Post-Occupancy Evaluations

In a current project in New York, I focus on the analysis of several types of digital footprints to understand the evolution of presence and movements of visitors in lower Manhattan. The study particularly targets the impact of the New York Waterfalls exhibit in that area. I use these digital footprints to reveal the variations in spatial presence and abnormal patterns of temporal presence over the course of a 2 years period. In addition to these quantitative analysis, I use qualitative observations on site to gain insights on the behaviors that lead to the generation of the footprints.

Dan Hill takes a very similar mixed (quantiative+qualitative) approach at Arup to exploit behavioral information to better inform the urban design decisions. City Information Models fed with significant data on actual use can help perform new types of “Post-Occupancy Evaluations” often overlooked in the practice of urban design. He exemplifies this use of multiple perspectives in analyzing the spatial usage patterns in a post-occupancy evaluations of public wi-fi. The objective of this methodology is not only to perform subsequent adaptations on the design object (classic approach in software design) but also to reuse the lessons learned as input of other projects.

Relation to my thesis: The recent availability of digital footprint creates an opportunity to perform new types of Post-Occupancy Evaluations. These quantitative data help reveal the emerging and abnormal behaviors, confirming assumptions and raise questions. The use a qualitative angle then can help explain phenomenon revealed by the quantitative analysis. Beyond my thesis, I expect to apply this type of mixed approach in the future. Strangely enough, I have not seen many works going in that direction to the exception (to some extends) of Cityware (see Mapping, sensing and visualising the digital arena) linked to the Space Syntax approach.