“Neural City: Emotional Interface and Future Navigation” is an immersive XR exhibition exploring the emotional relationship between citizens, machines, and the city. Located in Huaqiangbei—the symbolic frontier between Shenzhen and Hong Kong—the project transforms real-time human emotional data (EEG, heart rate, facial expression) into responsive architecture, lighting, and robotic gestures.
Visitors navigate a hybrid landscape where digital culture, AI urban sensing, and XR storytelling merge, revealing the emotional metabolism of the future city.
‘神经城市’是一个融合 XR（扩展现实）导览系统、情绪识别交互 与 AI城市感知 的公共装置型展览，设于华强北—港深交界的城市样本区。项目以“城市作为一台情绪机器”为核心命题，通过人机交互与多感官沉浸，探索市民与游客在“未来城市”中的情绪体验与数字共生。
观众通过可穿戴XR终端与触觉反馈装置，进入一场关于 数字文化记忆、城市焦虑与情感连接 的混合现实旅程。系统实时捕捉观众的情绪信号（脑电波、心率、面部表情），并驱动展场中的 机械装置、光影系统与虚拟城市界面 动态响应，构成“人—机—城”三者之间的情绪循环。
When we look up amid the electronic shimmer of Huaqiangbei, what we see is no longer just LEDs flickering — but the neural pulse of a living city.
In a metropolis where technology continuously redraws its boundaries, human emotion, algorithmic rhythm, and urban breath begin to intertwine.
In Neural City, three interconnected scenes — Data Awakening, Urban Resonance, and Memory Loop — form a narrative of digital selfhood:
In Data Awakening, the visitor is “read” for the first time. Their emotional state becomes visible through shifting light and data particles — the birth of a new identity between human and machine. The gaze of perception begins here, both anxious and curious.
In Urban Resonance, individual brainwaves merge into a collective spectrum that generates a virtual skyline — a city shaped by emotion. When minds synchronize, the skyline stabilizes; when emotions diverge, it fragments. Urban order becomes a metaphor for collective empathy.
In Memory Loop, the visitor encounters the echo of their own affective data. Projected emotional trails drift across the corridor walls, forming a map of self-awareness captured by the city. Each participant leaves with a “map of emotion” — both personal artifact and proof of the city’s sentience.
Rather than using technology to predict the future, this exhibition uses perception to reimagine technology itself.
When machines begin to understand our emotions, can we learn to understand ourselves anew?
When the city becomes a neural network, can human emotion still remain free?
Set within the hyperreal ecology of Huaqiangbei, Neural City poses a quiet but radical question:
When emotion becomes infrastructure, does empathy still belong to humans?
神经城市系统：从数据到共情的回路
当我们在华强北的电子微光中抬起头，看到的不再只是闪烁的LED，而是城市的“神经脉冲”。
在这座被科技持续刷新边界的城市中，人类的情绪、算法的波动与城市的呼吸正在融为一体。
《神经城市》中的三个核心场景——数据苏醒、城市共振、记忆回环——构成了一条关于“数字自我”的循环叙事：
在 「数据苏醒」 中，观众第一次被系统“读取”。他们的情绪被光线与数据可视化为新型的身份符号。这一时刻，是人类与机器之间的第一次互相凝视——焦虑、好奇与不安共同组成了“感知的起点”。
在 「城市共振」 中，个体的脑电波汇聚成集体的情绪频谱，构筑出一座由意识生成的虚拟都市。城市不再是物理空间，而成为情绪流的投影面。当不同个体的情绪趋于同步，城市影像随之清晰；而当情绪分歧扩大，影像则崩解、模糊。城市的稳定，成为一种社会共情的隐喻。
在 「记忆回环」 中，观众步入数据的余韵，看到自己留下的情绪轨迹在空间中回荡。那是算法的记忆，也是自我情绪的倒影。每个人离开时，带走一份“情绪地图”——一份关于人类如何被城市感知、并最终学会反观自我的证明。
这场展览并不试图用科技去定义未来，而是用感知去重新理解科技——
当机器学会理解我们的情绪，我们是否也能重新理解自己？
当城市成为一个巨大的神经网络，个体的情绪是否仍能保有自由的震荡？
《神经城市》在华强北的现实语境中提出了一个开放的问题：
当情绪成为城市的新基础设施，未来的共情是否仍属于人类？
Boyuan YU
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Oxford School of Architecture
Jianing LUO
Oxford School of Architecture
University College London
Mingming ZHAO
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cornell University
Supervisor:
Adam FINGRUT
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Adam HOLLOWAY
Oxford School of Architecture
University College London
Shenzhen Biennale Foundation, UABB 10th Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture 2025 Hong Kong & Shenzhen, China