Panoramic Depth Imaging: Single Standard Camera Approach

In this paper we present a panoramic depth imaging system. The system is mosaic-based which means that we use a single rotating camera and assemble the captured images in a mosaic. Due to a setoff of the camera’s optical center from the rotational center of the system we are able to capture the motion parallax effect which enables stereo reconstruction. The camera is rotating on a circular path with a step defined by the angle, equivalent to one pixel column of the captured image. The equation for depth estimation can be easily extracted from the system geometry. To find the corresponding points on a stereo pair of panoramic images the epipolar geometry needs to be determined. It can be shown that the epipolar geometry is very simple if we are doing the reconstruction based on a symmetric pair of stereo panoramic images. We get a symmetric pair of stereo panoramic images when we take symmetric pixel columns on the left and on the right side from the captured image center column. Epipolar lines of the symmetrical pair of panoramic images are image rows. The search space on the epipolar line can be additionaly constrained. The focus of the paper is mainly on the system analysis. Results of the stereo reconstruction procedure and quality evaluation of generated depth images are quite promissing. The system performs well for reconstruction of small indoor spaces. Our finall goal is to develop a system for automatic navigation of a mobile robot in a room

Capturing Panoramic Depth Images with a Single Standard Camera

In this paper we present a panoramic depth imaging system. The system is mosaic-based which means that we use a single rotating camera and assemble the captured images in a mosaic. Due to a setoff of the camera’s optical center from the rotational center of the system we are able to capture the motion parallax effect which enables the stereo reconstruction. The camera is rotating on a circular path with the step defined by an angle equivalent to one column of the captured image. The equation for depth estimation can be easily extracted from system geometry. To find the corresponding points on a stereo pair of panoramic images the epipolar geometry needs to be determined. It can be shown that the epipolar geometry is very simple if we are doing the reconstruction based on a symmetric pair of stereo panoramic images. We get a symmetric pair of stereo panoramic images when we take symmetric columns on the left and on the right side from the captured image center column. Epipolar lines of the symmetrical pair of panoramic images are image rows. We focused mainly on the system analysis. The system performs well in the reconstruction of small indoor spaces

Building the Urban Bioregion. Governance scenarios for urban and territorial planning

The book focuses on bioregionalist theories and experiences as an alternative way of reading and designing local contexts, based on the recovery of the co-evolutionary relationship between human settlements and territories to achieve a self-sustainable and non-hierarchical system of urban and rural centers, according to Alberto Magnaghi's vision. The work has developed a broader discussion among researchers from different European backgrounds about the ways in which processes related to bioregionalism, looked at in a transdisciplinary way, can lead to interesting applications and analytical insights, that are useful for reviewing and strengthening community self-organization and reflecting on the constitutive foundations of the relationship between communities and their territories. The collaboration between the French school of Bordeaux, the Tuscany school and the Cagliari school gives back a diversified overview of materials and references for the possible application of the bioregionalist model.The contributions discuss many issues related to the governance of metropolitan areas and the management of the urban-rural relationship with suggestions for interpretation and design in a bioregionalist perspective, the themes of urban green, land vulnerability, and agricultural supply chains in rural and peri-urban spaces and new food economies in metropolitan areas

Architecture and the Built Environment:

This publication provides an overview of TU Delft’s most significant research achievements in the field of architecture and the built environment during the years 2010–2012. It is the first presentation of the joint research portfolio of the Faculty of Architecture and OTB Research Institute since their integration into the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment. As such the portfolio holds a strong promise for the future. In a time when the economy seems to be finally picking up and in which such societal issues as energy, climate and ageing are more prominent than ever before, there are plenty of fields for us to explore in the next three years

Smart accessibility patterns and shrinking cities: The added value of urban design

During these last decades, the shrinkage of cities has become a major urban issue, a process caused by many factors but one that will generally increase during the next years. This is mainly because of the trend of urbanization: in 2016 the UN estimated that 54.5% of people live in urban settlements, and that by 2030 it will become 60%. The non-urban areas impacted by depopulation, will face several issues in terms of land maintenance, heritage preservation, and conservation of local traditions. This dynamic is strongly related to the notion of accessibility, which, here, stands for the possibility of people to access places, spaces, items, and services. This approach tries to include different points of view such as the notion of accessibility seen in transportation terms, based on its efficiency and multimodality, or the issue of accessibility concerning people with disabilities. The ongoing digital revolution has further impacted the issue of accessibility. The pervasive transition from analogue to digital processes and the development of Information and Communication Technologies has provided new opportunities to supply information, infrastructures, and public services to people. With our smartphones, citizens can access and produce data, which can then be used by them to increase their awareness about urban opportunities and optimize urban projects and policies. Worldwide internet connection has blurred the relation between a place and its use, deepening reuse strategies for buildings and neighbourhoods. The development of shared and circular economy and new health standards in cities has led to the innovation of public services both in an evolutionary way (e.g. water supply and management, waste management) and in a disruptive way (e.g. transportation design, urban hybrid services). Smart Cities projects try to catch most of these opportunities, focusing on innovative urban solutions able to exploit this potential. This article aims to contribute to this debate, reviewing some of the main definitions of urban accessibility and showing the possible added value given by innovative urban strategies open to ICT solutions. To better understand this approach these notions will be related to Gjirokastra, one of the most important cities in southern Albania. Its distinctive combination in terms of heritage, strategic position and business opportunities are facing urban shrinkage, with the consequent loss of city population, lack of maintenance of its renowned heritage and a declining economy. Then a design proposal that uses the notion of accessibility to analyse and indicate strategic accessibility patterns to challenge shrinkage will be outlined. These actions will be referenced to pilot projects and case studies to prove how innovative urban design can add new value to urban accessibility patterns. The conclusions will resume the role of urban design dealing with these issues, indicating constraints and potentials of this approach

realms of urban design:

The traditional thematic realms of urban design, such as liveability, social interaction, and quality of urban life, considered to be closely related to urban form and specifically to public space, have long since been recognised as important, and have given the discipline a certain identity. The book Realms of Urban Design: Mapping Sustainability is certainly rooted in this fundamental urban design thinking, but its main contribution belongs to the second part of the book’s title – discourse on sustainability. Its chapters, considered as a whole, put forward the importance of the discipline and the designerly way of thinking in the context of the discussion about unprecedented environmental transformation. The eleven chapters of the book represent the major sustainability concerns that the authors have seen as being related to the urban design discipline in their specific professional and environmental contexts. Therefore, the chapters as an entity could be seen as an act of mapping the sustainability issues that are coming “from the front” of urban design research and practice at the universities involved in the project Creating the Network of Knowledge Labs for Sustainable and Resilient Environments (KLABS). They show disciplinary, mostly methodological, concerns with the larger scales in comparison to those of the neighbourhoods and public space that are traditionally connected to urban design; with the collective or common nature of urban space; and with the distinctive, underused spaces coming not only as a legacy of the 20th century, but also as an important by-product of contemporary economic trends. The first four chapters tackle the self-questioning of the disciple of urbanism in the wake of spatial, social, and environmental change at an unprecedented planetary scale. They are assembled around the question of what the sustainability concept means for the discipline and how the discipline should change to become socially relevant in the context of dynamic spatial transformation? The chapters are review contributions to recent theoretical and methodological rethinking of design approaches to the urban condition, with a focus on multi-scale and process-oriented urbanism. The chapters call for an integrated design approach in the sense of finding a theoretical and methodological common ground for separated disciplines of architecture, urban design, and urban planning. The next two chapters examine what is, in the traditional manner, considered to be the main theoretical and analytical focus and the main creative and practical outcome of urban design – the urban form. How we should understand, analyse, and design the urban form in the context of the contemporary complexities of urbanisation? Two chapters present opposing perspectives of urban form design. One is a morphological approach in which the urban form is seen as a disciplinary tool of conceptualisation and regulation of the city, using sophisticated concepts such as landscape and place, while the other maps the urban form as a resident’s basic expression of the need for shelter, territory of everyday use, and cultural interpretation of home, beyond regulation and urban design. By putting the two approaches side by side, the urban form can be comprehended as the simultaneous materialisation and negotiation of the ground of power intentions and everyday practice. Chapters 7 and 8 are dedicated to a specific dimension of urban design process – participation. Who can participate in the design of territories and places? Who has the privilege to define who will participate? How should an urbanist manage the many different and contradictory requirements? Ultimately, how can people be encouraged and stimulated to take part in the public urban debate? These are the highly important questions rising in the wake of the urbanism crisis, intensified with the disintegration of the holistic expression of the public interest, characteristic of the modernist period. These chapters present a review of important theoretical considerations and recent experience of multi-voice design methodologies. The final three chapters deal with the specific typology of urban space - previously developed and then abandoned, forgotten and underused spaces of an economic and technological past. These reminders of past urbanisation are still numerous in the western Balkan countries. What could the role of these places be in the sustainable strategies of urbanisation? How can the approach to the urban regeneration (planning, regulation, and design) of these spaces be conceptualised in order to be in tune with the ecological and social demands of a distressed planet and local historical and cultural values? By explaining the specific theoretical concepts and western Balkan case studies, these chapters tackle the most important issue related to sustainability and the management of urbanisation - the question of spatial resources