Psychometric assessment of visual enclosure and walkability in intermediate urban spaces through virtual reality
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Urban environments are complex systems influenced by spatial, visual, and functional factors. Walkability assessments often depend on subjective opinions and symmetric distance-to-height ratios, assuming that streets are framed by similar surfaces on both sides. This study used immersive virtual reality (VR) to examine visual enclosure in intermediate spaces, while maintaining a consistent stimulus for all participants and a 360° experience. Fifty-nine panoramas, taken at twenty stations along a 1.5 km route in Batna, Algeria, were converted into achromatic line images. Each station was coded for boundary type and two signed asymmetry indices, geometric and material. Ninety-six architecture students completed a twenty-item questionnaire at each station; fifteen items formed five reliable sub-scales, and the medium was widely accepted (92.7%). Participants reported both enclosure (80%) and openness (96%), which seemed to coexist, but rated legibility poorly. In an ordinal mixed model, greater permeability asymmetry between the two boundaries was linked to less favorable ratings (OR = 0.597, 95% CI 0.393–0.906), while geometric indicators were not; 3.5% of the variance was between stations. These exploratory findings, from a single route and a student sample, suggest that boundary permeability may deserve attention alongside height in street design, and that immersive assessment provides a practical way to study how urban space is experienced.
Source: Scientific Reports
Language: English
Subfield: Urban Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,690
OpenAlex ID: W7225772414
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