Vernacular architecture in Brazilian semiarid region: survey and memory in the state of Sergipe

[EN] Buildings with earth in their composition have been common since the beginning of the Brazilian territory’s settlement. Until this day, wattle-and-daub homes are frequent in the Northeast region of the country. This technique uses a structural cage made of the weft of woods whose interlocking voids are covered with thrown wet clay. Due to the current association of these buildings as shelters for insects that may contain Trypanosoma cruzi (which transmits the Chagas disease) numerous public policies guide eradication and replacement of these buildings by others built with masonry. Due to the destruction of these buildings, built with vernacular earthen techniques, this research aims to survey buildings that still resist in the semiarid region of Sergipe state. Therefore, literature review was carried out on architecture in the semiarid region and building investigation techniques using digital tools. Considering Sars-Cov-2 pandemic as a prohibitive condition that caused difficulties in collecting data in the field, it was necessary to seek out methods that could be used for a remote survey. Furthermore, an exploratory analysis was carried out with digitally available tools in which it was possible to observe popular buildings built with earth in the legal semi-arid region. Initially, data was collected from the latest demographic censuses carried out by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), as well as the socioeconomic data of Brazilian families in poverty situations registered with the government. This initial data, however, did not present information on geographic positioning of the dwellings, making it necessary to conduct a survey through Google Street View software, allowing the visualization of images at ground level, being effective on searching for wattle-and-daub residences. From these data, a catalog of the constructions found was generated and, by georeferencing these dwellings, the documentation produced may contribute to the preservation of vernacular constructive memory of this study’s location object.Felix Andrade, D.; Penido De Rezende, M.; Araújo Lima Bessa, S. (2022). Vernacular architecture in Brazilian semiarid region: survey and memory in the state of Sergipe. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 31-38. https://doi.org/10.4995/HERITAGE2022.2022.15127313

Deep learning for building stock classification for seismic risk analysis

Nas últimas décadas, a maioria dos esforços para catalogar e caracterizar o ambiente construído para a avaliação de riscos múltiplos têm-se concentrado na exploração de dados censitários habitacionais, conjuntos de dados cadastrais e pesquisas locais. A primeira abordagem é atualizada apenas a cada 10 anos e não fornece informações sobre a localizações dos edifícios. O segundo tipo de dados está disponível apenas para algumas áreas urbanos, e a terceira abordagem requer levantamentos realizados por profissionais com formação em engenharia, o que é proibitivo em termos de custo para estudos de risco em larga escala. Portanto, é evidente que os métodos para caracterizar o ambiente construído para a análise de riscos em larga escala, estão atualmente ausentes, o que dificulta a avaliação do impacto de fenómenos naturais para fins de gestão de riscos. Alguns esforços recentes têm demonstrado como algoritmos de aprendizagem-máquina podem ser treinados para reconhecer características arquitetónicas e estruturais específicas dos edifícios a partir de imagens das suas fachadas e propor, de forma probabilística, uma ou várias classes de edifícios. Neste estudo, demonstrou-se como tais algoritmos podem ser combinados com dados do OpenStreetMap e imagens do Google Street View para desenvolver modelos de exposição para a análise de riscos múltiplos. Um conjunto de dados foi construído com aproximadamente 5000 imagens de edifícios da freguesia de Alvalade, no distrito de Lisboa (Portugal). Esse conjunto foi utilizado para testar diferentes algoritmos, resultando em níveis de desempenho e exatidão distintos. O melhor resultado foi obtido com o Xception, com uma exatidão de cerca de 86%, seguido do DenseNet201, do InceptionResNetV2 e do InceptionV3, todos com exatidões superiores a 83%. Estes resultados servirão de suporte a futuros desenvolvimentos na avaliação de modelos de exposição para análise de risco sísmico. A novidade deste trabalho consiste no número de características de edifícios presentes no conjunto de dados, no número de modelos de aprendizagem profunda treinados e no número de classes que podem ser utilizadas para construir modelos de exposição.In the last decades, most efforts to catalog and characterize the built environment for multi-hazard risk assessment have focused on the exploration of housing census data, cadastral datasets, and local surveys. The first approach is only updated every 10 years and does not provide information on building locations. The second type of data is only available for some urban areas, and the third approach requires surveys carried out by professionals with an engineering background, which is cost-prohibitive for large-scale risk studies. It is thus clear that methods to characterize the built environment for large-scale risk analysis at the asset level are currently missing, which hampers the assessment of the impact of natural hazards for the purposes of risk management. Some recent efforts have demonstrated how machine learning algorithms can be trained to recognize specific architectural and structural features of buildings based on their facades, and probabilistically propose one or multiple building classes. This study demonstrates how such algorithms can be combined with data from OpenStreetMap and imagery from Google Street View to develop exposure models for multi-hazard risk analysis. A dataset was built with approximately 5000 images of buildings from the parish of Alvalade, within the Lisbon district (Portugal). This dataset was used to test different algorithms, which led to distinct performance and accuracy levels. The best result was obtained with Xception, with an accuracy of approximately 86%, followed by DenseNet201, InceptionResNetV2 and InceptionV3, all with accuracies above 83%. These results will support future developments for assessing exposure models for seismic risk analysis. The novelty of this work consists in the number of building characteristics present in the dataset, the number of deep learning models trained and the number of classes that can be used for building exposure models

Deep learning-based graffiti detection: A study using Images from the streets of Lisbon

This research work comes from a real problem from Lisbon City Council that was interested in developing a system that automatically detects in real-time illegal graffiti present throughout the city of Lisbon by using cars equipped with cameras. This system would allow a more efficient and faster identification and clean-up of the illegal graffiti constantly being produced, with a georeferenced position. We contribute also a city graffiti database to share among the scientific community. Images were provided and collected from different sources that included illegal graffiti, images with graffiti considered street art, and images without graffiti. A pipeline was then developed that, first, classifies the image with one of the following labels: illegal graffiti, street art, or no graffiti. Then, if it is illegal graffiti, another model was trained to detect the coordinates of graffiti on an image. Pre-processing, data augmentation, and transfer learning techniques were used to train the models. Regarding the classification model, an overall accuracy of 81.4% and F1-scores of 86%, 81%, and 66% were obtained for the classes of street art, illegal graffiti, and image without graffiti, respectively. As for the graffiti detection model, an Intersection over Union (IoU) of 70.3% was obtained for the test set.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Muralismo galego contemporáneo: deterioro e conservación de materiais de soporte e pictóricos

The appearance of contemporary muralism works decorating our cities requires a specific investigation focused on the study of the alteration processes of these works and on the evaluation of the effectiveness of products that can slow their deterioration, reducing their ephemeral nature. The proposed research aims to identify the main agents and forms of deterioration that affect the contemporary murals made in Galicia in the last decade, as well as to evaluate the durability of the most used pictorial materials by the collective of urban artists (acrylic paints and sprays) applied on the most common supports. The results obtained will constitute the necessary starting point for the correct diagnosis of the works and the knowledge base necessary to define the most appropriate direct conservation interventions for the contemporary muralism in Galicia. This research belongs to an interdisciplinary and international research project CONSERVATION OF ART IN URBAN SPACES (CAPuS), supported via the Key Action 2 (knowledge Alliances) of the Erasmus+ Programme, in which the CI5 group - Mining of the University of Vigo is integrated as a work team.La aparición de obras de muralismo contemporáneo decorando nuestras ciudades requiere abordar una investigación especifica centrada en el estudio de los procesos de alteración que sufren estas obras y en la evaluación de la eficacia de productos que puedan ralentizar su deterioro, reduciendo en consecuencia su carácter efímero. La investigación que se propone pretende identificar los principales agentes y formas de deterioro que afectan a los murales contemporáneos realizados en Galicia en la última década, así como evaluar la durabilidad de los materiales pictóricos más usados por el colectivo de artistas urbanos (pinturas acrílicas y sprays) aplicadas en los soportes más habituales. Los resultados obtenidos constituirán el punto de partida necesario para el correcto diagnóstico de las obras y la base de conocimiento necesaria para definir las intervenciones de conservación directa más adecuadas a las necesidades de conservación del muralismo contemporáneo en Galicia. Esta investigación se enmarca dentro de un proyecto de investigación interdisciplinar e internacional en el marco de las ayudas a las alianzas de conocimiento (KA) del programa Erasmus +, el proyecto CONSERVATION OF ART IN URBAN SPACES (CAPuS), en el cual el grupo CI5- Explotación de Minas de la Universidad de Vigo se integra como equipo de trabajo.A aparición de obras de muralismo contemporáneo que decoran as nosas cidades require unha investigación específica centrada no estudo dos procesos de alteración que sofren estas obras e na avaliación da eficacia de produtos que poden retardar o seu deterioro, reducindo así o seu carácter efémero. A investigación proposta pretende identificar os principais axentes e formas de deterioración que afectan aos murais contemporáneos realizados en Galicia na última década, así como avaliar a durabilidade dos materiais pictóricos máis empregados polo colectivo de artistas urbanos (pinturas acrílicas e spray) aplicadas nos soportes máis habituais. Os resultados obtidos constituirán o punto de partida necesario para o correcto diagnóstico das obras e a base de coñecemento necesaria para definir as intervencións de conservación directa máis adecuadas para as necesidades de conservación do muralismo contemporáneo en Galicia. Esta investigación forma parte dun proxecto de investigación interdisciplinar e internacional no marco da axuda ás alianzas do coñecemento (KA) do programa Erasmus +, o proxecto CONSERVATION OF ART IN URBAN SPACES (CAPuS) no que o grupo CI5 – Explotación de Minas da Universidade de Vigo está integrada como equipo de traballo.Agencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. RYC2020-028902-

Culture, Heritage and Territorial Identities for Urban Development

From the 1970s onwards, many towns and cities have experienced deindustrialization processes, while seeing a gradual growth of tertiarization and diversification of services, including cultural ones. With the different, both positive and negative, effects introduced by new cultural interpretations of cities (e.g., culture in public spaces, cultural and creative industries, culture as marketing tools, cultural commodification, etc.), the concept of culture has become increasingly associated with urban image and identity. In finding solutions within regeneration processes, policies often rely on tools from the cultural and creative fields. Additionally, built material and immaterial heritage can have significant roles: e.g., by converting heritage sites and buildings through cultural projects or new functions, or capitalizing on specific traditions and place memory for local identity and place attachment. This SI focuses on cultural approaches in connection with urban development and gather contributions from various research fields. It addresses researchers and academics from social sciences who are interested in topics such as: cultural activities and their role in urban development; cities (re)constructing their identity; culture as a relevant component of current spatial planning policies; urban strategies, attracting creative people; urban image, heritage and culture; culture, local memory and local identities; heritage and industrial culture; subcultures within cities and processes of urban change

Icelandic street art. An analysis of the formation and development.

This thesis aims to form the basis of research on the Icelandic street art by detailing the main events that spurred the development of this art movement and by describing the key factors that shaped the evolution of this artistic movement in Iceland and the societal reaction towards it. The presented theoretical material aims to enable discussion on street art substance in this one particular country, taking into consideration the scope of definitions applied in international street art research. While regarding already existing studies on this artistic movement in other countries, this thesis presents the local specifics in order to highlight the differences in artistic and social approach. The topic was chosen due to personal interests that grew expansively while the author was living in Iceland. The possibilities to directly observe the evolving contemporary art scene and participate in the ongoing changes served as a factual basis for further research. Author noticed the sizeable gap in the research on Icelandic art, especially available to international academic forums. Moreover, there has been no previously conducted research on Icelandic street art, and, to date, only limited study on Icelandic contemporary art is available. Another factor for the choice of theme was the particular interest in the contemporary artistic movements that raise the question of applicable art definitions and hence also the scope of research, which demands a multidisciplinary approach. Street art, as a dynamic socio – artistic movement, encompasses such an approach and challenges the researchers to apply various methods of art history, combined with sociological approach, in order to conduct research on graffiti, street art or broader urban creativity. Due to the ambivalent nature of street art as well as the possible legal consequences it carries, accessing the functional sources for academic purposes is crucial. This study involves materials obtained direct in local research, through interviews and field work but also municipal documentation and information provided in domestic press and social media. It seemed essential to present the most important occurrences in local political and social history and to summarize the factors that allowed the formation and development of Icelandic street art. Due to the pioneering element of the study, the monography of the movement seemed more appropriate than a detailed analysis of particular artworks or artists’ biographies adopting methodologies designed for the history of art.:PART I Theory 1. Methodology and research goals 1.1 Subject matter and research tools 1.2 Historical background reasoning the topic choice 1.3 Development of history of art as a discipline reasoning the topic choice 1.4 Information sources used in research, collection methods and value assessment 1.5 Specifics of Iceland 2. Fluctuating scope of the area of interest 2.1 Change in the approach 2.2 Widening research and multidisciplinary approach 3. Nomenclature in the street art and urban activity studies 3.1 Overview of milestones in attempts of street art definitions 3.2 Newest points of view 3.3 Definitions used hereby 4. Institutionalization as an inseparable part of street art history 4.1 Scope of definition 4.2 Institutionalization as an inseparable part of street art 4.3 The side effect of sponsored street art 4.3.1 Graffiti in large-format advertising 4.3.2 Substitute for freedom in curated urban space 4.3.3 Zero Tolerance Policies and clean cities 4.4 Publicity of the public art 4.5 Research on the institutionalization of street art 5. Icelandic street art in the context of the current state of international research 5.1 Area of interest – social studies and the edge of different disciplines 5.2 Different means of research on street art 5.2.1 Festivals, conferences and street art museums as a research tool 5.2.1.1 Street art festivals 5.2.1.2 Street art conferences 5.2.1.3. Street art museums 5.2.2 Material published in book forms 5.2.3 Online accessible articles and reviews, blogs 5.3 Icelandic art 5.4 Street art in Reykjavík 5.4.1 The Reykjavík Grapevine 5.4.2 Online sources: personal blogs, tourist information, social media accounts 5.4.3 Hard copy published materials 5.4.4. Social media and sharing platforms 5.4.5 Film materials 5.4.6 Publications of cultural and educational institutions 6. Icelandic street art 6.1 Environment for street art development in Iceland. Artistic society after the Second World War 6.2 Hlíðargöngin as the first scene for Icelandic street art 6.3 Bloom and expansion time 6.4. Zero Tolerance Policy Implementation in Reykjavík 6.4.1 Reasons for the implementation of Zero Tolerance 6.4.2 Scandinavian inspirations for Implementation of Zero Tolerance Policy 6.4.3 The costs of Zero Tolerance Policy 6.4.4 Obtaining permission for graffiti 6.4.5 An assigned place for graffiti 6.4.6 Icelandic version of Zero Tolerance Policy 6.5 The peak of urban creativity around 2012 6.5.1 Hjartagarðurinn 6.5.2 Guido van Helten Sailors, Skagaströnd 2013 Afi, Reykjavík 2013 No exit, Reykjavík 2013 – 2014 Halla, Vestmannaeyar, 2014 Girl, Akureyri 2014 Jón from Vör, Kópavogur 2015 Sæfari, 2015 6.5.3. Sara Riel 6.5.3.1 Education, early recognition and awards 6.5.3.2 Beginnings on the street art scene 6.5.3.3 Time of growing up 6.5.3.4 In the vibrant city 6.5.3.5 Natural Kingdoms 6.5.3.6 Memento Mori 6.5.3.7 Is it legal? 6.5.3.8 Turn into abstract organic art 6.5.3.9 What plant would you like to be and why? 6.6 Street art intensity around 2012 – 2013 and balancing the scene off 6.7 Wall Poetry 6.7.1 Iceland Airwaves Festival 6.7.2 Urban Nation 6.7.3 Wall Poetry 2015 6.7.3.1 Project description 6.7.3.2 Artworks 6.7.4 Wall Poetry 2016 6.8 Current situation on Icelandic street art scene 7 The official and social approach towards street art in Iceland 7.1 Street art reception 7.2 Reykjavík´s mayor Jón Gnarr and Banksy 7.3 Educational institutions 7.4 Artists associations 7.5 Exhibition rooms and artists-run spaces 8. ”Icelandness”? 9. Summary List of the Icelandic names and their translation in English Photography credentials Bibliography PART II Photographic material Fig. 1 Research on social reception of street art Photograph

Communicative semiotics in everyday life (Cultural criticism – the image in the 21st century)

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London.What am I seeing? What does it mean? This thesis addresses the transformations in cultural life in the 21st century due to the cultural dominance of the image, which resulted from the radical change and enormous progress in the media, communication and the development of information systems in the world. All this has led to changes in the intellectual structure, and an increased tendency to drift in all areas, and the emergence of a society and a culture governed by the culture of shock. The fundamental issue concerning the image is an epistemological issue, as we cannot distinguish between the visual image and the semantic product. We live in a world surrounded with stunning and spectacular visual images. We are overloaded with images from all types in our everyday life. We probably see images more than we read words. This thesis provides an analytical framework for understanding how images produce meanings using the semiotic approach. Semiotics is the most important approach that can be used to analyze all types of images. Semiotic analysis addresses images as signs which communicate meaning. The symbols used in signs are often culturally specific. This thesis indicates the focus of the receiver to adapt to this visual cultural situation, to be able to grasp the content of the new cultural discourse as it is present in all the details of the receiver’s daily life. There have been a number of questions that pushed me to accomplish this research, including: what are the elements of the culture of the image? What is its impact on the mental perception and production of semantic meaning? What is its reflection on the nature of social networking in general? The thesis discussed all of these issues