Realidade virtual e simulação como ferramenta de apoio à compreensão de projetos de urbanismo tático

Abstract

This work aims to discuss the use of virtual reality as a support tool for graphical representation applied to a tactical urbanism project, exploring both the potentialities and difficulties of the tool. It is a work carried out jointly with the Fausto Curti Urban Simulation Laboratory of the Polytechnic of Milan. An exploratory, experimental, and qualitative methodology was used under the scope of the interpretation of virtual space compared to real space, referring to an intervention of tactical urbanism. Thus, the exp-EIA © method was chosen through the dedicated web platform with 360° panoramas. The work focuses on adopting the virtual reality tool together with a tactical urbanism intervention, analyzing the users' perception when trying it out. This is done from a qualitative approach, seeking to understand whether the proposed intervention fulfilled its design role, and whether its virtual model was capable of translating the space in a comprehensive and readable way. The procedures adopted are based on the creation of a tactical urbanism intervention at the Centro Universitário UniAcademia de Juiz de Fora so that it could later be represented in digital format. Thus, a trial was carried out during the 11th Architecture Week of 2022, in which participants were able to physically use the proposed intervention space and experience it via virtual reality glasses. According to the methodology proposed in conjunction with the Polytechnic of Milan, trial participants had the opportunity to experience the intervention in real and virtual environments. Subsequently, the participants answered a questionnaire about their perception of the space in which they were. Finally, a statistical analysis was developed regarding the collected data that exposes the potential of the tool, which instead of being limited to two-dimensional representations, allows users to interact directly with the projects and explore spaces, in a virtual environment and a three dimensional model, even before they are constructed.