An Operational Definition of Affects in Urban Space in the Light of a Methodological Approach

Different urban areas provoke different reactions from people of various cultures. It is key in urban designing to realize the interrelationship of constructed environments and the emotional effects on human behavior. Related investigations are based on environmental psychology and social sciences. Therefore, there is a lack of appropriate evaluation methods in the field. Yet, the literature seriously lacks any systematic academic work or even review of the practical methodology. A valid objective evaluation process is required for public emotional reactions to urban spaces that seek to promote the development of urban areas and the relevant policy making. The purpose of this study is to provide an operational model for measuring emotions in urban spaces using qualitative analysis methods. This model can be a new human-centered approach that helps people from different areas of knowledge with a new layer of information (related to emotions) in the design and design process to solve the mental health problems of cities. For this purpose and research is applied in terms of its purpose and in terms of its nature and method, it is a multiple case study in a voluntary way. Theoretical literature and data collection are done in a library way, with documents. The first step in the present study was to conduct a review of research methods in environmental psychology, emotions. The next step was to do a qualitative content analysis of the newest 30 research projects with regard of their measurement instruments and methods. Based on this research the results revealed, five main stages for measuring emotions in urban space were identified and categorized and, finally, the process of measuring emotions in urban space was presented in the form of an operational model.