Reimagining Human-Nature Connection Through Extended Reality
FEATURE
By Shahryar Sarabi
Shahryar Sarabi is an Assistant Professor in the Information Systems in the Built Environment (ISBE) Group at Eindhoven University of Technology and was a visiting scholar at the Urban Systems Lab at The New School during the Fall 2024 semester. His research focuses on designing information systems to improve the human-nature relationship and facilitate the planning of Nature-Based Solutions. At the Urban Systems Lab, he explored how extended reality technologies can promote the co-construction and recognition of nature's diverse values.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Traditional urban planning engagement methods often exclude significant portions of communities, creating an opportunity for more flexible, technology-enabled approaches.
Different values of nature — intrinsic, relational, and instrumental — require new ways of representation in planning processes.
Building effective technological tools for urban planning requires deep engagement with vulnerable communities and careful consideration of equity issues.
From Nature-Based Solutions to Extended Reality
My journey to this research began during my PhD, where I studied both the planning of nature-based solutions and the design of information systems to support urban decision-making. What fascinated me was understanding how co-creation processes work at a psychological level — what elements enable genuine collaboration between people and nature in urban settings?
Traditional community engagement in urban planning often falls short. In my work at TU Eindhoven, I've observed how municipalities typically approach co-creation: inviting residents to town halls at specific times, usually seeing the same familiar faces while missing many community voices. Those who can't attend — due to work commitments, family responsibilities, or other constraints — remain unheard in crucial decisions about their environment.
This realization led me to explore how extended reality and its immersive technologies could offer more inclusive alternatives. Through a series of interviews with experts across disciplines at USL and partner institutions, including illuminating discussions with design researchers at Parsons School of Design, we uncovered promising directions for using extended reality in urban planning.
NBS Planning Support System (NBS PSS) process flow. Continuous black lines show the forward movement between different steps and black dashed lines refer to iterations among steps; the gray dashed lines point at opportunities for interaction between users and the NBS-PSS process.
Source: Sarabi et al., 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2021.103608
Source: Ershad Sarabi, USL Lab Meeting Presentation, September 4, 2024.
Discovering New Dimensions of Engagement
One of the most interesting findings from our expert interviews was the concept of "embodiment" — how immersive technologies might allow people to experience and relate to nature in novel ways. This wasn't something we had initially considered in our research framework. As one expert noted during our discussions, the ability to virtually embody natural elements could create deeper connections and understanding than traditional visualization methods.
However, we maintain a critical perspective on these technologies. During my conversations with community organizations and fellow researchers, a crucial question emerged: How can we ensure these tools amplify rather than silence vulnerable voices? This led us to focus first on understanding how different communities might want to represent their values and voices through these technologies.
Building Academic Infrastructure for Innovation
What I've learned through this research is that developing effective technological tools requires more than just technical expertise — it demands a strong foundation of community engagement and institutional support. At TU Eindhoven, I'm working to build this foundation through master's student projects and research initiatives focused on human-nature interaction through extended reality.
The Urban Systems Lab provided an ideal environment for advancing this work. What amazed me was the concentration of expertise and perspectives I could access in such a short time. These interactions helped shape my understanding of how technology can strengthen, rather than replace, our connection with nature.
Future Directions: Prototyping Community-Centered XR Solutions
Our upcoming publication examines how extended reality and its immersive technologies can be integrated into nature-based solution planning, with particular attention to representing nature's diverse values - from instrumental to intrinsic and relational. This research opens new possibilities for community engagement in urban planning, but implementation requires careful groundwork.
The next phase of our work will focus on prototyping solutions in close collaboration with communities. I've learned through this process that sustainable technological innovation in academia requires patient foundation-building. At TU Eindhoven, this means starting with small groups of committed researchers and students, creating spaces for regular discussion and iteration of ideas before seeking broader implementation.
My time at USL demonstrated the value of concentrated periods of collaboration in shaping innovative approaches to urban challenges. The opportunity to engage with experts across disciplines, combined with building local research capacity at home, creates the right conditions for meaningful innovation. The goal isn't just to develop new technologies, but to build the academic capacity to think critically about how these tools can serve communities.
Looking ahead, I am energized by the momentum we're building at TU Eindhoven and through our collaboration with the Urban Systems Lab network. Our growing community of researchers is actively developing new ways for people to engage with nature-based solutions on their own terms. By combining deep technical expertise with community insight, we're creating tools that give people more ways to shape the future of their neighborhoods and their relationship with urban nature.
