Games in urban planning – a comparative study

The purpose of this paper is to show and discuss the results of a comparative study of games for urban planning. We provide an overview of the selected games available on the market. Because of the variety of offered games, we decided to group them in categories distinguishing among non-digital/traditional, digital and pervasive. The group of non-digital/traditional games includes some well-known, but also some recently developed games: Broken Cities, CLUG, Ginkgopolis, Masterplan, Neue Heimat, Pop-up Pest, Stadtspieler and The Harbour Game. In the category of digital games we considered: Anno, City One, Civilisation, Community PlanIt, Green Sight City, Minecraft/Block by block, Plasticity, Securing Sydney´s Urban Planning, SimCity and Surfing Global Change. The category of pervasive games included: Mogi, PacManhattan and REXplorer. We compared them according to the predefined criteria including participation, interaction, realistic visualization, learning effect and knowledge transfer. One of the positive aspects comprehended that there are some games used for integrating people in urban planning processes. The critical aspects included that there are many games focusing on urban planning issues, but only little were used for integrating people in active urban planning processes. We conclude our paper with a critical discussion of the results of our study and a reflection about further research on games for urban planning

Predicting Cardiovascular Risk Factors from Retinal Fundus Photographs using Deep Learning

Traditionally, medical discoveries are made by observing associations and then designing experiments to test these hypotheses. However, observing and quantifying associations in images can be difficult because of the wide variety of features, patterns, colors, values, shapes in real data. In this paper, we use deep learning, a machine learning technique that learns its own features, to discover new knowledge from retinal fundus images. Using models trained on data from 284,335 patients, and validated on two independent datasets of 12,026 and 999 patients, we predict cardiovascular risk factors not previously thought to be present or quantifiable in retinal images, such as such as age (within 3.26 years), gender (0.97 AUC), smoking status (0.71 AUC), HbA1c (within 1.39%), systolic blood pressure (within 11.23mmHg) as well as major adverse cardiac events (0.70 AUC). We further show that our models used distinct aspects of the anatomy to generate each prediction, such as the optic disc or blood vessels, opening avenues of further research

MaaSim: A Liveability Simulation for Improving the Quality of Life in Cities

Urbanism is no longer planned on paper thanks to powerful models and 3D simulation platforms. However, current work is not open to the public and lacks an optimisation agent that could help in decision making. This paper describes the creation of an open-source simulation based on an existing Dutch liveability score with a built-in AI module. Features are selected using feature engineering and Random Forests. Then, a modified scoring function is built based on the former liveability classes. The score is predicted using Random Forest for regression and achieved a recall of 0.83 with 10-fold cross-validation. Afterwards, Exploratory Factor Analysis is applied to select the actions present in the model. The resulting indicators are divided into 5 groups, and 12 actions are generated. The performance of four optimisation algorithms is compared, namely NSGA-II, PAES, SPEA2 and eps-MOEA, on three established criteria of quality: cardinality, the spread of the solutions, spacing, and the resulting score and number of turns. Although all four algorithms show different strengths, eps-MOEA is selected to be the most suitable for this problem. Ultimately, the simulation incorporates the model and the selected AI module in a GUI written in the Kivy framework for Python. Tests performed on users show positive responses and encourage further initiatives towards joining technology and public applications.Comment: 16 page

Web-based PPGIS for Wilhelmsburg, Germany: An Integration of Interactive GIS-based Maps with an Online Questionnaire

The aim of this paper is to study the implementation of a Web-based public participation geographic information system (PPGIS) with open-source technology and its integration with an online questionnaire. Its theoretical foundations are based on previous work in PPGISs, online surveys, field research, and map-based surveys. The concept of a PPGIS that interlinks interactive GIS maps with an online questionnaire was developed. The concept was implemented with open-source technology and tested in a public participation process designed with the European project SWITCH. The study case was taken from a city district, Wilhelmsburg, in Hamburg, Germany. The combination of the GIS maps combined with the online questionnaire enabled the inhabitants of Wilhelmsburg to draw their answers directly into the online maps. The results of the participation processes were saved directly into the central database. The paper concludes with a critical discussion and directions for further research

Mapping Emotions: Empirical Experiments on Power Places

The main goal of this paper is to explore the concept of place and the emotions felt at specific places. The paper is concentrated on power places, places in which people recharge and feel at peace, and places that evoke positive feelings. The reported project is based on a set of mapping experiments conducted in the city of Hamburg, Germany. Participants were asked to map their power places, describe their characteristics and the feelings they feel at these places. In total, 191 power places were identified, including the descriptions of their physical characteristics and emotions associated with these places. This paper summarizes the main findings of the empirical work

Big Data and Occupants’ Behavior in Built Environments: Introducing a Game-Based Data Collection Method

Energy-related human behavior in buildings is difficult to define and quantify, yet critical to our understanding of total building energy consumption. It substantially influences energy consumption and saving. In the United States, residential and commercial buildings account for more than 70% of the total electrical energy consumed in the country. This paper explores the implementation of an online energy game, e-footprints, which aims to collect data about occupants\u27 energy consumption and saving, and summarizes the feedback related to the first prototype of the user interface. The game was tested with 110 international students. The study focuses on the visualization, aesthetics, and usability of the e-footprints energy game, as these are the important elements of a player\u27s interaction with the user interface and greatly influence the game play and the data that can be gathered. The paper concludes with a summary of the findings and general recommendations that may be useful for others using serious online urban planning games