Eye tracking study of urban space: perception of internal courtyard during rental decision.

As a dominant land use in urban ecosystems, internal courtyards are a significant part of residential buildings, which perform technical, social, recreational and aesthetic functions. This project is intended to reveal internal courtyard visual attention features. Data were collected using eye tracking method and a socio-demographic questionnaire. For this purpose, a sample of 52 adults with room rental experience from 18 to 35 y.o. was used. The results of this study show that the distribution of gaze in the study of yard areas does not differ between people with and without cars. But their estimation of the yard area is different. Results show, that a greater number of fixations in the greenery zone is associated with a higher estimate of the yard area. At the same time, a greater number of fixations in the parking zone is associated with a low assessment of the yard area. Moreover, yard configuration significantly affects its assessment.