Michal Gath-Morad

Chenxi Wang, Haining Ding, Michal Gath-Morad

Buildings shape how people feel, yet the mechanisms through which specific facade properties drive affective states remain empirically underspecified. Here we introduce the Cambridge Facade Affect Dataset (CFAD), 86 orthogonally rectified facade images annotated with continuous arousal and valence ratings from 85 participants, and establish a validated pipeline linking machine-vision-derived surface metrics to human affective responses. Focusing on three quantifiable attributes, complexity, transparency (window-to-wall ratio), and materiality (proportion of natural versus artificial surface composition), we show that perceived complexity is the dominant affective predictor, with significant positive associations for both arousal (beta = 0.507, p < 0.001) and valence (beta = 0.376, p < 0.001) and a curvilinear amplification at higher complexity levels. Transparency exhibits an inverted-U relationship with valence, while increasing surface artificiality suppresses arousal and reduces pleasantness consistent with biophilic response theory. Critically, machine-derived metrics show limited direct predictive power over affective outcomes; mediation analyses reveal that human perceptual evaluation functions as a necessary intermediate layer, with perceived materiality significantly mediating the machine-valence relationship (indirect effect = -0.205, p = 0.003). Cross-context validation demonstrates moderate stability of complexity and materiality ratings across image-based and in-situ conditions, while affective responses, particularly valence, exhibit significant context-dependence (ICC = 0.332). These findings advance facade research from descriptive morphological analysis toward predictive, perception-grounded modelling, and provide an empirically validated basis for affect-informed design of the urban environment.

Haining Ding, Chenxi Wang, Michal Gath-Morad

Cycling is reported by an average of 35\% of adults at least once per week across 28 countries, and as vulnerable road users directly exposed to their surroundings, cyclists experience the street at an intensity unmatched by other modes. Yet the street-level features that shape this experience remain under-analysed, particularly in historical urban contexts where spatial constraints rule out large-scale infrastructural change and where typological context is often overlooked. This study develops a perception-led, typology-based, and data-integrated framework that explicitly models street typologies and their sub-classifications to evaluate how visual and spatial configurations shape cycling experience. Drawing on the Cambridge Cycling Experience Video Dataset (CCEVD), a first-person and handlebar-mounted corpus developed in this study, we extract fine-grained streetscape indicators with computer vision and pair them with built-environment variables and subjective ratings from a Balanced Incomplete Block Design (BIBD) survey, thereby constructing a typology-sensitive Bikeability Index that integrates subjective and perceived dimensions with physical metrics for segment-level comparison. Statistical analysis shows that perceived bikeability arises from cumulative, context-specific interactions among features. While greenness and openness consistently enhance comfort and pleasure, enclosure, imageability, and building continuity display threshold or divergent effects contingent on street type and subtype. AI-assisted visual redesigns further demonstrate that subtle, targeted changes can yield meaningful perceptual gains without large-scale structural interventions. The framework offers a transferable model for evaluating and improving cycling conditions in heritage cities through perceptually attuned, typology-aware design strategies.

Jascha Grübel, Tyler Thrash, Leonel Aguilar et al.

Smart Cities already surround us, and yet they are still incomprehensibly far from directly impacting everyday life. While current Smart Cities are often inaccessible, the experience of everyday citizens may be enhanced with a combination of the emerging technologies Digital Twins (DTs) and Situated Analytics. DTs represent their Physical Twin (PT) in the real world via models, simulations, (remotely) sensed data, context awareness, and interactions. However, interaction requires appropriate interfaces to address the complexity of the city. Ultimately, leveraging the potential of Smart Cities requires going beyond assembling the DT to be comprehensive and accessible. Situated Analytics allows for the anchoring of city information in its spatial context. We advance the concept of embedding the DT into the PT through Situated Analytics to form Fused Twins (FTs). This fusion allows access to data in the location that it is generated in an embodied context that can make the data more understandable. Prototypes of FTs are rapidly emerging from different domains, but Smart Cities represent the context with the most potential for FTs in the future. This paper reviews DTs, Situated Analytics, and Smart Cities as the foundations of FTs. Regarding DTs, we define five components (Physical, Data, Analytical, Virtual, and Connection environments) that we relate to several cognates (i.e., similar but different terms) from existing literature. Regarding Situated Analytics, we review the effects of user embodiment on cognition and cognitive load. Finally, we classify existing partial examples of FTs from the literature and address their construction from Augmented Reality, Geographic Information Systems, Building/City Information Models, and DTs and provide an overview of future direction