1,720,990 research outputs found
Mappature sonore, aree di quiete e strategie di controllo del rumore / Soundmaps, quiet areas and noise control strategies
No full textGame engines in urban planning: visual and sound representations in public space
No full textPeer Reviewe
Anticipating Urban Design Projects Impacts Starting from the Pedestrians' Experience
No full textThe paper presents a four years study, developed by a university research laboratory, that deals with the anticipation of outputs of urban transformations. The main aim of the conducted investigation was to explore the ability of different tools to anticipate specific impacts of urban design projects in an interdisciplinary way. In particular, the general themes investigated concerned visual appearance (composition) and environmental conditions, i.e. shadowing condition, using simulations. In addition a specific point of view was used: how is it possible to anticipate the outputs of a design project from a perceptual point of view?
The research was conducted both in theoretical and experimental terms. For this reason a specific case study was analyzed. The required characteristic for the choice were: dimension and complexity (big urban project), importance for the city (centrality), implementation in a short time (project under construction). Besides studying the performance of the urban design project as a whole, we simulated it in order to clarify its output from an experiential point of view. To depict the perceptual impacts we used different typologies of simulations and we compared the possibilities and effectiveness of each one. Since this specific point of view was one of our main interests, a great attention was devoted to the tools that allow a dynamic description of the urban environment. Moreover, we were not focusing our attention on the functionality of the architectural projects alone, but on their cumulative effects on the urban environment. For this reason, we studied the output of the project starting from its local physical context (walking towards the project) and at the urban level (looking from a distance: changes in the skyline).
The use of a great number of different kind of simulations were experimented on the case study according to their proper characteristics. Since each one has its own limits and vantages, a combined use has been shown to be preferable for a more comprehensive understanding. In order to check the effective usefulness of the tools in a definitive way, we present a survey that allows to compare the real output of the urban project, which is almost completed, and the simulated one. The comparison gives an important feedback about the real capacity of the tool, helps to improve the entire approach and contributes to complete the theoretical framework. This will be the basis for future work on simulation, but it will also be an occasion to demonstrate the potentiality of this approach in depicting some relevant outputs. This could improve the process of negotiation between public and private stakeholders, collaborating to the delivery of better public spaces
The combined use of urban models to support a collaborative approach to design towards the sustainable university campus: participation, design, transformation
No full textThe mission toward urban sustainability requires
tools for developing a vision and for monitoring
change through time. For instance, representation
of past, current and future places is the first medium
we can work with in order to map the path toward
sustainability. The launch of the university project
‘Città Studi Campus Sostenibile’ for the renewal of
the campus according to sustainability principles was
the occasion to use modeling as a powerful “hub” for
converging and disseminating relevant information,
thus supporting and fostering urban change. In this
study we explore the role of urban modeling and
simulation within a highly collaborative design process
and introduce several applications for the sustainable
campus project.
In particular, we are interested in exploring the
integrated use of these different techniques of modeling
and simulation. For instance, urban modeling refers
not only to the reconstruction of digital and physical
environments, but also to the simulation of future
scenarios that will impact on the campus layout.
In fact, the proposed models are currently used
in different ways and with different aims, like
communication, participation, design (including
evaluation), decision-making, education, monitoring
(including archival of memories). Firstly, the model
used for communication and design purposes supports
sustainable practices and works as the connector
between the involved stakeholders (public, institutional
and private ones): for instance, in public meetings,
the urban model was the basis for the debate and in
some cases the accelerator of processes thanks to the
power of communication and the proof of evidence
given by representation. Secondly, the digital model
is a collector of memories and actions and helps in
monitoring and reporting changes. In this sense, the
model reinforces the task of mapping the change
and contributes to the measurements of traditional
sustainability indicators
Investigating the traveler experience: the use of eye-tracking for urban design purposes
No full textA methodology and a tool for studying visual perception in motion is presented. The focus is on the visualization of drivers along linear infrastructures, like highways. Taking into account the driver experience as the main reference, we propose a double approach for analyzing and designing both the infrastructure and the traversed (urban) landscape. These two elements, in fact, are parts of the same system and are inevitably interconnected.
The main aim of the research is to propose a method and a tool for supporting the design phase that emphasizes the experience driven by design projects. Focusing on the continuous and dynamic experience of the observer we would like to encourage design projects that take into account the perceptual impact in time and space.
The starting point and main reference of the study is the research, published as The View from the Road, conducted in the sixties at the California University (Berkeley) by D. Appleyard, K. Lynch and J.R. Myer. This research, which has prompted and anticipated the foundation of the first Environmental Simulation Laboratory, has remained quite unique in its approach to this topic.
The new technological resources now available, allow to do a step forward in the same direction of that research and to go on with the study of a methodology that helps to figure out the experiential effects of design projects on everyday life. The tools we have developed for this purpose allow to analyze where different observers focus their attention while they travel. This can be done in real settings, to analyze the existing condition, or in simulated settings for envisioning possible (future or re-created) conditions. In this respect, we have pointed our attention on subjects that are moving in space, and especially on drivers that are running on highways.
We have experimented a technique normally used for other purposes, especially in the field of marketing and people safety, namely eye/head-tracking. Using two synchronized cameras, one directed to the observed scene and another to the observer’s eye, it is possible to understand where the subject poses her/his attention on the scene (fixation and scanpath). By repeating the test on the same path a trend of the main attractors across a route is given: if the analysis is conducted on the existing condition it gives a framework to dynamically interpret the environment from an experiential point of view; if the study is conducted on a simulated environment it can give a feedback about the success of the designer desiderata.
The technique was tested on a panoramic highway. At the moment, the number of people that have participated to the survey is not significant for validating the outputs related to the specific application. Nevertheless, the experimentation gives an important feedback on the possibility of the tool for supporting the understanding how people perceived urban/rural spaces. Since the applicability of the developed approach can be useful to better understand different kinds of open spaces (i.e. urban or rural, high density or low density), related to different kinds of usage/users (i.e. leisure or commuting user), and type and velocity of travelling (i.e. pedestrian or cycling), we are planning to test its usefulness in understanding the perception of urban public spaces
Envisioning the sustainable campus: the urban model as the hub that supports the transformation
No full text
The experience of an academic simulation laboratory: the use of visual simulations for education and research
No full textAn overview of the research activities of a university simulation laboratory is presented. The mission of the laboratory is to anticipate the design and to support the evaluation process of urban design projects from a perceptual viewpoint through the use of digital and physical models. We have research and educational purposes. Founded five years ago, the laboratory has implemented different simulation tools, often combining existing techniques and finding new applications of existing ones. In particular, we focused our interest on visual perception tools, investigating the use of physical models and digital ones, and combining them in different ways in order to enhance the experience offered by the perceptual simulation
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