Connect: Citizens, City, Environment — Sensory Research for App Development

Abstract

The city scape offers a unique place to use mobile media to foster pro-environmental behavior through connecting citizens, to city, to their urban environment. The studies presented here are the start to a series of research studies that will guide the development of a mobile application aiming to foster dialog and action through the presentation of technical data, lived experiences, and community connections within urban nature. Social network theory is used in the presented studies to conceptualize the connections and influences among people and nature. The first study identifies the components of four mobile applications assisting in connecting and influencing citizen behavior toward their environment and each other. The second study identifies citizen’s lived, sensory experiences in urban nature and ways a mobile app could support the sharing of these experiences and spur pro-environmental action. As of this printing, these studies are still in progress. The author will present recommendations for app development based on duel interpretations of the studies at the When the City Meets the Citizen workshop.