Analysing successful public spaces in an urban street network using data from the social networks Foursquare and Twitter

This paper analyzes success public spaces (specifically plazas) in the urban fabric of the city of Murcia, Spain. Two approaches were adopted. Firstly, the city was visualized as a complex network whose nodes represent plazas. A centrality algorithm was applied to determine the importance of each node. Secondly, data sets were used from social networks Foursquare and Twitter, which provide different types of data as well as user profiles. Foursquare data indicates user preferences of urban public spaces, while in this respect Twitter offers less specific user generated data. Both perspectives have facilitated two rankings based on the most visited plazas in the city. The results enabled a comparative study to determine the potential differences or similarities between both approaches.This work was partially supported by Spanish Govern, Ministerio de Economía y Competividad, grant number TIN2014-53855-P

Taking the urban tourist activity pulse through digital footprints

An insight on urban tourism-related phenomena is provided in this study by analysing open and volunteered user generated content. A reference framework method is proposed and applied to an illustrative case study to meet a twofold objective: to identify Tourist Activity Centre – TAC – areas based on their functional character – sightseeing, shopping, eating and nightlife; and, to obtain an up-to-date fine-grain characterization of the most dynamic zones in an urban context. Instasights Heatmaps and data from Location Based Social Networks – Foursquare, Google Places, Twitter and Airbnb – were used to depict tourist urban activity. This reproducible method transcends Instasights generic visualization of popular areas by exploiting the benefits of overlapping LBSN data sources. This method facilitates a granular analysis of tourism-related places of interest and makes headway in bridging the gap between traditional approaches and user preferences, revealed through digital footprints, for urban analysis. The results indicate the potential of this method as a complementary tool for urban planning decision-making.This research was funded by the Vice-rectorate of Research and Knowledge Transfer of the University of Alicante, in the context of the Program for the promotion of R+D+I. This work was developed within the scope of the research project entitled: "[LIVELYCITY] Interdisciplinary methods for the study of the city through geolocated social networks", reference GRE18-19

The contribution of Big Data to the study of the urban form sustainability

La revolución de los datos masivos —Big Data— ha irrumpido con nuevas fuentes de datos y novedosas metodologías en el estudio de la ciudad. Entre estos datos sobresalen aquellos que están geolocalizados y, por tanto, ofrecen información precisa sobre los lugares de la ciudad en los que se generan o comparten; en este sentido, destacan los datos geolocalizados de las redes sociales. Esta información permite evaluar aspectos relacionados con la sostenibilidad de las ciudades y sus comunidades de acuerdo con los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible—. A través de tres escalas de estudio —la ciudad, el barrio y el espacio público local— se abordan aquellas cuestiones que informan sobre: centralidad urbana, equilibrio de los distintos sistemas urbanos, densidad y distribución de actividades económicas y urbanas, presencia y preferencias ciudadanas y vitalidad en espacios públicos urbanos.The Big Data revolution has burst onto the scene with new sources of data and original methodologies for studying the city. Specifically, location-based data are of relevance for urban studies because they offer precise information of the places from which they are generated or shared. Location-based social networks data stand out in this regard. This information makes it possible to assess different aspects related to the sustainability of cities and their communities —11th Sustainable Development Goal—. This paper presents research based on these sources that focuses on three scales. i.e., the city, the neighbourhood, and the local public space, which provides valuable insights on urban centrality; balance of the different urban systems; density and distribution of economic and urban activities; citizen presence and preferences; and vitality in urban public spaces.Esta investigación ha sido financiada por la Conselleria de Innovación, Universidades, Ciencia y Sociedad Digital. Generalitat Valenciana (GV/2021/177)

Proceedings of the SUPTM 2022 conference

This book includes the proceedings of the 1st international Conference on Future Challenges in Sustainable Urban Planning & Territorial Management celebrated on January 17-19, 2022. Urban planning is an essential tool in our global society's journey towards sustainability. This tool is as important as the territorial management to execute the plans. Both, planning and management, must be efficient to achieve the goal of sustainability inside the general framework of Sustainable Development Goals of United Nations. It does not exist any B planet so, identify urban & territorial challenges in our territories such reaching sustainable mobility, diagnose natural hazards and control land resource consumption is mandatory for our XXI century generation. Planning land uses compatibles with the ecosystem services of territory and manage them by public-private cooperation systems is a greatly challenge for our global society. Human activities do not have very frequently among their objectives to maintain ecosystem services of territory. Therefore, this field of research must help to guarantee the maintenance of natural resources, also called Natural Capital, necessary for social and economic activities of our global society. This conference aims to be a space to share research works, ideas, experiences, projects, etc. in this field of knowledge. We want to put in value that planning and management are subjects that include technological and social matters and their own methodologies. Laws, rules and cultures of different countries around the world are or can be very diverse. But the planet is only one. Technologies are shared, methodologies to analyze territories are also communal to share experiences about the global goal of sustainability, so these events are a necessary way to build our joint future. We trust that the success of this first edition of the SUPTM conference (which has been attended by more than 200 researchers from the five continents) will be an opening step towards international collaboration and the dissemination of knowledge that is so important in this field of urban planning and territorial management

Housing quality and lost (public) space in Croatia

IN ENGLISH: In the post-socialist period and within the current social transition context, urban and rural Croatia has, just like other transition countries, experienced many changes in the social structure and space. One example is the housing quality which is a replica of the situation in the Croatian society and has also undergone some major changes. Socially oriented housing construction co-financed by the state and the cities is in an unfavourable position compared to private housing construction. In the last twenty years the amount of the social housing construction has been only a minor part of the total contruction work in the country. For instance, out of nine newly planned residential housing developments in Zagreb, the capital city, only three have been completed and the work on the rest of them has stopped and is unlikely to continue. Private construction work prevails especially on the edge of the city and is characterised by high density housing. This type of housing construction doesn't benefit the majority of citizens in search of accommodation (price per square meter is too high, low-quality building). There is also a big problem of the community facilities (primary and secondary infrastructure, schools, kindergartens, playgrounds, green areas, sidewalks, public transport etc.). The existing globalisation-transition circumstances of the Croatian society corroborate the fact which experts of various profiles often point out: ignoring the process of (urban) planning will irreparably damage the space. The city transformation shows the absence of comprehensive urban planning which results in an ever increasing number of random buildings which do not fit in the surroundings. This leads up to yet another important issue – the shrinking and, in some cases, disappearance of public space which becomes the “lost space“. In recent years there has been a lot of building in the city core and on the edge which does not quite fit in the existing urban structure, image or the skyline of the city. The current situation in the process of planning can be characterized as a conflict and imbalance between the powerful actors (mostly political and economic) and less powerful actors (mostly professional and civil). The actors who have the political power and influence and the ones who possess the capital are forming an “alliance” between two important layers of the social structure. The lack of civil and professional actors, “lost spatial actors”, and therefore of civic aggregation is also present and that is also the cause of public space “disappearance” and undermined process of public participation. --------------- IN CROATIAN: U postsocijalističkom razdoblju i trenutnom tranzicijskom kontekstu urbana i ruralna Hrvatska su, kao i ostale tranzicijske zemlje, doživjele mnoge promjene u društvenoj strukturi i samom prostoru. Na primjeru kvalitete stanovanja kao replike stanja u hrvatskom društvu mogu se vidjeti značajne promjene. Društveno usmjerena stambena izgradnja sufinancirana od strane države i gradova je stoga rjeđa i u nepovoljnijoj je situaciji prema privatnoj stanogradnji. Zadnjih dvadeset godina udjel socijalne stambene gradnje je zanemariv u ukupnoj izgradnji na razini zemlje. Primjerice, od devet planiranih stambenih naselja izgrađenih po modelu POS-a u Zagrebu samo su tri i završena. Na ostalima je proces gradnje zastao i ne čini se da će se privesti kraju. Privatna je gradnje prisutnija, posebno na rubovima grada, a obilježava je visoka gustoća gradnje. Ovakav tip gradnje ne odgovara većini stanovnika koji su u procesu potražnje stambene nekretnine (visoka cijena kvadratnog metra, a slaba kvaliteta gradnje). Postoji također i problem nedostatne opremljenosti susjedstva (primarna i sekundarna infrastruktura, škole, vrtići, igrališta, zelene površine, pješačke staze, javni transport itd.). Navedene globalizacijsko-tranzicijske okolnosti hrvatskog društva potvrđuju ono što eksperti različitih profila ističu, a to je da će ignoriranje procesa (urbanog) planiranja nepovratno uništiti prostor gradova. Ovakve transformacije pokazuju nedostatak sustavnog urbanog planiranja što rezultira sve većim brojem zgrada koje se ne uklapaju u neposrednu okolinu. To nadalje dovodi do drugog važnog aspekta – smanjivanja i u nekim slučajevima, nestanka javnog prostora koji postaje „izgubljeni prostor“. Posljednjih je godina izgrađen velik broj zgrada, i u središtu i na rubovima grada, koje se ne uklapaju u postojeću urbanu strukturu, izgled ili vizuru grada. Ovakvu situaciju obilježavaju sukob i neravnoteža između moćnijih društvenih aktera (većinom političkih i ekonomskih) i onih manje moćnih (većinom profesionalnih i civilnih). Politički i ekonomski akteri se često povezuju u „savez“ dvaju najjačih u društvenoj strukturi. S druge strane nedostatak utjecaja civilnih i profesionalnih aktera kao „izgubljenih prostornih aktera“ dovodi do „nestanka“ javnih prostora te smanjenja važnosti procesa participacije (sudjelovanja javnosti)

XX Workshop de Investigadores en Ciencias de la Computación - WICC 2018 : Libro de actas

Actas del XX Workshop de Investigadores en Ciencias de la Computación (WICC 2018), realizado en Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales y Agrimensura de la Universidad Nacional del Nordeste, los dìas 26 y 27 de abril de 2018.Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

XX Workshop de Investigadores en Ciencias de la Computación - WICC 2018 : Libro de actas

Actas del XX Workshop de Investigadores en Ciencias de la Computación (WICC 2018), realizado en Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales y Agrimensura de la Universidad Nacional del Nordeste, los dìas 26 y 27 de abril de 2018.Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Comunicación ibero-americana: los desafíos de la internacionalización: libro de actas del II Congreso Mundial de la Comunicación iberoamericana

(Excerto da Nota Introdutória) Com uma tradição académica que remonta a meados do século XX, os estudos de comunicação têm acompanhado as principais transformações sociais e culturais operadas sob o signo dos média e por efeito de uma organização cada vez mais tecnológica da vida em sociedade. Ao analisarem as dinâmicas discursivas de um tempo marcado pelo convívio com meios de comunicação igualmente dinâmicos e mutantes, as ciências da comunicação prestam-se a uma compreensão mais vasta dos processos de socialização e manifestação cultural. É por isso que esta é uma área tão recetiva à interdisciplinaridade e, ao mesmo tempo, tão sensível à expressão nas diversas línguas que servem a comunicação. Dedicando-se a um objeto de estudo que nada tem de estável, as ciências da comunicação partilham com todas as outras áreas científicas o repto de internacionalização do conhecimento. À semelhança do que tem acontecido com outros grupos disciplinares, também as ciências da comunicação estão hoje organizadas numa lógica de globalização da ciência. A partir da década de 1950, começaram a ser criadas associações internacionais, como a International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), lançada em 1957, e a International Communication Association (ICA), criada em 1950 como National Society for the Study of Communication (NSSC), a que se sucederam muitas outras de âmbitos mais especializados ou regionalizados. Por iniciativa destas associações, passaram a realizar-se periodicamente congressos internacionais que depressa concorreram para instituir o Inglês como uma espécie de língua oficial.(Nota introdutória no completa) Con una tradición académica que se remonta a mediados del siglo XX, los estudios de comunicación han sido capaces de acompañar los principales cambios sociales y culturales en el marco de los medios de comunicación social, una consecuencia que resulta de una organización cada vez más tecnológica de la vida en sociedad. Mediante el análisis científico de las dinámicas discursivas de nuestro tiempo, caracterizado por la existencia de múltiples medios de comunicación igualmente dinámicos y cambiantes, las ciencias de la comunicación se proponen comprender los procesos de socialización y las diversas manifestaciones culturales. Es quizás por eso que dicha área científica es tan receptiva tanto a la interdisciplinariedad como a la muy sensible expresión en diversas lenguas que sirven de base a la comunicación. Aunque su objeto de estudio se caracterice por la inestabilidad, las ciencias de la comunicación comparten con todas las áreas científicas el gran reto de la internacionalización del conocimiento. Tal y como ha pasado con otros grupos disciplinares, también las ciencias de la comunicación se presentan hoy más organizadas en la lógica de globalización de la ciencia. En este sentido, a partir de la década de 1950 se han creado asociaciones internacionales como la AIECS (Asociación Internacional de Estudios de Comunicación Social), en 1957, y la ICA (Asociación de Comunicación Internacional), fundada en 1950 como Sociedad Nacional para el Estudio de la Comunicación (NSSC), a las cuáles les han seguido numerosas asociaciones más de ámbitos más especializados o más regionalizados. Como resultado de este proceso, se han organizado con gran frecuencia congresos internacionales que casi han convertido a la lengua inglesa en el idioma oficial de dichos encuentros científicos.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT