Exploring the Effectiveness of Co-Located Immersive Virtual Reality Experience for Co-Design of Urban Public Spaces: Case Study of the Eindhoven Station Square

Enhancing urban public spaces (UPS) is vital for the well-being of their users. This study investigates the use of co-located immersive virtual reality (IVR) in a co-design process with potential end-users, focusing on active design generation and collaboration. Eindhoven station square, poised for significant redevelopment, served as the case study. An immersive experiment setup, through an altered off-the-shelf IVR application, was used. Participants were tasked with collaboratively designing the area, considering attributes like trees, parking, benches, shelter, and a fountain. Each session involved two participants with distinct perspectives, one from a local authority and the other from an end-user. Twenty participants, divided into ten sessions, engaged in the study. Most had no prior co-design or IVR experience but found the process and the altered application suitable. Communication primarily focused on design generation rather than tool usability or unrelated social exchanges, indicating that the co-located IVR experience resulted in engaged task participation. Most participants were willing to attend a co-design session if IVR would be used. The co-located immersive experience enhanced their understanding and confidence in design choices, indicating effective collaboration. This study concludes that non-experts can successfully engage in UPS design when simultaneously immersed and collocated using IVR. Future experiments should limit session duration to 30 min to avoid fatigue and ensure communication.