i.e. (Small Plaza), and make conclusions based on monitoring people’s behavior in various settings. This means that by analyzing current facilities and combining them with past data, we can create appropriate recommendations for people with similar requirements and intents in the future. And using the result to assist future design and decision-making.
For public:
Collecting and evaluating this data allows us to reasonably estimate when the location will fulfill people’s usage needs, such as conversing with friends or sunbathing. Assist those who wish to go to the location to analyze previous data and make a decision. For example, should we detour if there are too many people? When the weather is poor, should we go or not? What is the best position to sit in different weather conditions?