Attention is Currency
Ann Sussman, Abigail C. Sekely · 2025
Building on two years of eye-tracking research by the Human Architecture + Planning Institute (theHapi.org), this chapter proposes a new theory for placemaking and architectural analysis – the human need for nonconscious, subliminal anchoring to create a successful and sustainable public realm. The chapter compiles eye-tracking studies that suggest how first fixations are as important in architecture and planning analyses as they are in advertising, directing our behavior and quality of our experience instantly, more than most realize. Places where people like to be, the ones that end up on postcards and featured in travel brochures, always offer the fast fixations which we argue are requisite for creating a positive sense of place. These places, in turn, promote community, enhance emotional experience and make positive memories, intergenerationally.