Making sense of assets: Community asset mapping and related approaches for cultivating capacities

This working paper critically reviews some main aspects from asset based approaches highlights key strengths and weaknesses for future research/development. Drawing on a large body of reports and relevant literature we draw on different theoretical traditions and critiques, as well as practices and processes embedded within a broad range of approaches including, widely acknowledged frameworks such Asset Based Community Development (ABCD), Appreciative Inquiry (AI), Sustainable Livelihood Approaches (SLA) and Community Capitals Framework (CCF). Although these are presented as distinct approaches, there is a sense of evolution through them and many of them overlap (in terms of both theories and methodologies). We also include emerging frameworks, including geographical, socio-spatial, visual and creative approaches, stemming from a number of projects within AHRC’s Connected Communities programme and additional collaborations

Space-time compression and hyperlocalisation: the new flâneurs

The experience of sensations such as time acceleration and space elimination has become common in modern life, which is increasingly organised in tune with the “real time” imposed by digital media. Throughout this article and starting with the concept of “time compression” presented by David Harvey (1999), the authors contrast technological determinism with other perspectives that suggest there is a dialogue-based relationship between technology and society. The text discusses notions such as deterritorialisation and detemporalisation that make it possible to understand the emergence of a fragmented and timeless data space, which corresponds to a “new geography”, in which it is no longer possible to establish a clear boundary between the physical and the digital world. The text is theoretically underpinned by the concept of the cyberflâneur, exploring the similarities with the 19th century flâneur described by Baudelaire (1996). Analysis of a set of artistic and experimental interventions addressing issues such as hyperlocalisation or ubiquity and pervasiveness enables us to use the character of the cyberflâneur in a twofold sense – as a sign of technical acceleration and also as a symbol of resistance to such acceleration. The authors conclude that the exponential evolution and increasing “naturalisation” of technology obligates us to consider its determining role in social dynamics, namely by transforming our relationship with the dimensions of space and time

Data from mobile phone operators: A tool for smarter cities?

Abstract The use of mobile phone data provides new spatio-temporal tools for improving urban planning, and for reducing inefficiencies in present-day urban systems. Data from mobile phones, originally intended as a communication tool, are increasingly used as innovative tools in geography and social sciences research. Empirical studies on complex city systems from human-centred and urban dynamics perspectives provide new insights to develop promising applications for supporting smart city initiatives. This paper provides a comprehensive review and a typology of spatial studies on mobile phone data, and highlights the applicability of such digital data to develop innovative applications for enhanced urban management

Context-Aware Middleware: An overview

Paper published in "Revista Paradigma" from Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá- ColombiaNational audienceIn this paper we give an overview of context-aware middleware plat- forms. They are characterized in terms of properties such as communication, con- text management and adaptation. We present a description of different platforms and their properties

A model personal energy meter

Every day each of us consumes a significant amount of energy, both directly through transport, heating and use of appliances, and indirectly from our needs for the production of food, manufacture of goods and provision of services. This dissertation investigates a personal energy meter which can record and apportion an individual's energy usage in order to supply baseline information and incentives for reducing our environmental impact. If the energy costs of large shared resources are split evenly without regard for individual consumption each person minimises his own losses by taking advantage of others. Context awareness offers the potential to change this balance and apportion energy costs to those who cause them to be incurred. This dissertation explores how sensor systems installed in many buildings today can be used to apportion energy consumption between users, including an evaluation of a range of strategies in a case study and elaboration of the overriding principles that are generally applicable. It also shows how second-order estimators combined with location data can provide a proxy for fine-grained sensing. A key ingredient for apportionment mechanisms is data on energy usage. This may come from metering devices or buildings directly, or from profiling devices and using secondary indicators to infer their power state. A mechanism for profiling devices to determine the energy costs of specific activities, particularly applicable to shared programmable devices is presented which can make this process simpler and more accurate. By combining crowdsourced building-inventory information and a simple building energy model it is possible to estimate an individual's energy use disaggregated by device class with very little direct sensing. Contextual information provides crucial cues for apportioning the use and energy costs of resources, and one of the most valuable sources from which to infer context is location. A key ingredient for a personal energy meter is a low cost, low infrastructure location system that can be deployed on a truly global scale. This dissertation presents a description and evaluation of the new concept of inquiry-free Bluetooth tracking that has the potential to offer indoor location information with significantly less infrastructure and calibration than other systems. Finally, a suitable architecture for a personal energy meter on a global scale is demonstrated using a mobile phone application to aggregate energy feeds based on the case studies and technologies developed

Advancing PSS with complex urban systems sciences and scalable spatio-temporal models

Planning Support System (PSS) with a core of dynamic spatio-temporal model has been developed as analytical and information tools to aid and inform urban planning processes. However, scholarly communities identify that PSS has yet been popularized in planning practices, and not fully capable of meeting the challenge of understanding complex urban environments. I am dedicated to investigate and break through the bottlenecks of PSS with my experiences with University of Illinois Landuse Evolution and Impact Assessment Model (LEAM) PSS, which exemplify a PSS that that aid the process of collaboratively building spatio-temporal scenario models and transferring the knowledge to planning practitioners. I explore the future applications of PSS including Smart Cities, sentience, resilience, and environmental planning processes and their role in improving PSS usefulness in the practice of planning. PSS improvements will be presented in terms of multi-directional spatio-temporal processes and scenario planning. Moreover, I will address the process of transferring knowledge to users on model validity and ‘goodness-of-fit’ in real world planning applications. Beyond the traditional theoretical framework of PSS, the emerging Complex Urban System Sciences (CUS) challenge the core assumptions of spatial models of PSS, and pose opportunities for updating current PSS approaches into scalable spatio-temporal model that adheres to CUS principles. I will analyze this potential infusion by examining next generation PSSs within a framework of current CUS theories and advancement in statistical and computational methods. Case studies involved in my dissertation include LEAM PSS’ applications in McHenry County (IL), Peoria (IL), Chicago (IL), and St. Louis (MO). The final part of this dissertation highlights my contributions to the existing CUS theories. I will demonstrates how evidence from empirical applications can contribute to CUS theory itself. I will show how CUS can challenge the core assumptions of “distance to CBD” models that economists use to characterize urban structure and land-use

The Port of Sheffield: Co-creation in Mobile Application Development for Place-Based Interaction with Large-Scale Urban Heritage Sites

Constructed in 1819, the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal linked the City of Sheffield with the rest of the British waterway system and brought ships into the canal basin in the city centre for the first time. Eroded by periods of rapid social, economic and technological change, the three-mile stretch of the canal site has today become a ‘forgotten’ space, hidden behind surviving industrial sheds and derelict warehouses. The city council's regeneration plans of new waterfront housing along the canal have been held up by the complexities over land ownership, use patterns and brownfield contamination. It has been suggested that the ‘sense of possibility’ of neglected sites such as the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal is what gives the urban landscape of Sheffield its unique character. This article presents our research on the development of a location-aware mobile application through a community-oriented process to deliver ‘place-based’ interaction with the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal as a large-scale urban heritage site. In collaboration with local creative practitioners, we piloted ‘The Port of Sheffield’ a mobile application that enables oral histories and memories to be overlaid onto specific geolocations along the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal. Through the data collected from public use of the application, we reflect on the effectiveness and limitation of co-creation as a methodological framework and discuss the implications of place-based mobile interaction for initiating and sustaining citizens' engagement and interpretations of the past and future of large-scale complex urban heritage sites

Mobile Dua and Zikr for Hajj (MDZ4H)

In the last decade, the number of mobile phone users has increased dramatically. Nowadays, mobile phone has become part of people's life. Today's mobile phones provide not just voice call and messaging services, but plethora of other services. This research is about the utilization of mobile phone for dua and zikr for Hajj. The main aim of this research is to develop a mobile Dua and Zikr in order to help Hajj pilgrims to recite them while performing all the required rituals. At the moment, this research focuses on developing the application on Android platform. In developing the application, all the required Dua and Zikr have to be gathered, compiled and verified before the prototype could be developed using J2ME. The prototype consists of the text and audio files of the recited Dua and Zikr in Arabic as well as the translation in Malay. Finally the prototype has been evaluated by users and experts using two sets of questionnaires. It is hoped that the developed prototype would be able to help the pilgrims to easily and conveniently recite the Dua and Zikr towards achieving Hajj Mabrur