Sensory Mapping (plug-in for measuring urban experiences of young children) - Entorn Urbà i Salut

This tool maps how children use their senses in the built environment. It reveals which environmental stimuli may be more interesting for children from 0-5 years of age.

This tool serves to reflect on the opportunities that the physical environment can provide for children.

It allows interviewers to put themselves in the children’s place and see the environment from their perspective. Ideally, the tool would be supported by observation of children in the space. However, it can also be used with people who complete it by imagining that they are in the space.

On a map of the space, different symbols are inserted representing senses (touch, sight, hearing, smell and balance).

On the map, the person who performs this exercise rates each sense by inserting the symbol and a positive (+) or negative (-) evaluation. In a complementary way, respondents can make notes about the environment: both personal and descriptions of what is observed.

Applicable to specific spaces, it is not a tool that can be used to compare different spaces with each other.

It is a subjective exercise in reflection but it has the potential to increase sensitivity to the needs of a population group that is often invisible.

The guide provides templates for deploying the tool. As it is part of a package of tools focused on the young population, it can be complemented with them.