Virtual reality (VR)–based assessment of enclosure perception in urban street environments

Urban space comprises the perceptual and formal qualities shaped by the built environment and experienced by users in daily life. Street environments, as essential components of urban space, significantly influence spatial perception at the pedestrian scale through their guiding and dynamic character. Enclosure effect, one of the key perceptual parameters, refers to the degree to which a street is visually bounded by buildings and other vertical elements. This dissertation investigates how the enclosure effect in street environments changes in relation to dimensional constraints defined in the urban development regulation, and how these changes are reflected in users' perceptual experience through a virtual reality (VR)–based experimental study. For this purpose, street models with varying dimensional ratios were created based on regulatory thresholds and experienced by participants within an immersive VR setting. Quantitative data obtained from the experiment were analyzed through frequency tables and Chi-square tests using SPSS, while qualitative responses from open-ended questions were examined through word cloud and code–theme analyses in MAXQDA. Grounded in a conceptual and theoretical framework, this study reveals the relationship between enclosure perception and the dimensional properties of street environments through a user-centered evaluation. The findings aim to serve as a guiding reference for policymakers, practitioners, and designers by making the perceptual implications of street proportions more explicit and interpretable.