Urban Design, Public Spaces, and Social Cohesion
Public spaces can be an instrument to increase social cohesion, yet they are often underutilized. This paper presents findings from a randomized virtual reality experiment with more than 2,000 participants in Karachi, Pakistan. The paper investigates the relationship between urban design, willingness to use public spaces, and social cohesion. The findings show that exposure to a two-and-a-half-minute-long virtual reality experience featuring various urban design and social diversity elements has a statistically significant impact. In particular, improvements in the design of a public park through the virtual reality experience increased the park's perceived attractiveness and participants' willingness to use it. Exposure to diverse social groups in the virtual reality experience, by itself, had mixed impacts on social cohesion indicators such as trust and perception of and willingness to interact with outgroups. The impacts varied by ethnic affiliation, income, sex, and education level. This may be partly explained by the segregated nature of Karachi and the high prevalence of mistrust of outgroups. The paper illustrates how modern technology can be used as an effective, low-cost tool for diagnosing social phenomena, soliciting feedback about urban interventions for inclusive design, and promoting social contact.
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2020-09
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| Subjects: | VIRTUAL REALITY, PUBLIC SPACE, DIVERSITY, BEHAVIOR, URBAN DESIGN, SOCIAL CONTACT, |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/845321600708199915/Urban-Design-Public-Spaces-and-Social-Cohesion-Evidence-from-a-Virtual-Reality-Experiment https://hdl.handle.net/10986/34505 |
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| Summary: | Public spaces can be an instrument to
increase social cohesion, yet they are often underutilized.
This paper presents findings from a randomized virtual
reality experiment with more than 2,000 participants in
Karachi, Pakistan. The paper investigates the relationship
between urban design, willingness to use public spaces, and
social cohesion. The findings show that exposure to a
two-and-a-half-minute-long virtual reality experience
featuring various urban design and social diversity elements
has a statistically significant impact. In particular,
improvements in the design of a public park through the
virtual reality experience increased the park's
perceived attractiveness and participants' willingness
to use it. Exposure to diverse social groups in the virtual
reality experience, by itself, had mixed impacts on social
cohesion indicators such as trust and perception of and
willingness to interact with outgroups. The impacts varied
by ethnic affiliation, income, sex, and education level.
This may be partly explained by the segregated nature of
Karachi and the high prevalence of mistrust of outgroups.
The paper illustrates how modern technology can be used as
an effective, low-cost tool for diagnosing social phenomena,
soliciting feedback about urban interventions for inclusive
design, and promoting social contact. |
|---|