Active transportation and the emotion-stress-health link: virtual reality for assessing perceptual responses by pedestrians and bicyclists to the built environment

Abstract

Active transportation has been recognized to promote environmental and physical wellbeing of people. However, demand for active modes (walking and bicycling) – which require physical effort, take longer, but may be free to use – is insufficiently understood. This project aims at building a highfidelity virtual-reality simulator that will allow for running experiments with controlled dynamic (traffic composition and flow, pedestrian density and flow) and static (infrastructure) conditions to analyze the emotional response to active transportation. In a follow up study we expect to identify factors associated with positive feelings that can be used to encourage adoption of active transportation as well as stressinducing conditions that deter potential users.