Abstract

Problem statement:

Public spaces are an essential part of urban life, and their presence depends on human interaction. Research shows that environments with perceptual complexity stimulate the mind and increase the desire to be present. Multisensory design can enhance the quality of perception and sense of belonging to the space by simultaneously engaging the senses. Previous studies have focused more on specific spaces or historical environments and have mainly addressed only one or two senses. Therefore, other senses in urban spaces have received less attention. Understanding the landscape in an integrated way through all five senses can be more comprehensive.

Research objectives:

This research aims to investigate the multisensory components that shape the presence of urban spaces, their interrelationships, and their mutual effects. The main question of the study is how multisensory design can help enhance the presence of urban public spaces and which senses play the most significant role in this regard. The research hypothesis is that multisensory design increases presence by simultaneously stimulating multiple sensory modalities.

Research method:

The research strategy was to evaluate the relationship between the components of presence and the five senses across three urban spaces: Chitgar Lake, Baghrah, and Keshavarz Boulevard, using open-ended interviews with users.

Conclusion:

This research evaluated the relationship between the components of presence and the five senses through open interviews with users of three urban spaces: Chitgar Lake, Baghrah, and Keshavarz Boulevard, and showed that multisensory design plays a significant role in enhancing presence. The senses of sight and touch play the most critical roles; sight promotes vitality and physical quality, and touch promotes presence through its impact on thermal comfort. The equal and simultaneous understanding of these two senses increases the level of presence, and its effect is crystallized in the physical quality index. The sense of touch is more influential due to the nature of activities, including sports, and although vision is perceived more consciously, touch plays a more permanent role in the presence of space. The sense of taste has the smallest share of perception.