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ECOLOGICAL URBANISM: PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF VISUAL PERCEPTION OF MODERN ARCHITECTURE OF CITIES

Natalya Zvyagina, Assis. Potytkin Dmitriy

Abstract

Currently, 50% of the world's population lives in cities. It is expected that by 2030 the share of urban residents will increase to 60%, and in 2070 the total area of the urbanized area will reach 19 million km2. Relations between the urban environment and the resident of the city are multifaceted and complex. Requirements for the organization of life in the city, its comfort and convenience are constantly rising. Modern architecture should take into account all the parameters of a comfortable life of a person: environmental friendliness, economy, adequacy, light solutions, form convenience, aesthetics and emotions. The aesthetic component and appearance of cities is important. Most of the modern urban buildings are minimalist, gigantic in size and dominated by iron-concrete and glass structures. Such a city environment creates monotonous visible field, which is aggressive, if the same elements are repeated many times. Of particular interest are the physiological reactions of human organism in process of visual perception of modern urban space. The study involved 50 people aged 20 years. The experiment was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards. We monitored the parameters of eye movement, of indicators of brain bioelectric activity and activity of the autonomic nervous system during perception of city landscapes of various levels of visual comfort We have discovered an increase in the number and decrease in the time of saccades and fixations when viewing images of modern buildings that create a homogeneous and aggressive visible field. Such eye movements correspond to the work of the human visual system in the search mode: the eye scans the visual space, seeks new information (the result of evolutionary development), but the brain receives absolutely monotonous information. There is a discord - the active work of the eye and the lack of new information for the brain. Our studies have shown that this leads to a decrease in brain bioelectrical activity, even in the visual zones of the cortex of the cerebral hemispheres, the intensification of the activity of the subcortical structures of the brain responsible for the formation of the emotional component. A consequence of this is the activation of the sympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system. It has a mobilizing effect on all organism systems. This reaction of the human organism is characteristic of the state of stress. Permanent or prolonged exposure to stress agents leads to the formation of chronic stress and the development of pathological conditions. Urbanization will be truly ecofriendly, if the effects of exposure on human of homogeneous and aggressive visible fields will be taken into account when planning and creating an urban environment.

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