  The extensive use of smartphones in our everyday lives has created new modes
of appropriation and behavior in public spaces. Recognition of these are
essential for urban design and planning practices which help us to improve the
relationship between humans, technologies, and urban environment. This study
aims to research smartphone users in public space by observing their altering
visual attention and walking behavior, and, in this way, to reveal the emergent
new figures. For this purpose, Korenmarkt square in Ghent, Belgium, was
observed for seven days in 10-min time intervals. The gaze and walking behavior
of smartphone users were encoded as geo-located and temporal data, analyzed and
mapped using statistical and spatial analysis methods. Developing and
implementing new methods for identifying the characteristics of smartphone
users, this study resulted in a nuanced characterization of novel spatial
appropriations. The findings led to a better understanding and knowledge of the
different behavior patterns of emergent figures such as post-flaneurs and
smartphone zombies while uncovering their altering visual interactions with and
movements in the public space. The results evoked questions on how researchers
and designers can make use of spatial analysis methods and rethink the public
space of the future as a hybrid construct integrating the virtual and the
physical.
