Proposal of a Methodological Model for the Design of a Complex Dynamic Working Environment in the Forestry Sector, to Generate an Emotionally Light Habitat

Abstract

The research is aimed at proposing a methodological model for the design of a complex dynamic working environment in the forest sector, incorporating methods derived from affective engineering, to generate an emotionally light work environment. The research scenario corresponds to the coordination and control centers of forest fires in Chile. The optimization of the conditions of the space and its content, could contribute to improve the performance required for efficient and harmonious decision making in demanding situations. Unfortunately, their operators have not been involved into the design process of their work environment, even though they are the ones who know best about the functional and emotional benefits required. The methodological approach includes an active operators participation by the application of methods and instruments specific to affective engineering to capture the emotions of individuals in front of simultaneous and varied stimuli, the use of technological equipment to diagnose and define the characteristics of the space and the objects that appear in it, design of proposals, evaluation of the proposals by the users, final proposal design and user studies. The novelty of this research is the possibility of defining a methodological model based on the study of dynamic environments, generating as a result a proposal that contributes both directly into this field and to the theoretical and empirical basis built by the international scientific community.