Emotional Visualization in Public Space Visual Art: A Participatory Design Perspective

Abstract

Urban public art can improve the beauty of the city and reflect the atmosphere of a place as well as influence people's perception
of their surroundings. However, before, most public art was designed by artists alone and the public just appreciated it. This method ignores
the true feelings of the people towards those places, so the artworks often appear to be unrelated to the emotional needs of the local community. Participatory design is a different method which stresses the joint participation of all the interested parties in designing the space. It
is found to be an efficient way to transform individual feelings about a place into visible and tangible artworks. In the study of urban microrenewal projects, a literature review and theoretical analysis are conducted to investigate the relationship between participatory design and
emotional visualization. It explores how personal spatial experiences are changed into visual artistic expressions, and describes the whole implementation procedure including collecting public emotions, expressing and translating these feelings, presenting them visually and making
improvements according to feedback. The findings show that incorporating participatory design throughout the whole process of emotional
visualization connects the designers and the general public. Individual feelings and the common historical memories can be illustrated through
colors, shapes, installations etc., which makes the public art closer to the local background and increases its emotional effect on the viewers.
In summary, this research aims to clarify the theoretical basis for public visual art concerning emotions and offer practical suggestions for the
creation of art in public areas such as community squares and neighborhood parks.