68 research outputs found

    Resilient design for London's elevated social spaces: exploring challenges, opportunities, and harnessing interactive virtual reality co-design approaches for community engagement

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    In the face of escalating urban density, the emerging concept of elevated urban spaces such as sky gardens and roof gardens is becoming a compelling requirement for human well-being in the process of densification. These spaces have gained additional significance in light of the adaptability and resilience required during the Covid-19 pandemic. This research explores the challenges and opportunities related to the design and management of such spaces, with a specific focus on London. A novel facet of this investigation is the application of Virtual Reality (VR) technology as a co-design tool, aimed at enhancing public engagement and the overall design experience of these spaces. The study emphasizes two particular urban locales in London: the Sky Garden and Crossrail Place, chosen for their unique design characteristics, public accessibility, and popularity. These case studies allow for an in-depth examination of critical design aspects such as accessibility, people flow control, pinch points, user experience, and the spectrum of activities that these spaces can accommodate. To create more sustainable and inclusive environments, the study leverages VR technology to bridge the gap between the physical and virtual worlds. This approach is aimed at understanding the impact of this integration on architectural and urban design processes, specifically in terms of design decision-making and its implications for the sustainability and longevity of public places. The adopted methodology is a phenomenological qualitative approach employing the Participatory Action Research (PAR) method. This involved direct observational studies, walk-along interviews with 33 visitors at each site, VR exploratory experiments with the same number of participants, and follow-up semi-structured interviews. Observations were conducted before, during, and after the Covid-19 pandemic, providing a comprehensive perspective on the unique challenges influencing the design and management of elevated urban spaces. The results indicate that VR, as a co-design tool, effectively promotes interactive public participation in the design process. The VR experiments facilitated users to identify design limitations and suggest improvements, even among participants who had not physically visited the sites. The concerns and needs identified through VR closely mirrored those expressed by actual users of the spaces. The findings also offer a comparative analysis of human activities, circulation patterns, and design considerations in both physical and virtual environments, highlighting the potential of VR technology for designing sustainable public spaces in a post-pandemic world. This research contributes threefold: (a) it furnishes theoretical input by establishing guidelines for the design of elevated social spaces, and provides empirical input by suggesting a range of design and planning considerations for developing active, pleasant, and resilient elevated social spaces; (b) it offers methodological input through the development of a multidisciplinary pragmatic framework for assessing the use of VR as an interactive co-design tool; and (c) it presents a comparative analysis of two advanced interactive VR approaches – Building Information Modeling (BIM) and gamification techniques – to enhance public engagement in public and social space design

    The new role of citizens as co-creators of socio-digital innovations and urban development: A case-study of participation and co-creation in the smart city development of Barcelona.

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    Die vorliegende Masterarbeit untersucht aktuelle Trends in der Stadtplanung und Design, um zu analysieren, wie Bürger an der Mitgestaltung von Smart Cities beteiligt werden können. Ziel ist es, ein ganzheitliches Verständnis der neueren Konzepte und Methoden von Co-Design und Co-creation zu entwickeln und diese mit den etablierteren Forschungsfeldern der Bürgerbeteiligung und Koproduktion zu vergleichen. Koproduktion und Co-Creation können als verbesserte Partizipation oder Partnerschaft in Bezug auf die Partizipationsleiter verstanden werden, da beide Konzepte Beziehungen auf Augenhöhe zwischen Bürger und Stadtverwaltung voraussetzen. In ähnlicher Weise gesteht Co-Design, Designern und Usern die gleichen Rechte und Möglichkeiten im Gestaltungsprozess zu. Es wird eine ganzheitliche Definition des Co-Creation-Prozesses dargelegt, die Erkenntnisse aus Co-Design, Co-Produktion und Partizipation beinhaltet und Co-Creation als einen Prozess versteht, der aus Initiation, Design und Produktion besteht. Die Smart City als sich rasch entwickelndes Forschungsfeld, Definitionen und Charakteristika sowie populäre imaginäre und dominante Diskurse werden vorgestellt. Um die Rolle des Bürgers zur Smart City zu verstehen, werden die unterschiedlichen Verständnisse von Smart Governance erläutert und Aspekte von Open Data, Big Data und Big Data Analytics sowie die Rolle von Bürgern und Gefahren der Smart City diskutiert. In der Fallstudie zur Bürgerbeteiligung werden Methoden und Werkzeuge zur Förderung der Mitgestaltung einer Smart City anhand Partizipationsleiter von (Arnstein 1969) diskutiert und analysiert. Die Smart City Entwicklung in Barcelona wird vor dem Hintergrund der gemeinschaftlichen Entwicklung sozialer Innovationen in Smart Cities analysiert. Die Fallstudie verweist auf Mängel im Hinblick auf Bürgerbeteiligung an der Entscheidungsfindung und an der Verlagerung von Machtverhältnissen in der Entwicklung der Smart City Barcelona, die dafür aber mit neuen Werkzeugen und Technologien für partizipative Stadtentwicklung experimentiert und sich zu einem alternativen Smart City Modell entwickelt. Die wichtigsten Ergebnisse sind abschließend im Methodenkatalog zusammengefasst, der Methoden und Tools aus Theorie und Fallstudie aufgreift um zu dem Verständnis beizutragen, wie Smart Cities gemeinsam gestaltet werden können.This thesis studies current trends in planning and design studies to analyse how citizens can participate in the co-creation of smart cities. It aims at developing a holistic understanding of the new concepts and methods of co-creation, and co-design and compares those with the more established research fields of citizen participation and co-production. Co-production and co-creation can be understood as instances of enhanced participation or as a partnership in participation, as both concepts require equal relationships among citizens and the city administration. Similarly, co-design requires designers and users to share the same rights and possibilities in the design process. A holistic definition of the co-creation process is provided that incorporates insights from co-design, co-production and participation and defines co-creation as a process consisting of initiation, design and production. The smart city as emerging research field, definitions and characteristics, as well as popular imaginary and dominant discourses, are presented. To grasp the role of the citizen in the smart city, the different understandings of smart governance are explained and aspects of to open data, big data and big data analytics, as well as the role of citizens and perils of the smart city are discussed. In the case-study of citizen participation methods and tools fostering the co-creation of a smart city are discussed and analysed with the introduced participation framework, which is based on the ladder of participation (Arnstein 1969). The smart city development in Barcelona is analysed against the backdrop of co-creating social innovations in smart cities. There might be a lack of citizen participation in decision-making and shifting power relations in the city, which experiments nonetheless with new tools and technologies for the participatory environment experiments with new formats and technologies for economic and urban development and evolves to become an alternative model of the smart city. The main findings are included in the toolbox based on methods and tools from theory and the case-study contributing to the knowledge of how to co-create of smart cities

    Human experience in the natural and built environment : implications for research policy and practice

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    22nd IAPS conference. Edited book of abstracts. 427 pp. University of Strathclyde, Sheffield and West of Scotland Publication. ISBN: 978-0-94-764988-3

    Information Technologies and Social Media: New Scientific Methods for the Anthropocene

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    The development of technology during the Anthropocene has affected science and the ways of “doing science”. Nowadays, new technologies help scientists of several disciplines by facilitating knowledge and how to manage it, but also allow for collaborative science, the so-called “Social Science”, where everyone can be a scientist and be involved in providing data and knowledge by using a computer or a smartphone without being a specialist. But is it really that simple? Actually, the daily and integrated use of different digital technologies and sharing platforms, such as social media, requires important reflections. Such reflections can lead to a rethinking of epistemologies and scientific paradigms, both in human geography and social sciences. This volume titled “Information Technologies and Social Media: New Scientific Methods for the Anthropocene” includes 10 chapters exploring some changes related to the way to do science with a multidisciplinary approach. From classroom experiences to the use of Citizen Science, from Artificial Intelligence use to how Social Media can help researchers, the book reflects on the ICT influence during the last few decades, exploring different cases, complementary perspectives and point of views

    Metaverse. Old urban issues in new virtual cities

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    Recent years have seen the arise of some early attempts to build virtual cities, utopias or affective dystopias in an embodied Internet, which in some respects appear to be the ultimate expression of the neoliberal city paradigma (even if virtual). Although there is an extensive disciplinary literature on the relationship between planning and virtual or augmented reality linked mainly to the gaming industry, this often avoids design and value issues. The observation of some of these early experiences - Decentraland, Minecraft, Liberland Metaverse, to name a few - poses important questions and problems that are gradually becoming inescapable for designers and urban planners, and allows us to make some partial considerations on the risks and potentialities of these early virtual cities

    Data and the city – accessibility and openness. a cybersalon paper on open data

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    This paper showcases examples of bottom–up open data and smart city applications and identifies lessons for future such efforts. Examples include Changify, a neighbourhood-based platform for residents, businesses, and companies; Open Sensors, which provides APIs to help businesses, startups, and individuals develop applications for the Internet of Things; and Cybersalon’s Hackney Treasures. a location-based mobile app that uses Wikipedia entries geolocated in Hackney borough to map notable local residents. Other experiments with sensors and open data by Cybersalon members include Ilze Black and Nanda Khaorapapong's The Breather, a "breathing" balloon that uses high-end, sophisticated sensors to make air quality visible; and James Moulding's AirPublic, which measures pollution levels. Based on Cybersalon's experience to date, getting data to the people is difficult, circuitous, and slow, requiring an intricate process of leadership, public relations, and perseverance. Although there are myriad tools and initiatives, there is no one solution for the actual transfer of that data
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