Behavioral Monitoring in Virtual Environments: A Basis for Agent Modeling in Urban Parks

Many researchers are beginning to explore the potential of virtual environments as a surrogate for the real world. This may be in areas such as the treatment of phobias (Hodges et al. 1995), emergency management (Clover et al. 2000), or urban design (van Veen et al. 1998). Bishop et al. (2000) expanded upon the potential of virtual environments to support experiments in human-environment interaction based on the experiential paradigm (Zube et al. 1982, Daniel and Vining 1983). Preliminary studies (Bishop et al. 2001) have shown a consistency between stated objectives in outdoor environments and behavior within a virtual world.