Online participation: the Woodberry Down experiment

The internet and world wide web are generating radical changes in the way we are able tocommunicate. Our ability to engage communities and individuals in designing theirenvironment is also beginning to change as new digital media provide ways in whichindividuals and groups can interact with planners and politicians in exploring their future.This paper tells the story of how the residents of one of the most disadvantagedcommunities in Britain ? the Woodberry Down Estate in the London borough ofHackney ? have begun to use an online system which delivers everything from routineservices about their housing to ideas about options for their future. Woodberry Down isone of the biggest regeneration projects in Western Europe. It will take at least 10 years,probably much longer, to complete, at a cost of over £150 million. Online participation isone of the many ways in which this community is being engaged but as we will show, itis beginning to act as a catalyst. The kinds of networks which are evolving aroundsystems like these will change the nature of participation itself, the ways we need to thinkabout it, and the ways we need to respond. Before the experiment is described, we set thecontext by describing the wide range of digital media for communicating plans andplanning which suggests a new typology for web participation consistent with this fastemerging network culture

Reformulating Space Syntax: The Automatic Definition and Generation of Axial Lines and Axial Maps

Space syntax is a technique for measuring the relative accessibility of different locations in a spatial system which has been loosely partitioned into convex spaces.These spaces are approximated by straight lines, called axial lines, and the topological graph associated with their intersection is used to generate indices of distance, called integration, which are then used as proxies for accessibility. The most controversial problem in applying the technique involves the definition of these lines. There is no unique method for their generation, hence different users generate different sets of lines for the same application. In this paper, we explore this problem, arguing that to make progress, there need to be unambiguous, agreed procedures for generating such maps. The methods we suggest for generating such lines depend on defining viewsheds, called isovists, which can be approximated by their maximum diameters,these lengths being used to form axial maps similar to those used in space syntax. We propose a generic algorithm for sorting isovists according to various measures,approximating them by their diameters and using the axial map as a summary of the extent to which isovists overlap (intersect) and are accessible to one another. We examine the fields created by these viewsheds and the statistical properties of the maps created. We demonstrate our techniques for the small French town of Gassin used originally by Hillier and Hanson (1984) to illustrate the theory, exploring different criteria for sorting isovists, and different axial maps generated by changing the scale of resolution. This paper throws up as many problems as it solves but we believe it points the way to firmer foundations for space syntax

Geddes at UCL “There was something more in town planning than met the eye!”

Patrick Geddes was at UCL from 1877 to 1878 although as a student of physiology, not as the ‘father of British Town Planning’ as he was to become. We explore his time here and the links he had both back to Charles Darwin and forward to Patrick Abercrombie. This is part of our wider quest to assess the impact of Geddes on evolutionary theory in the study of cities and planning of which we plan a more substantial paper which we will, in due course, post on this web site

Visualising the structure of architectural open spaces based on shape analysis

This paper proposes the application of some well known two-dimensional geometrical shape descriptors for the visualisation of the structure of architectural open spaces. The paper demonstrates the use of visibility measures such as distance to obstacles and amount of visible space to calculate shape descriptors such as convexity and skeleton of the open space. The aim of the paper is to indicate a simple, objective and quantifiable approach to understand the structure of open spaces otherwise impossible due to the complex construction of built structures.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure

Virtual regeneration

Regenerating our increasingly polluted, worn-out urban infrastructure is becoming the singly most important challenge facing our cities. Simon Doyle and Michael Batty explain how spatial information technologies and online laboratories can enable many diverse interests to participate in creating informed planning policies that best address these issues

Strategies for Upgrading 1970s Housing: Barncroft Way, St Albans

This design for the environmental upgrade and remodelling of a suburban house was developed as an active and monitored research project. It has wide application for environmentally-conscious retrofits of a common building type: late-1960s to 1970s private developer housing built right across the UK. This typology constitutes more than 7% of the UK’s residential stock – some 1.7 million detached homes – and was normally built with large areas of single-glazing and cavity walls, now well below environmental standards. The research makes a detailed analysis of the existing and potential design and environmental qualities of the housing type to explore how these could be optimised. This included a two-year study of the family’s occupation patterns. Batty took a ‘lifetime design’ approach to minimise demolition and rebuilding, enhancing positive qualities of the era’s housing while promoting a use-model based on shifting patterns of family occupation through the day and night. Drawing on aspects of his other published design projects, Batty also developed a ‘tea cosy’ external upgrade approach that minimised disruption and costs due to client relocation. The result radically reduces energy consumption (an estimated 61 per cent of annual load for space heating). Monitoring continues using data loggers with an identical, unimproved house adjacent as a control. The research generated through this project thus forms an active model with widespread applicability for homeowners, architects, local authorities and developers. In a parallel research strand, the project explored methods to improve contract management for practitioners. Using a traditional contract, Batty developed a model that effectively does away with the issue of multiple revised drawings, in favour of daily meetings where revisions are agreed and signed on site, providing a useful administration model that reduces wasted work and conflict. It is particularly applicable for small practices and sole practitioners working on local projects

Content based retrieval of PET neurological images

Medical image management has posed challenges to many researchers, especially when the images have to be indexed and retrieved using their visual content that is meaningful to clinicians. In this study, an image retrieval system has been developed for 3D brain PET (Position emission tomography) images. It has been found that PET neurological images can be retrieved based upon their diagnostic status using only data pertaining to their content, and predominantly the visual content. During the study PET scans are spatially normalized, using existing techniques, and their visual data is quantified. The mid-sagittal-plane of each individual 3D PET scan is found and then utilized in the detection of abnormal asymmetries, such as tumours or physical injuries. All the asymmetries detected are referenced to the Talairarch and Tournoux anatomical atlas. The Cartesian co- ordinates in Talairarch space, of detected lesion, are employed along with the associated anatomical structure(s) as the indices within the content based image retrieval system. The anatomical atlas is then also utilized to isolate distinct anatomical areas that are related to a number of neurodegenerative disorders. After segmentation of the anatomical regions of interest algorithms are applied to characterize the texture of brain intensity using Gabor filters and to elucidate the mean index ratio of activation levels. These measurements are combined to produce a single feature vector that is incorporated into the content based image retrieval system. Experimental results on images with known diagnoses show that physical lesions such as head injuries and tumours can be, to a certain extent, detected correctly. Images with correctly detected and measured lesion are then retrieved from the database of images when a query pertains to the measured locale. Images with neurodegenerative disorder patterns have been indexed and retrieved via texture-based features. Retrieval accuracy is increased, for images from patients diagnosed with dementia, by combining the texture feature and mean index ratio value

Childhood IQ and life course socioeconomic position in relation to alcohol induced hangovers in adulthood: the Aberdeen children of the 1950s study

<b>Objective</b>: To examine the association between scores on IQ tests in childhood and alcohol induced hangovers in middle aged men and women. <b>Design, Setting, and Participants</b>: A cohort of 12 150 people born in Aberdeen (Scotland) who took part in a school based survey in 1962 when IQ test scores were extracted from educational records. Between 2000 and 2003, 7184 (64%) responded to questionnaire inquiries regarding drinking behaviour. <b>Main outcome measures</b>: Self reported hangovers attributable to alcohol consumption on two or more occasions per month. <b>Results</b>: Higher IQ scores at 11 years of age were associated with a lower prevalence of hangovers in middle age (ORper one SD advantage in IQ score; 95% CI: 0.80; 0.72, 0.89). This relation was little affected by adjustment for childhood indicators of socioeconomic position (0.82; 0.74, 0.91) but was considerably attenuated after control for adult variables (fully adjusted model: 0.89; 0.79, 1.01). <b>Conclusions</b>: Higher childhood IQ was related to a lower prevalence of alcohol induced hangovers in middle aged men and women. The IQ-hangover effect may at least partially explain the link between early life IQ and adult mortality. This being the first study to examine this relation, more evidence is required

Reaction Time and Mortality from the Major Causes of Death:The NHANES-III Study

Studies examining the relation of information processing speed, as measured by reaction time, with mortality are scarce. We explored these associations in a representative sample of the US population