Identifying elements of one’s environment—observable and unobservable—that contribute to chronic stress including the perception of comfort and discomfort associated with different settings, presents many methodological and analytical challenges. However, it also presents an opportunity to engage the public in collecting and analyzing their own geospatial and biometric data to increase community member understanding of their local environments and activate potential environmental improvements. In this first-generation project, we developed a methodology to integrate geospatial technology with biometric sensing within a previously developed, evidence-based “citizen science” protocol, called “Our Voice.” Participants used a smartphone/tablet-based application, called the Discovery Tool (DT), to collect photos and audio narratives about elements of the built environment that contributed to or detracted from their well-being. A wrist-worn sensor (Empatica E4) was used to collect time-stamped data, including 3-axis accelerometry, skin temperature, blood volume pressure, heart rate, heartbeat inter-beat interval, and electrodermal activity (EDA). Open-source R packages were employed to automatically organize, clean, geocode, and visualize the biometric data. In total, 14 adults (8 women, 6 men) were successfully recruited to participate in the investigation. Participants recorded 174 images and 124 audio files with the DT. Among captured images with a participant-determined positive or negative rating (n = 131), over half were positive (58.8%, n = 77). Within-participant positive/negative rating ratios were similar, with most participants rating 53.0% of their images as positive (SD 21.4%). Significant spatial clusters of positive and negative photos were identified using the Getis-Ord Gi* local statistic, and significant associations between participant EDA and distance to DT photos, and street and land use characteristics were also observed with linear mixed models. Interactive data maps allowed participants to (1) reflect on data collected during the neighborhood walk, (2) see how EDA levels changed over the course of the walk in relation to objective neighborhood features (using basemap and DT app photos), and (3) compare their data to other participants along the same route. Participants identified a variety of social and environmental features that contributed to or detracted from their well-being. This initial investigation sets the stage for further research combining qualitative and quantitative data capture and interpretation to identify objective and perceived elements of the built environment influence our embodied experience in different settings. It provides a systematic process for simultaneously collecting multiple kinds of data, and lays a foundation for future statistical and spatial analyses in addition to more in-depth interpretation of how these responses vary within and between individuals.

This paper sets out the future potential and challenges for developing an interdisciplinary, mixed-method Citizen Social Science approach to researching urban emotions. It focuses on urban stress, which is increasingly noted as a global mental health challenge facing both urbanised and rapidly urbanising societies. The paper reviews the existing use of mobile psychophysiological or biosensing within urban environments—as means of ‘capturing’ the urban geographies of emotions. Methodological reflections are included on primary research using biosensing in a study of workplace and commuter stress for university employees in Birmingham (UK) and Salzburg (Austria) for illustrative purposes. In comparing perspectives on the conceptualisation and measurement of urban stress from psychology, neuroscience and urban planning, the difficulties of defining scientific constructs within Citizen Science are discussed to set out the groundwork for fostering interdisciplinary dialogue. The novel methods, geo-located sensor technologies and data-driven approaches to researching urban stress now available to researchers pose a number of ethical, political and conceptual challenges around defining and measuring emotions, stress, human behaviour and urban space. They also raise issues of rigour, participation and social scientific interpretation. Introducing methods informed by more critical Citizen Social Science perspectives can temper overly individualised forms of data collection to establish more effective ways of addressing urban stress and promoting wellbeing in urban communities.

In recent years, a range of academic disciplines have emphasized the potential benefits of prioritizing meaningful engagement with individuals and communities who have lived and have living experience with the topics, phenomena and problems researchers seek to study. In March 2022, we were asked to produce a paper to inform a university workshop and training materials to help students and faculty engage with participatory methods. In turn, we conducted a rapid scoping review of reviews to document key recommendations relating to methodology, logistics and ethics within the various modes of participatory research. Searches were conducted in Web of Science, SCOPUS, ProQuest, Pub Med, OVID (including Medline, PschyInfo/EMBASE, APAPsych) to identify published academic reviews (e.g., systematic, scoping, literature reviews and evidence gap maps), for best practices relating to participatory research. This approach drew out aggregated best practices and lessons learned across many primary studies and increased the speed of the review. From 276 studies imported for screening, 43 full-text studies were assessed for eligibility and 28 were deemed relevant for full inclusion. Results are presented as: 1) participatory research recommendations for researchers; and 2) participatory research recommendations for academic institutions. Three sub-themes emerged within the context of suggestions for researchers engaging with participatory methods: 1) early-stage considerations for study design and planning; 2) conducting the research; and 3) dissemination and knowledge exchange. This rapid scoping review highlights key recommendations for researchers interested in using participatory approaches in their own research, and for academic and institutional stakeholders who aim to support these practices.