Urban Design + Design Viz: Digital Tools for Urban Design—Making the Invisible Visible

Since William Whyte’s studies of small urban plazas via time lapse photography, urbanists focusing on the public realm have sought to understand how spaces actually work. As technological capabilities have evolved, a new set of questions have arisen: How do we collect “big” data in the public realm? When do we operationalize it? Who benefits from it? Who pays for it? And, importantly, who owns the data in the public realm?
These questions and more are discussed by two experts in spatial analytics. Working in different contexts but sharing a commitment to making the invisible visible, they will describe their approaches and experiences using digital technologies in the public realm.

Justin Hollander, PhD, FAICP, Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, Tufts University
Nayeli Rodriguez, Technologist for the Public Realm, Mayor’s Office for New Urban Mechanics

The second of a two-part series on digital design and visualization tools for urban design, this event is co-hosted by the Design Visualization and the Urban Design Knowledge Communities.