The Urban Attitudes Lab studies the land use, environmental, and psychological dimensions of urban planning, design, and public policy practice.  Through the use of sophisticated data acquisition tools, sentiment analysis, qualitative research, eye-tracking technology, and conventional psychological tools, the UAL is advancing knowledge and developing new tools to improve planning and policy.  Three key books have been published by the UAL: Urban Social Listening: Potential and Pitfalls for Using Microblogging Data in Studying Cities (Palgrave/Springer) and Cognitive Architecture: Designing for How We Respond to the Built Environment (Routledge), and Urban Experience and Design: Contemporary Perspectives on Improving the Public Realm (Routledge).

The Urban Attitudes Lab is directed by Prof. Justin Hollander.

We presented early findings of our examination of social media data at the Tufts University’s “Research Day on Data Science“.  Our work was also presented at the peer-reviewed National Science Foundation sponsored symposium “Workshop on Big Data and Urban Informatics” in Chicago, and since at numerous other professional and scholarly conferences.

Early funding for the Urban Attitudes Lab was provided by the Tufts University Office of the Vice Provost for Research through its Tufts Collaborates! program.  We are also grateful for additional support from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, the New York City Department of Design and Construction, Center for Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Horticultural Research Institute, Land Economics Foundation, and Devens Enterprise Commission. We are currently partnering on research with The Human Architecture and Planning Institute.