This document discusses visualizing complexity in cities through maps and diagrams. It notes that cities are complex, self-organizing systems and explores using maps to understand and plan urban environments. Different types of maps are mentioned, from traditional cartography to sensory maps and maps created from collected citizen data. The visualization process is outlined, from acquiring and analyzing data to representing relationships and identifying potential scenarios. The goal is to understand cities as complex adaptive systems and envision possible futures through various visualizations.

1. visualising
the
complexity
of cities

2. .
this is what
my research is
about

3. .
complexity
environment
complex adaptive
systems.
Order arising out of a complex
dynamical system. (C. Langton)
Complex adaptive systems are
pattern seekers. They interact
with the environment, “learn”
from experience and adapt as a
result
(Murray Gell-Mann)
emergent global structure
local interactions
time

4. ea
.
the
macroscope
The Macroscope
Joël de Rosnay

5. Maps of processes,
actors, relations.
(visualise complexity
to understand it)
densitydesign.org

6. cities are
complex,
selforganising
systems
(K. Lynch)

7. New York City
Panorama,
At Queens Museum
(1964)
does it make
sense as
an urban
planning
tool?

8. “scientific”
cartography’s
inability to
capture the
contemporary
city
(D. Cosgrove)
images:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kyletaylor/9624268614/
openstreetmap.org

9. animals
???
networks
warriors
settlements
Map of Bedolina
(Iron Age - Val
Camonica, Italy)

10. .
maps that
tell stories

11. Dada

12. Guy Debord, The
Naked City

13. Christian Nold
San Francisco
Emotion Map
(2007)

14. Sensory Maps
Kate McLean

15. .
the role of
data
Map Your Moves
Moriz Stefaner
(2010)

16. The Smart Citizen Kit
Acrobotics (2013)

17. Visual Explorations
of Urban Mobility
MIT Senseable Lab

18. Sitegeist
Sunlight foundation,
IDEO (2012)

19. Change by Us NYC
a project by Code for
America and Local
Projects (2011)

22. .
the city of
the “future”
The Metropolis of
Tomorrow
A Book by Hugh Ferriss
(1929)

23. Metropolis
Fritz Lang (1927)

24. .
“the future”
FOR SCI-FI
DISTROPIAN
FUTURE
DOMINATED
BY HARDWARE,
HUMANS ARE
CONTROLLED BY
MACHINES AND
OPPRESSED BY
A CENTRALIZED
DICTATORIAL
GOVERNMENT.
images:
bLADE RUNNER

25. Black Mirror
Season 1
UK Channel 4 Mini-Series
(2011)

26. THX 1138
Directed by George Lucas
(1971)

27. Logan’s Run
Directed by Michael
Anderson (1976)

28. back to
the point

29. .
visualisation
process
(a draft)
Acquire data
Data
Raw. No significance in itself.
Analyse
Scale
Framing
Graining
Information
Added meaning
through relational
connections
Represent
Relations
Manage Design
Interventions
Scenarios
Knowledge
Understanding
Wisdom
Pinpoint Clusters
Appropriate collection of information
to make it useful
Synthesize new
knowledge from
knowledge.
past/analysis
research
Judgement (goodbad, right-wrong...)
future/design
visualize
Identify
potential
scenarios

30. past/analysis
research
future/design
visualize
Identify
potential
visualisations for
future envisioning
breakfasts
(RC4)
scenarios

31. past/analysis
research
future/design
visualize
Identify
potential
maps of research
diagrams
visualisations for
future envisioning
breakfasts
(RC4)
scenarios

33. past/analysis
research
future/design
visualize
Identify
potential
maps of research
diagrams
map of research
connections
(low res prototype)
visualisations for
future envisioning
breakfasts
(RC4)
scenarios

36. thank you.
s.pollastri@lancaster.ac.uk