Assessing the Future Streetscape of Rimini Harbor Docks with Virtual Reality
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Creating Resilient Urbanism with Streetscape Design
- Improved aesthetic quality of urban spaces
- Improved environmental quality of urban spaces
- Reduction of pollutant emissions through the increase in green and permeable areas
- Increased user flow (residents and tourists) in areas that are currently poorly frequented
- Increased social well-being of the regenerated area.
1.2. Virtual Scene for Streetscape Assessment
2. Context and Architectural Data
2.1. Analysis of the Rimini Area
2.2. Virtual Scene Construction
- Highways and railroads: the model’s road and rail elements are created using the OpenStreetMap highway and rail databases.
- Buildings: the OpenStreetMap collection includes information about buildings.
- Images: Microsoft® Bing Maps satellite imagery is used to cover the model’s topography.
- Elevation: global terrain data are provided in Digital Elevation Models (DEM) of 10 and 30 m in resolution depending on the region of interest and its geographic location. Terrain data for the US and its territories are based on 10 m USGS DEM data from the National Elevation Dataset (NED). Between −60° and +60° latitudes, 30 m DEM SRTMGL1 data are utilized. For latitudes between + 60 and + 83 degrees, DEM ASTER GDEM v2 data with a resolution of 30 meters are utilized.
- Water: data on water bodies are derived from the OpenStreetMap dataset.
- A comparison between the real environment and virtual scene for the urban context in the reference scenario is illustrated in Video 1 www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGt6tZ7YvXI, accessed on 20 March 2023. We used Google Earth Studio to visualize the current real environment.
- Current situation in 2022: the virtual scene of the reference situation can be seen in Video 2 www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY7cNg0jIgs, accessed on 20 March 2023.
- The urban regeneration project representing the proposed future situation can be seen in Video 3 www.youtube.com/watch?v=2olh-JRaNr4, accessed on 20 March 2023.
2.3. Assessment of the Renovation Project
2.3.1. Which Features of Streetscape Impact the Public Experience?
- Sociality: the ability of people to communicate is a basic and fundamental kind of social interaction.
- Walkability: facilitation of mixed-use development (i.e., residential, commercial, institutional) where people can comfortably walk to services within a reasonable distance.
- Accessibility: improving access to the docks to increase their public usage.
- Intermodality: use of multimodal transportation by making its modalities easily accessible.
- Activities: intensify life on the docks by providing more activities.
- Aesthetics: contribute to the improvement of the natural landscape and effectively interact with the modern structure of urban territory (roads, spaces, and paths) within the landscape.
- Services and functions: provide leisure services such as bars, tourism, sports facilities, and outdoor activities.
- Connectivity: ensure that individuals can move easily between and within the central city and suburbs.
- Sustainable mobility: sharing services, use of cycling and pedestrian paths, ICT services.
- Safety: make sure public places and spaces are as safe and pleasant for people as possible.
2.3.2. Participatory Sustainable Design through an Online Questionnaire
3. Experimental Results
3.1. Sample Individuals
3.2. Realism of the Virtual Scene
3.3. Overview of the Comparison before and after Renovation
3.4. Life on the Docks
3.5. Services and Functions
3.6. Sociality
3.7. Walkability and Cyclability
Aesthetics and Atmosphere
4. Discussion and Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
Appendix A
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Question | Mean | SD | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 2 | Part 3 | |
In this place, I want to spend time. | 4.41 | 5.25 | 1.76 | 1.61 |
When I look at this place, I can project myself into its use. | 4.66 | 5.34 | 1.69 | 1.43 |
I think this is a good place to come and do sport. | 4.51 | 5.28 | 1.86 | 1.56 |
In this place, I know I will always find something nice to do. | 4.00 | 5.00 | 1.74 | 1.48 |
I think this place is ideal for resting or strolling. | 4.56 | 5.06 | 1.81 | 1.56 |
I think this is a good place to have a drink or a bite to eat. | 4.46 | 5.51 | 1.69 | 1.58 |
In this place, I want to get together with my friends or family. | 4.22 | 5.12 | 1.74 | 1.57 |
In this place I think I could meet people I know or don’t know. | 4.38 | 4.93 | 1.70 | 1.62 |
In this place, I want to ride my bike. | 3.94 | 4.56 | 2.02 | 1.93 |
I want to walk around this place. | 5.06 | 5.43 | 1.62 | 1.44 |
The circulation in this space seems fluid. | 4.31 | 5.12 | 1.93 | 1.58 |
I feel safe in this place. | 4.88 | 5.46 | 1.57 | 1.31 |
I can easily find my way around this place. | 5.54 | 5.60 | 1.23 | 1.17 |
I think this place is beautiful. | 4.38 | 4.90 | 1.91 | 1.77 |
This place is an invitation to dream. | 3.32 | 4.03 | 1.85 | 1.84 |
It is a pleasure for the eyes to look at this place. | 3.74 | 4.63 | 1.89 | 1.83 |
The atmosphere of this place is pleasant. | 4.41 | 4.97 | 1.72 | 1.63 |
I think this place has enough green space. | 3.24 | 4.16 | 1.92 | 1.83 |
When I look at this place, I can quickly see how to get to the edge of the water. | 5.22 | 5.34 | 1.45 | 1.41 |
Question | Mean | SD |
---|---|---|
Similarity between current situation and virtual reality | 4.09 | 1.50 |
Presence of green areas | 3.99 | 1.81 |
Bicycle spaces | 3.97 | 1.78 |
Ways to access the docks | 3.91 | 1.71 |
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Belaroussi, R.; Pazzini, M.; Issa, I.; Dionisio, C.; Lantieri, C.; González, E.D.; Vignali, V.; Adelé, S. Assessing the Future Streetscape of Rimini Harbor Docks with Virtual Reality. Sustainability 2023, 15, 5547. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065547
Belaroussi R, Pazzini M, Issa I, Dionisio C, Lantieri C, González ED, Vignali V, Adelé S. Assessing the Future Streetscape of Rimini Harbor Docks with Virtual Reality. Sustainability. 2023; 15(6):5547. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065547
Chicago/Turabian StyleBelaroussi, Rachid, Margherita Pazzini, Israa Issa, Corinne Dionisio, Claudio Lantieri, Elena Díaz González, Valeria Vignali, and Sonia Adelé. 2023. "Assessing the Future Streetscape of Rimini Harbor Docks with Virtual Reality" Sustainability 15, no. 6: 5547. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065547
APA StyleBelaroussi, R., Pazzini, M., Issa, I., Dionisio, C., Lantieri, C., González, E. D., Vignali, V., & Adelé, S. (2023). Assessing the Future Streetscape of Rimini Harbor Docks with Virtual Reality. Sustainability, 15(6), 5547. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065547