ABSTRACT

Traditional or vernacular architecture has generally been very effective at meeting people where they are, in an evolutionary sense. Successful urban planning and architecture of the future, embracing this science, will build with this in mind. The speakers wanted more, the audience wanted more; there was a thirst for spreading the word about this new and novel take on urban experience and design. A new vocabulary is needed for urban designers and planners. Urban Experience and Design: Contemporary Perspectives on Improving the Public Realm, has a nickname: Ux+Design. Ux is most widely known as an abbreviation for user experience, the vast and relatively new discipline that draws on psychology and neuroscience to improve a wide range of software, hardware and computer-driven virtual activities. Advances in neuroscience and psychology have changed our fundamental understanding of the relationship between the city and its inhabitants.