Urban Emotion Sensing Beyond ‘Affective Capture’: Advancing Critical Interdisciplinary Methods

Jessica Pykett, Benjamin W. Chrisinger, Kalliopi Kyriakou, Tess Osborne, Bernd Resch, Afroditi Stathi and Anna C. Whittaker
Additional contact information
Jessica Pykett: School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston B15 2TT, UK
Benjamin W. Chrisinger: Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 2ER, UK
Kalliopi Kyriakou: Department of Public Health Sciences, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, 3584 CM Utrecht, The Netherlands
Tess Osborne: Population Research Centre, Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen, 9700 Groningen, The Netherlands
Bernd Resch: Department of Geoinformatics, University of Salzburg, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
Afroditi Stathi: School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston B15 2TT, UK
Anna C. Whittaker: Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 23, 1-22

Abstract: The use of mobile sensor methodologies in urban analytics to study ‘urban emotions’ is currently outpacing the science required to rigorously interpret the data generated. Interdisciplinary research on ‘urban stress’ could help inform urban wellbeing policies relating to healthier commuting and alleviation of work stress. The purpose of this paper is to address—through methodological experimentation—ethical, political and conceptual issues identified by critical social scientists with regards to emotion tracking, wearables and data analytics. We aim to encourage more dialogue between the critical approach and applied environmental health research. The definition of stress is not unambiguous or neutral and is mediated by the very technologies we use for research. We outline an integrative methodology in which we combine pilot field research using biosensing technologies, a novel method for identifying ‘moments of stress’ in a laboratory setting, psychometric surveys and narrative interviews on workplace and commuter stress in urban environments.

Keywords: biosensing; mobile methods; urban wellbeing; interdisciplinarity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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