How are our emotions affected by the environment?

Abbeydale Picture House elicited positive emotional responses

Do you cross the street when you see a bunch of hoodies? Do you change your route to work so that you can walk past a nice green park, or an interesting building?

A group of Sheffield researchers has been studying how people's emotional responses change depending on their environment.

Geographer Sarah Murphy is doing the research for the Sheffield-based company Cadence Works. The survey, commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to learn more about how people relate to other people in their local community, found that shopkeepers on Abbeydale Road in Sheffield feel that the sense of community is disappearing from the area.

The researchers have put videos of various 'hoodie scenarios' on their website. Take part in the study.

"We want to know what makes some places better to live in than others," said Sarah. "Our findings should be relevant to all sorts of areas - designing sustainable and liveable neighbourhoods, transport and urban planning, young people's facilities, neighbourhood safety and community cohesion."

"Residents from the London Road and Abbeydale Road areas took part in Emotion Mapping walks in Autumn 2009," explains Sarah.

"They wore a device on their finger which sends an electrical signal into the skin and measures sweat levels triggered by environmental factors.

"These could be anything - nice smells from restaurants on London Road, seeing a friend across the street, or maybe a gang of young people , or a scary dog, interesting architecture, crossing a busy road - and so on.

"Abbeydale Picture House showed up as particularly interesting to people on the Emotion Mapping walks and they were very positive about the new school at Mount Pleasant which suggests that investing in good quality facilities in neighbourhoods has a positive effect on people's well-being and attitudes to where they live," says Sarah."

The researchers produced maps showing emotional responses at different points on the walk

GPS device to map emotional responses

The Emotion Mapping device was invented by artist and designer Christian Nold.

"It's linked to a GPS so that we can match the route with the emotional responses," says Sarah.

"All the information goes on a map so you can see the levels of emotion at various points along the route."

Residents from Abbeydale Road and London Road were asked questions about where they live, and their responses were interpreted by Surrey University's Psychology Department.

Results of the survey

Researcher Sarah Murphy says several interesting themes recurred in the interviews with shopkeepers on Abbeydale Road:

"The empty shops are really seen as a problem. Shopkeepers say they look ugly and deter people from using the road as a centre for shopping. They talked about anti-social behaviour problems, especially in the Sharrow area, although many also felt that the area has improved and said there wasn't much for young people round here and that more youth clubs may give them something better to do than hanging about on corners.

Participants were given GPS devices to plot where they walked

"Several shop keepers celebrated the diversity of different cultures along the road and especially the range of different cuisines.

"Many felt it was difficult for new businesses to set up along the road and thrive though, and there were lots of examples of nice shops, cafes and restaurants which only lasted a few months before having to close."

Community spirit

Sarah says there were some particularly strong community bonds, naming the annual festival in Millhouses Park and various church events as central to these.

"There was a very strong sense of community amongst lots of the shopkeepers. Some trade their skills with each other instead of paying for jobs - 'If I do jobs for next door I don't get paid in money, I get paid in buns!' said one."

Unfortunately, a prominent issue was the feeling that Abbeydale Road is just a means to an end and people tend to use it only to travel to the large supermarkets at either end.

"Many shopkeepers think people are no longer inclined to stop in the shops but simply want to get along Abbeydale Road as quickly as possible."

The theory that supermarkets kill off small shops, and with them a sense of community, is a common one - and Sarah says that one of the people she spoke to had proof of this when it snowed:

"One shopkeeper said his business rocketed during the snow in January 2010. They had loads of customers walking to the shop because they couldn't drive to Tesco."

Sheffield University's Geography Department is mapping changes in demographics, transport use and perceptions of anti-social behaviour along the length of Abbeydale Road over several decades.

Hoodies or goodies?