Disgust sensitivity and perceptions of urban density and densification

Purpose: This paper examines whether urban density perceptions are associated with disgust. Understanding variation in density perceptions is important as densification is increasingly proposed as an urban intervention due to growing awareness of the impacts of climate change and sprawl.Design/Methodology/Approach: The study was conducted in a decision science laboratory, with participants responding to two visual preference surveys and two narrative scenarios. Participants’ disgust sensitivity was empirically assessed using the revised disgust scale (DS-R), a questionnaire widely used to measure disgust. The research question is whether there is an association between disgust and density perceptions. The paper draws on historical examples to argue that disgust is conceptually relevant to attitudes towards density. Findings: The results show statistically significant associations between disgust and some density measures. Participants with higher disgust sensitivity found the highest density images shown significantly less appealing and found less crowded outdoor settings more appealing. This suggests that settings involving high densities or a feeling of crowding may elicit more negative responses from those with higher disgust sensitivity. The paper concludes that disgust may be an overlooked consideration for urban planners, designers and policymakers. Originality: There has been little study of the relationship between disgust and density perceptions. The findings serve as a call for further research on how emotions, including disgust, affect responses to density and other built environment features. Too little attention has been given to emotions’ role in urban planning and design and these fields can benefit from greater dialogue with insights from psychology and the behavioural sciences.