1,721,037 research outputs found
Unveiling pedestrian injury risk factors through integration of urban contexts using multimodal deep learning
No full textThis study aimed to identify contributing risk factors for pedestrian injury by integrating socio-spatial and streetlevel contexts through multimodal deep learning to overcome the limitations of existing studies that only consider one type of data. To investigate how the two contexts assist in describing pedestrian injury risk, six multimodal deep learning models were established by varying the ratio integrating the two contexts. The developed model with the highest performance was interpreted by using two XAI methods: SHAP for sociospatial context and Grad-CAM for street-level context. The results indicated that the street-level context mainly contributes to the pedestrian injury risk level, assisted by the socio-spatial context, which cannot be captured at the street-level. The three main contributing risk factors were identified through model interpretation: the fragmented sky view due to the locations of high-rise buildings, the placement of crosswalks in areas adjacent to public transits, and interregional sociodemographic disparities. This study provides insight into the use of integrating two different urban contexts to identify pedestrian injury risk factors, which are expected to support improvement strategies that enhance public health.
Where Would the Elderly Walk?: Identifying Preferred Built Environments of the Elderly According to the Activity Purpose
No full textStreets, Are They Safe to Walk?: Evaluating Street Safety from Fall Hazards Using Computer Vision
No full textGeriatri-City: Aging Playfully in Seoul
No full textThe world is aging. By 2050, more than 20% of the world’s population will be over 60 years. With such population aging, the health of the elderly population becomes a critical factor determining their quality of life and contribution to society.
Health is defined as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” by the World Health Organization. While a significant number of studies provide ways to improve the health of the elderly population, many of them focus on the physical activities and health of the individuals. While improved physical activities and health are critical for their health, mental health and social well-being of the elderly population are also critical to support healthy aging. Furthermore, a significant proportion of aged 65 and older Americans are considered socially isolated and report feeling lonely, emphasizing the importance of mental and social health along with the physical health of the elderly population.
Leisure activities, such as hobbies, sports, socializing, and volunteering, are found to have physical, mental, and social health benefits by a growing body of research. According to a recent framework, leisure activities improve the health of individuals through psychological, biological, social, and behavioral processes at multiple levels (Fancourt et al., 2021). For instance, leisure activities support cognitive learning, biologically activate individuals’ physical conditions, promote individuals to be socially active, and to be engaged in healthy behaviors. However, unfortunately, a significant proportion of the elderly population does not have awareness and access to healthy leisure activities in our communities.
This study addresses the following questions: are communities providing various types and spaces to perform healthy leisure activities to the elderly population? How can we design healthier communities where the elderly population can be physically, mentally, and socially active through healthy leisure activities?
To answer such questions, this study investigates the city of Seoul in South Korea where the aging population is highly populated, as a case study of a fast-aging metropolitan area. This study analyzes and evaluates the distribution and accessibility of leisure facilities in urban settings of Seoul using GIS and Space Syntax methods. Also, to understand the patterns of leisure activities of the elderly population, National Leisure Activity Survey is analyzed. Furthermore, the relationships between spatial attributes of the leisure facilities and leisure activity patterns will be provided.
The results of this study will provide preliminary design strategies that could promote healthy leisure activities of the elderly population through the design of the communities in the context of a high-density metropolis area. As the World Health Organization states, physical and social environments of communities can provide more opportunities for the elderly population to be active physically, mentally, and socially. The results of this study are expected to illustrate ways to provide such opportunities through the design of the communities
A Conceptual Visibility Framework for Linking Spatial Metrics With Experience and Organizational Outcomes
No full textVisibility enables or prohibits healthcare professionals' ability to monitor, control, or manage situations in healthcare settings. Visibility has a significant impact on patient safety, including patient fall rates and mortality rates, and on the performance of healthcare professionals, including situational awareness and communication. This article provides a conceptual visibility framework synthesizing visibility analysis models, tools, and metrics. The framework uses four dimensions that capture the experiential phenomena of users, such as visual relationships between specific sets of users/targets, how the orientation of the seeing entity changes visibility patterns, and the unequal visibility levels of seeing and being seen. The framework particularly focuses on how the layout and the resulting patterns of visibility reflect and influence the user experience and organizational functions. By illustrating the similarities and differences of various models in the framework according to the dimensions, this article describes how various visibility analysis models, tools, and metrics can be applied to design and research.
Using Design to Keep the Frontline Healthcare Workers Safe during a Pandemic: A Research-Based Approach
No full textAs the current outbreak of Coronavirus Disease continues to affect the countries worldwide, addressing the needs of frontline healthcare workers (HCW) has become a high priority. During the 2014 Ebola outbreak, the doffing of personal protective equipment (PPE) and activities in the doffing area were identified as one of the biggest challenges for HCW's safety. In response, the importance of environmental design has become more evident. In response to the 2014 Ebola outbreak, the CDC updated their guidance on PPE donning and doffing, in which they emphasized the importance of BCU design. Recent studies have found that the doffing area's design can support a safer process by reducing self- and cross-contamination risk. However, as many patient-care sites are often adapted for biocontainment use to address the patient surge, there is significant variability in the doffing area's design. The efficiency of such various design layouts remains unclear.
In this presentation, we will provide examples of doffing area design and illustrate ways to evaluate the various design layouts from the users' perspective and implications to their safety. We will define the different roles of healthcare workers in the doffing area, namely the doffing healthcare workers (DHCW) and the Trained Observer (TO), and discuss their specific spatial requirements. We will then explain how different configurations may impact DHCWs' doffing performance. For instance, the DHCW needs to have access to critical items within arm's reach, but at the same time enough maneuvering clearance around their designated doffing spot to minimize the risk of unexpected cross-contamination to the environment. On the other hand, the trained observer needs to have visibility of the DHCW at all times and a designated working area.
Our findings reveal performance scores of several doffing area configurations and demonstrate the method that can be used for design, evaluation, and comparison of layouts when choosing between options. Finally, we will discuss the design strategies that designers can employ to improve communication between HCWs, reduce the cognitive and physical load, and, ultimately, enhance the HCWs' safety during the doffing process. These strategies should be considered for implementation in both current and future doffing spaces and non-traditional patient-care sites where PPE doffing occurs
Measuring Interpersonal Visual Relationships in Healthcare Facilities: The Agent Visibility Model and SAVisualPower Tool
No full textVisibility has a significant impact on health-related outcomes and experiences of users in healthcare settings. Built environments determine interpersonal visual relationships between users and control their ability to see (or be seen by) others. Despite this importance, metrics that fully and precisely describe these interpersonal visual relationships are lacking. In this article, we introduce the Agent Visibility Analysis Model and the SAVisualPower software, which enable person-centric visibility analysis for quantifying visual relationships both among users and between users and visual targets. The model precisely captures users' visibility by reflecting the orientation of users and by differentiating visual contents of the users-space, other users, and targets. By providing practical examples of the new model using layouts from previous studies, this article describes specific visibility metrics that can be analyzed by the new tool and how the tool can be applied to design and research in healthcare settings for improved user experiences.
How Do Students Use the Outdoor Space on Campus? a Case Study on a Campus Design and Its Relation to Outdoor Activities
No full textThe number of college students suffering from psychological problems is a growing issue. For instance, 41.6% of college students are concerning anxiety, and 35.8% of students are experiencing depression (American Psychological Association, 2013). Recent studies have found that physical environments can promote physical activity and the health of users. For instance, attractive public open space encourages various users to enjoy physical activities and social communications, and poor building surroundings are more likely to increase the depression rates of the residents. A college campus is not only a setting for teaching and learning but also a living space where students live for several years. Students study, eat, play, sleep, and exercise, spending significant hours on campus. Furthermore, recent studies have reported that the physical environments of campus play critical roles in students’ physical and mental health. However, the importance of campus design is usually neglected compared to personal treatment (Baum & Fisher, 2014). Therefore, this study aims to identify design strategies and attributes that could encourage physical and social activities of college students on campus, which in turn will improve their health.
Using a higher education college campus in South Korea as a case study, this study investigates design attributes affecting college students’ physical and social activities on campus, especially focusing on the outdoor spaces. This study uses a mixed-method approach to demonstrate what characteristics affect students’ preference for the spaces.
Users’ experiences and opinions regarding campus outdoor environments are investigated by interviews and surveys. College students, including undergraduate and graduate students, were asked how often they use outdoor spaces, why they use those spaces and how much they are satisfied with the outdoor spaces. Simultaneously, the physical attributes of the outdoor environments are analyzed and quantified using various spatial analysis tools, including Space Syntax and GIS. This process is expected to find a correlation between students’ perception of the outdoor space and its physical elements. The data will be gathered and visualized in GIS and it will be analyzed using multiple statistical analysis methods. The process aims to find the relationships between students’ experiences and characteristics of campus outdoor spaces.
Based on this result, the status quo of outdoor environments for students will be organized and the design strategy for improvement will be suggested. The findings of this study are expected to contribute to improving students’ physical and mental health through the design of the college campus
Physiological and Mental Factors for Health Designs Associated with Underground Spaces: What New Criteria Do People Need to Improve the Negative Perception of People Who Want to Live in Underground Areas?
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