How are new technologies deepening our understanding of how people relate to place? And how can our evolving understanding of the brain improve how cities are designed?

The last decade has seen the emergence of mobile electroencephalography (EEG) based brain computer interfaces (BCI), which are able to quantify our subjective experiences of the world around us. Artists, architects and urban designers are already using these devices to achieve greater understanding of the city and the well being of its citizens.

Join Van Alen Institute and Cloud Lab at Columbia University’s GSAPP for a hands-on introduction to BCI technology and guided walk of Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood, where we will use EEG headsets to record our brain’s response to a range of environments. We’ll meet at New York Foundation for the Arts for an orientation and introduction to BCI technology before heading out to explore the area in small groups.

As part of the Institute’s Spring 2014 Events, an interactive visualization of the data collected will be presented by Cloud Lab at the demonstration and conversation How Does the Brain Respond to the City? on Tuesday, May 13.