Eliciting Empathy towards Urban Accessibility Issues

Empathy is an integral part of what it means to be human. Empathy refers to the ability to sense other people's emotions, coupled with the ability to imagine what they might be thinking and feeling. Architectural and urban design have identified empathy as a crucial factor in the design process and especially in user-centered participatory methods. Although empathy has been recognized as important for relating to other people's issues, current research has not explored how urban accessibility issues elicit empathy. We conducted a between-subjects online study where 202 participants observed five scenarios on different accessibility issues. Our results show that empathic traits and previous experience are significant factors in empathizing with accessibility issues. Additionally, storytelling and photos can influence perceptions of accessibility issues. The study highlights the importance of empathic traits and personal experience in understanding and addressing accessibility issues, as well as the potential of storytelling and photos in shaping perceptions of accessibility issues and evoking empathy. Our contribution demonstrates the advantages of incorporating narrative multimedia into design processes for improved urban accessibility.