Seeing the city: using eye-tracking technology to explore cognitive responses to the built environment

Context continually influences cognition and behavior, whether walking down a quiet rural street or a busy city. Research in urban design and placemaking argues that different urban environments might impact dynamic mental states, providing a framework to empirically test the role of context. Our hypotheses are that distinct contexts can influence eye movements of an individual on the unconscious level. We found that certain urban environments were associated with more positive reactions around likelihood to spend time in the place and sense that the place makes the subject feel relaxed. These environments are representative of new urbanist principles and suggest that these types of designs can provoke important cognitive responses, over more conventional urban designs.