ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the multiple meanings of phenomenology of human interaction and the current effect of computer automation in urban and built environments.
The concept of human interactivity with built environments is as old as civilization. However, in our age of integrated media technology and communication the spatial dynamics of urban settings have evolved through multiple facets of interactivity. These factors have augmented the manners in which and reasons why citizens interact, and the possibilities for interactivity with and within urban settings.
This chapter researches the roots and reasons for human interaction with urban settings, and the ways technology has augmented and enhanced these reasons to higher levels of sophistication. Examples include assisting physically challenged users and developing sensory stimulants and sentiments, including environmental cognizance. The chapter not only surveys the origin and multiple facets of the concept of interactivity, but also enquires into the impacts and psychological effects of the human and computer interaction with built environments.
To analyze promulgating concepts in the design of the current architectural environments, this chapter looks at findings in the history and theory of the built environments with respect to interactivity. It considers major elements, and the implications of population density on the interactivity before and after the application of various means of computational automation. It also expands on the design implications of built forms with respect to phenomenology as the interpretative study of human experience, and interactivity as the core objective.
