In the arena of built environment, the impact of architecture on community satisfaction and engagement often gets lost in the noise. While businesses have long harnessed metrics like the Net Promoter Score (NPS) to gauge customer loyalty and satisfaction, the architectural field lacks a similar standardized measure. This gap led us to develop the Architectural Engagement Score (AES) — an approach to understanding how the public interacts with and perceives architectural spaces. Here’s why such a metric is necessary and how we drew inspiration from established business practices to create it.

The Roots of AES:

The concept of the Architectural Engagement Score is inspired by the simplicity and effectiveness of the Net Promoter Score, a tool that businesses use globally to measure customer satisfaction and predict business growth. By adapting this model to the architectural context, AES aims to quantify public sentiment and engagement with architectural designs and the built environment.

Why AES is Necessary:

1. Feedback Loop for Architects and Planners: AES provides architects and urban planners with direct feedback on how their designs are received by the public. This feedback is crucial for iterating on current projects and planning future ones.
2. Data-Driven Urban Development: Data is king and AES offers city officials and stakeholders quantifiable insights that can guide zoning decisions, public space improvements, and community development projects.
3. Enhancing Public Participation: By measuring public engagement, AES fosters a deeper interaction between the community and its built environment, encouraging cities to evolve in ways that truly resonate with their inhabitants.

Justifying the Need for AES:

As cities grow and evolve, the challenge of maintaining harmonious and functional urban spaces becomes increasingly complex. Architecture profoundly affects our daily lives, influencing everything from our mood to our movements. Despite this, there remains a significant disconnect between those who design spaces and those who use them. AES bridges this gap by providing a standardized method to assess and improve architectural impact, ensuring that spaces not only look good but also feel good and serve well.

How AES Works:

Participants are asked to rate their likelihood of recommending a building or space on a scale from 0 to 10. These scores categorize respondents into Advocates, Appreciators, or Critics, providing a clear picture of public opinion. This method is both straightforward and effective, enabling it to be seamlessly integrated into existing surveys and public feedback tools.

Creating a similar index for measuring the satisfaction of the architectural audience of buildings in a city is an intriguing idea. This kind of metric could provide valuable insights into how architecture impacts the community and contributes to the urban experience. Here’s a suggested framework for such an index, inspired by the Net Promoter Score (NPS):

Architectural Engagement Score (AES)

Purpose: The Architectural Engagement Score (AES) measures the public’s satisfaction and engagement with the architectural aspects of buildings and the built environment in a city.

Survey Question: “On a scale from 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend visiting/experiencing this building or architectural space to a friend or colleague?”

Categories:

1. Advocates (score 9–10): These are individuals who are highly impressed by the architecture. They appreciate the design, functionality, and integration of the buildings with the urban environment and are likely to recommend them to others.
2. Appreciators (score 7–8): These respondents like the buildings or spaces but are not passionate enough to be advocates. Their experience is positive but not impactful enough to actively promote it.
3. Critics (score 0–6): These are individuals who are dissatisfied with the architectural aspects or find them lacking in some way. They might criticize the design, functionality, or the building’s integration with its surroundings.

Implementing AES:

Cities can implement AES by incorporating it into public feedback systems at community events, online platforms, and through regular surveys. Architectural firms can use AES during the design phase by engaging focus groups and leveraging social media to gather wide-ranging feedback.

Calculation: AES is calculated by subtracting the percentage of Critics from the percentage of Advocates. The score ranges from -100 (where everyone is a critic) to 100 (where everyone is an advocate). This metric helps cities and architects understand the public’s reception of architectural designs and spaces.

Applications:

Urban Planning and Development: Urban planners and developers can use AES to assess which architectural styles and functionalities are most appreciated, helping guide future development projects.

Architectural Firms: For architects, this score can serve as feedback on their designs, indicating how well their buildings meet the needs and tastes of the community.

Tourism and Marketing: Cities can use AES to identify and promote architecturally significant areas or buildings, attracting tourists and locals alike.

The Future of AES:

With urban populations on the rise, the importance of effective, engaging, and sustainable architecture has never been more apparent. AES holds the potential to become a critical tool in the architect’s toolkit, akin to how business analysts use NPS to refine customer experiences. By aligning architectural practices more closely with public needs and preferences, AES not only enhances the functionality of spaces but also the quality of urban life itself.

Benefits:

Provides a simple and quantifiable measure of public engagement with architecture.

Encourages architects and planners to consider public opinion in their designs.

Helps promote architectural tourism and civic pride.

Challenges:

Architectural appreciation can be highly subjective and influenced by many factors beyond the architecture itself, such as historical significance, personal memories, or community identity.

It might be challenging to obtain a sufficient and representative sample of respondents to ensure the AES is truly reflective of the broader population’s views.

The Architectural Engagement Score (AES) marks a bold step toward transforming urban spaces into more engaging, functional, and beloved parts of our daily lives. As we continue to shape our cities, let us also shape the metrics we use to understand our impact. Embrace AES, and let’s build a future where architecture truly reflects the voices of those it serves.

What are your thoughts on the Architectural Engagement Score? Could this be the metric we need to build better urban spaces? Share your views and let’s discuss how we can collectively enhance our architectural landscapes.