Seeing the invisible: from imagined to virtual urban landscapes

Urban ecosystems consist of infrastructure features working together to provide services for inhabitants. Infrastructure functions akin to an ecosystem, having dynamic relationships and interdependencies. However, with age, urban infrastructure can deteriorate and stop functioning. Additional pressures on infrastructure include urbanizing populations and a changing climate that exposes vulnerabilities. To manage the urban infrastructure ecosystem in a modernizing world, urban planners need to integrate a coordinated management plan for these co-located and dependent infrastructure features. To implement such a management practice, an improved method for communicating how these infrastructure features interact is needed. This study aims to define urban infrastructure as a system, identify the systematic barriers preventing implementation of a more coordinated management model, and develop a virtual reality tool to provide visualization of the spatial system dynamics of urban infrastructure. Data was collected from a stakeholder workshop that highlighted a lack of appreciation for the system dynamics of urban infrastructure. An urban ecology VR model was created to highlight the interconnectedness of infrastructure features. VR proved to be useful for communicating spatial information to urban stakeholders about the complexities of infrastructure ecology and the interactions between infrastructure features.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2019.102559Published versio

Engaging the Virtual Landscape: Toward an Experiential Approach to Exploring Place Through a Spatial Experience Engine

The utilization of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and other geospatial technologies in historical inquiry and the humanities has led to a number of projects that are exploring digital representations of past landscapes and places as platforms for synthesizing and representing historical and geographic information. Recent advancements in geovisualization, immersive environments, and virtual reality offer the opportunity to generate digital representations of cultural and physical landscapes, and embed those virtual landscapes with information and knowledge from multiple GIS sources. The development of these technologies and their application to historical research has opened up new opportunities to synthesize historical records from disparate sources, represent these sources spatially in digital form, and to embed the qualitative data into those spatial representations that is often crucial to historical interpretation.;This dissertation explores the design and development of a serious game-based virtual engine, the Spatial Experience Engine (SEE), that provides an immersive and interactive platform for an experiential approach to exploring and understanding place. Through a case study focused on the late nineteenth-century urban landscape of Morgantown, West Virginia, the implementation of the SEE discussed in this dissertation demonstrates a compelling platform for building and exploring complex, virtual landscapes, enhanced with spatialized information and multimedia. The SEE not only provides an alternative approach for scholars exploring the spatial turn in history and a humanistic, experiential analysis of historical places, but its flexibility and extensibility also offer the potential for future implementations to explore a wide range of research questions related to the representation of geographic information within an immersive and interactive virtual landscape

4D Reconstruction and Visualization of Cultural Heritage: Analysing our Legacy Through Time

Temporal analyses and multi-temporal 3D reconstruction are fundamental for the preservation and maintenance of all forms of Cultural Heritage (CH) and are the basis for decisions related to interventions and promotion. Introducing the fourth dimension of time into three-dimensional geometric modelling of real data allows the creation of a multi-temporal representation of a site. In this way, scholars from various disciplines (surveyors, geologists, archaeologists, architects, philologists, etc.) are provided with a new set of tools and working methods to support the study of the evolution of heritage sites, both to develop hypotheses about the past and to model likely future developments. The capacity to “see” the dynamic evolution of CH assets across different spatial scales (e.g. building, site, city or territory) compressed in diachronic model, affords the possibility to better understand the present status of CH according to its history. However, there are numerous challenges in order to carry out 4D modelling and the requisite multi-data source integration. It is necessary to identify the specifications, needs and requirements of the CH community to understand the required levels of 4D model information. In this way, it is possible to determine the optimum material and technologies to be utilised at different CH scales, as well as the data management and visualization requirements. This manuscript aims to provide a comprehensive approach for CH time-varying representations, analysis and visualization across different working scales and environments: rural landscape, urban landscape and architectural scales. Within this aim, the different available metric data sources are systemized and evaluated in terms of their suitability

Trying to break new ground in aerial archaeology

Aerial reconnaissance continues to be a vital tool for landscape-oriented archaeological research. Although a variety of remote sensing platforms operate within the earth’s atmosphere, the majority of aerial archaeological information is still derived from oblique photographs collected during observer-directed reconnaissance flights, a prospection approach which has dominated archaeological aerial survey for the past century. The resulting highly biased imagery is generally catalogued in sub-optimal (spatial) databases, if at all, after which a small selection of images is orthorectified and interpreted. For decades, this has been the standard approach. Although many innovations, including digital cameras, inertial units, photogrammetry and computer vision algorithms, geographic(al) information systems and computing power have emerged, their potential has not yet been fully exploited in order to re-invent and highly optimise this crucial branch of landscape archaeology. The authors argue that a fundamental change is needed to transform the way aerial archaeologists approach data acquisition and image processing. By addressing the very core concepts of geographically biased aerial archaeological photographs and proposing new imaging technologies, data handling methods and processing procedures, this paper gives a personal opinion on how the methodological components of aerial archaeology, and specifically aerial archaeological photography, should evolve during the next decade if developing a more reliable record of our past is to be our central aim. In this paper, a possible practical solution is illustrated by outlining a turnkey aerial prospection system for total coverage survey together with a semi-automated back-end pipeline that takes care of photograph correction and image enhancement as well as the management and interpretative mapping of the resulting data products. In this way, the proposed system addresses one of many bias issues in archaeological research: the bias we impart to the visual record as a result of selective coverage. While the total coverage approach outlined here may not altogether eliminate survey bias, it can vastly increase the amount of useful information captured during a single reconnaissance flight while mitigating the discriminating effects of observer-based, on-the-fly target selection. Furthermore, the information contained in this paper should make it clear that with current technology it is feasible to do so. This can radically alter the basis for aerial prospection and move landscape archaeology forward, beyond the inherently biased patterns that are currently created by airborne archaeological prospection

Emotion-oriented interventions for environment and the facilitation of pro-environmental behavior

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Ambiente, pela Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e TecnologiaThis research aimed at studying the facilitating pro-environmental behavior problem by approaching new pro-environmental interventions. The following elements make this study particularly relevant: a) the actual debate concerning the impact of scientific and technological innovations and b) the consideration of new emotional research findings, which stress that emotion is an essential part of information processing. However, the role of emotions is still largely absent from most pro-environmental studies. This situation highlights the importance of conceiving personal and professional initiatives aimed at encouraging reflection and supporting proenvironmental behaviors research while focusing on emotional issues. The study involved an interpretative approach of a qualitative nature, organized in two complementary phases. The first phase evaluated the possible impact of the purposed research. It involved different collaborations and the first experimental research study was implemented as a proof-of-concept approach. In addition, this phase research advanced a new model of proenvironmental behavior and a design framework. The second phase of the study, motivated by the results of the first phase, led to advancing emotion-oriented interventions scenarios and also planning and implementing their evaluation. This initiative showed two technological opportunities to consider for future developments: Affective images rewarding systems using digital material and sensorial feedback tools using non-digital material. The planned qualitative research included questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, panels, observation and the analysis of documents. The results of this study have several implications. Among the most relevant are: a) the potential of combined research methods in investigating individuals conceptions and perceptions about environmental behavior; b) the importance of discussions about new pro-environmental interventions for facilitating pro-environmental behavior; c) the importance of multi-disciplinary research approaches for advancing new technological options; and d) the relevance of considering an emotion-oriented approach.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT/MCTES)- (SFRH/BD/21408/2005

Interactive deep maps and spatial narratives for landscape conservation and public engagement

Landscape conservation science and practice has increasingly embraced a “people and nature” paradigm that recognizes the dynamic complexity and bidirectional relationships in social-ecological systems. Conservation research remains heavily biased toward the ecological dimensions of conservation, with socially focused research taking up a relatively small fraction. The digital revolution and accompanying geospatial web inspired platforms and methods that provide a significant opportunity for closing this divide. This article focuses on potential contributions to conservation science and practices from one such integrative platform—interactive deep maps and their resulting spatial narratives— that digitally combine the qualitative and experiential essence(s) of place with the quantitative capabilities of Cartesian space. By critically exploring emerging work, we propose that interactive deep maps and spatial narratives are uniquely positioned for integrating social and ecological dimensions of place-based conservation by linking the lived experiences of people with the spatially represented ecological characteristics of nature

Communicating spatial planning decisions at the landscape and farm level with landscape visualization

Landscape visualizations have the potential to support participatory environmental planning at different spatial scales and decision levels from international to farm level. However, it is yet unclear what specific demands are relevant for visualization on the different decision levels. In this context more knowledge is needed about visualization objectives and the respective tasks, intended effects and suitable techniques for the specific levels. Especially the farm level has been neglected in research, although farmers make many decisions that affects public interests in the visual landscape. Farmers need to communicate these decisions to the public in an understandable way. The question of how visualization can support participation in the planning process at the municipal level is examined by drawing on the findings of the Interactive Landscape Plan Koenigslutter, Germany (IALP) about the preferences and reactions of citizens to visualizations used in the landscape planning process at the local decision level. On this basis, we examined the applicability and differences of the findings for the farm level. Furthermore, in order to explore visualization opportunities at the farm scale, the farm management system MANUELA was used as an example of an information platform that could serve as a basis for farm scale visualizations. By transferring landscape planning results to the farm level, we developed recommentations about the application of visualization, intended effects and appropriate techniques at the farm scale. The general findings for the municipal level show that visualization can improve participation by providing participants with a common image of the planning proposals for discussion and collaborative decisions. Different visualization methods offer different capabilities for supporting participation in the different planning phases. At the farm scale, 2D visualizations and diagrams are often sufficient to communicate information to customers about farm performance for providing ecosystem services. They may consist of maps and supporting information that is easily generated from GIS data. However, for a higher (more interactive) level of communication and participation activities, such as discussions with affected neighbors about land use changes or the integration of citizens' proposals, more sophisticated visualization techniques would be required. Visualization techniques are needed that farmers can use to easily simulate visual impacts of land use changes at the landscape scale

Expanding Eco-Visualization: Sculpting Corn Production

This dissertation expands upon the definition of eco-visualization artwork. EV was originally defined in 2006 by Tiffany Holmes as a way to display the real time consumption statistics of key environmental resources for the goal of promoting ecological literacy. I assert that the final forms of EV artworks are not necessarily dependent on technology, and can differ in terms of media used, in that they can be sculptural, video-based, or static two-dimensional forms that communicate interpreted environmental information. There are two main categories of EV: one that is predominantly screen-based and another that employs a variety of modes of representation to visualize environmental information. EVs are political acts, situated in a charged climate of rising awareness, operating within the context of environmentalism and sustainability. I discuss a variety of EV works within the frame of ecopsychology, including EcoArtTech’s Eclipse and Keith Deverell’s Building Run; Andrea Polli’s Cloud Car and Particle Falls; Nathalie Miebach’s series, The Sandy Rides; and Natalie Jeremijenko’s Mussel Choir. The range of EV works provided models for my creative project, Sculpting Corn Production, and a foundation from which I developed a creative methodology. Working to defeat my experience of solastalgia, Sculpting Corn Production is a series of discrete paper sculptures focusing on American industrial corn farming. This EV also functions as a way for me to understand our devastated monoculture landscapes and the politics, economics, and related areas of ecology of our food production

Exploring Preferences for Urban Greening in Association with Learning About Sustainability in a Museum-based Urban Ecology Exhibit

Sustainable urban design and planning is grounded in understanding complex interconnecting relationships between human and ecological processes (Alberti & Marzluff, 2004). While compulsory education may provide an introduction to this subject, supplementary means are necessary in order to support citizen knowledge, interest and understanding of these complex relationships. Informal learning settings, such as museums, create opportunities for lifelong learning (Falk and Dierking, 2010) and can introduce, incorporate and link urban sustainability issues to provide an accessible and engaging introduction to the subject. Sustainable responses to urban development point to the need for higher density neighbourhoods coupled with extensive urban tree canopy (Alberti & Marzluff, 2004). However, more research is needed to ascertain if these urban forms match the preferred settings of urban residents. A family science museum provides a unique setting to explore urban greening in residential settings and provides museum visitors with the opportunity to participate in social-science research