What is Transportation? - In Depth Vocabulary Study
Being able to understand the focus area of Transportation as a generalized term and the system that is set up is important to being able to understand the core values and structure of transport systems. The Geography of Transport Systems by Jean-Paul Radrigue is a book that I will be using to synthesize the meaning and goals of transportation within the modern world. The book offers a great framework for establishing the types of transport systems, the policy, the goals, and the urbanization of these systems. To begin my in depth research into the future of these transport systems, it is important to be able to understand and explain the systems that are in place today and the ‘why’ behind them.
Transportation in general comes about based on a systems core values: 1) Transportation is the spatial linking 2) Distance is based on space , time, and effort 3) Space is the generator, support, and constraint to transport systems 4) Space and time can converge and diverge (all transport takes up space and an amount of time) 5) Location can be central (origin) , intermediate, or an attracter (destination) 6)To overcome geography transportation must consume space 7) Transportation seeks massification (more extensive) but is limited by automization (complexity) and 8) Velocity is a modal, intermodal, and managerial efffort (the time it takes to go through the transport chain). From the core values of transport systems, the primary goal is to increase mobility within a system. Mobility is described as “The ease of movement of a passenger or freight” and this begin to change the other core values. As mobility increase, the activities are less constrained by distance and time. Transportation is in existence to meet the demand of mobility.
In order to understand the method of transportation that I plan on using, I first began to look into the methods of transportation made up that of the road networks. These methods included: Car, Taxi, Van/Bus, Motorcycle, and Bicycle. These methods of transport are important to understand because they all share the same network, the road, in the same way that helicopters and airplanes both share the sky as their form of transport network. The road networks are quite extensive, but really focus down to local and regional networks, rather than looking at the road networks from a national view. Within these road networks is a systematic hierarchy. Freeways are the primary route of travel with no intersections and a relatively constantly flowing traffic. Arterials are larger local roads with traffic signals and intersections, and then there are Connectors/ Local Roads which are much smaller in scale and primarily connect origin and destination within the system with few traffic signals. It is apparent that road networks are moderately expensive to build and implement within the urban fabric, thus the most efficient way to improve mobility on the road is to use systems of technology advancement in order to use the existing roadway infrastructure.
Within the overall scheme of systematic road networks are two very different types of transportation: urban and rural. Urban transportation is highly complex, in regards to its counterpart, based on three primary factors: 1) Modes of transport involved 2) the multitude of origins and destination 3) amount and variety of traffic. The urban transport systems are intrinsically tied to urban form and spatial structure of a city. To break this down even more, urban form is the spatial imprint of an urban transport system and the adjacent physical structures and the spatial structure is a set of relationships arising out of the urban form and its underlying mobility of passengers.
Urban transport systems are comprised of two primary spatial structures: Nodes and Linkages. nodes are reflected in the centrality of urban environment (usually are origins or destinations of travel). Linkages are the systems of infrastructure supporting ‘From’, ‘To’, and ‘Between’ nodes within the urban form. These nodes are important because the success and connection of transport systems allows urbanization to expand. As roads continue to move outward, buildings and space begin to follow outward to extend the system of nodes and linkages that a city has.
Prospectus Draft 2 [Background, Outline, Approach, Schedule]: Take 2
Background
Smart Cities are the future of integration between the physical world and the digital world. “A Smart City is a place where traditional networks and services are made more flexible, efficient, and sustainable with the use of...technology to improve city operations for the benefit of the inhabitants.”[1] The Smart City concept operates to become the backbone for a city, the systems, and technology, in place, help to control the efficiency and quality of life of the urban environment.
The twenty-first-century urban fabric, in many cities, is based around the use of transportation and the automobile. Fast Company[2], a publishing company that focuses on technology, business, and design, suggests that autonomous vehicles are the way of the future. As digital technology becomes cheaper over time, the cost of a personal vehicle, in a larger city, will not make sense to have as an investment of money and time. A study in Los Angeles shows that a vehicle’s life averages about 5% use and 95% being parked. Most of a private vehicle’s life is put unused. Another research, by the Vlope Center[3], shows that in 2015 Americans spent a total of 84 Billion hours using transportation, in both the public and private sectors. This is a large piece of our daily lives, and the average American spends about 15 full days within the transportation system. Most of this time is due to the traffic and other inefficiencies within the network of roadways within an urban area. With this data in mind, the use of a computer monitored transportation system, both public and private, is one that can help the city function at its optimum level from a transportation and efficiency perspective. The systems in place would need to be that of a 2-way integration system, one in the physical world and another in the digital realm. The digital integration is a system of sensors and networks to communicate with each other across the grid, and physical infrastructure can then start to reorganize a growing population in these urban environments. The business of smart technology and innovation is the driving factor in the concept of the Smart City. Forbes projects there to be an investment of $135 billion in smart city technology in 2021.[4] Technology within the city is important in the foreseeable future of efficiency and connection of people within their environment. About 10 years ago, technology did not enable a true connection of the city, but with the rapid growth of interest and companies developing newer and smaller technology, the Smart City movement is off and running on what is possible in connecting the city through a network of digital technology.
The technology for connecting transportation in the digital world is already with us. An Intelligent Transportation System (ITS)[5] is a concept built off the idea that physical objects are interacting and supplying needed data to the digital systems. Whether a vehicle is fully autonomous or has some human control, the use of an ITS is the roadmap for a future of safer, more coordinated, and smarter traffic management systems. As the population and density of urban environments increase, so does the traffic congestion, for instance, the system integration would be able to be applied to traffic lights and speed cameras throughout a city’s traffic grid to increase the volume of cars moving efficiently throughout the network of roads. The system would identify the “speed of cars, traffic density, waiting times at lights and traffic jams”[6] to then make intelligent decisions based on the data collected. This new age of technological innovation can also be applied to the vehicles themselves.
“On the Future of Transportation”[7] explains that autonomous vehicles are already functioning on the roads. In California alone “the government has already given 52 private companies permission” to test this technology on the road networks. The autonomous vehicles (AVs) can operate and navigate the physical environment around them as well as interact and communicate with other vehicles on the road (autonomous or not). With the bottleneck of downtown traffic, about “30% [of downtown traffic] are [people] just looking for a place to park.” The use of AV technology can eliminate that percentage of people as well as free up new real estate to allow for more efficient use of discarded parking lots and parking garages. The urban fabric is already set up to accommodate the application of technology into the pre-existing nature of the place.
The integration of smart technology into the urban environment relies on the cooperation between private stakeholders and public authorities. Many cities, including New York, Amsterdam, and Copenhagen, have already begun to implement initiatives to further the push to a more connected and integrated city. These initiatives help to close the gap between the human and the computer, whether we know it or not. In one case, New York City public authorities and LinkNYC have developed stations, that replace old phone booths, and provide a connection with the city. The stations provide Wi-Fi, integrated cell service, device charging, and tablets to access city services, maps, and directions. People can easily and more efficiently contact services and maintenance along with tourists to be able to get immediate information about directions and reviews of certain places. The city of Copenhagen followed app developments, connecting the city to the people, in Amsterdam and worked with MIT to develop an integrated bike system that runs through the city. The system can monitor real-time data and usage of bike paths through the integration of the city’s existing traffic system. The system will then respond to create and adapt the traffic flow to be as efficient as possible.
The integration of technology into the transportation of the city is vital for the future existence of an efficient and less polluted cityscape. The innovation of technology will continue to adapt to the contemporary world and can be quickly applied and updated to a system that is in place and throughout the network of roadways and vehicles. The ideas of a smarter transportation system will significantly increase the efficiency that the city runs at and allow for a larger use of land for other than parking lots. Through applications in both the digital and physical worlds, an Intelligent Transportation System can help facilitate the lives of people who live in urban areas around the world.
[1] S. P. Mohanty, U. Choppali and E. Kougianos, "Everything you wanted to know about smart cities: The Internet of things is the backbone," in IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 60-70, July 2016.
[2] Peters, Adele. “See Just How Much of A City's Land Is Used For Parking Spaces.” Fast Company, Fast Company, 27 July 2017, www.fastcompany.com/40441392/see-just-how-much-of-a-citys-land-is-used-for-parking-spaces.
[3] Vlope Center. “How Much Time Do Americans Spend Behind the Wheel?” Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, United States Department of Transportation, 9 Dec. 2017, www.volpe.dot.gov/news/how-much-time-do-americans-spend-behind-wheel.
[4] Peccarelli, Brian. “Are Smart Cities The Next Great Disruptor?” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 27 June 2019, www.forbes.com/sites/brianpeccarelli/2019/06/27/are-smart-cities-the-next-great-disruptor/#7c87ece81594.
[5] Sherly, J. and D. Somasundareswari. “Internet of Things Based Smart Transportation Systems.” (2015).
[6] Al Nuaimi, E., Al Neyadi, H., Mohamed, N. et al. Applications of big data to smart cities. J Internet Serv Appl 6, 25 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13174-015-0041-5
[7] Hancock, P A, et al. “On the Future of Transportation in an Era of Automated and Autonomous Vehicles.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, PNAS, 14 Jan. 2019, www.pnas.org/content/116/16/7684.full.
Prospectus Schedule Draft- Take 1
3 Modules of Work
Week 0-2: Additional research and refresh to present to committee and adviser
Digital Implications in the City:
Week 2-4: Additional research about digital applications to technology in relation to the city
Week 5-6: Production of drawings/scenarios laying out the uses of the digital world in the city
Week 7: Presentation to the Committee and feedback
Physical Implications in the City:
Week 8-10: Additional research about physical applications to technology in relation to the city
Week 11-12: Production of drawings/scenarios laying out the applications in the physical environment
Final Production:
Week 14-15: Production of final deliverables
Week 16: Finishing touches and presentation
Prospectus Background Draft- Take 1
Note: PDF version is the end of the post. This is my first attempt to write the background of my Prospectus. One of my main troubles was trying to piece together my research and apply a narrative about the information for my project to catch the reader’s eye and convince people of its relevancy to the world.
Background
Smart Cities are the future of integration between the physical world and the digital world. “A Smart City is a place where traditional networks and services are made more flexible, efficient, and sustainable with the use of...technology to improve city operations for the benefit of the inhabitants.”[1] The Smart City concept operates to become the backbone for a city, the systems, and technology, in place, help to control the efficiency and quality of life of the urban environment.
The twenty-first-century urban fabric, in many cities, is based around the use of transportation and the automobile. Fast Company[2], a publishing company that focuses on technology, business, and design, suggests that autonomous vehicles are the way of the future. As digital technology becomes cheaper over time, the cost of a personal vehicle, in a larger city, will not make sense to have as an investment of money and time. A study in Los Angeles shows that a vehicle’s life averages about 5% use and 95% being parked. With this data in mind, the use of a more intelligent transportation system, both public and private, is one that can help the city function at its optimum level from a transportation and efficiency perspective. The systems in place would need to be that of a 2-way integration system, one in the physical world and another in the digital realm. The digital integration is a system of sensors and networks to communicate with each other across the grid, and physical infrastructure can then start to reorganize a growing population in these urban environments. The business of smart technology and innovation is the driving factor in the concept of the Smart City. Forbes projects there to be an investment of $135 billion in smart city technology in 2021.[3] Technology within the city is important in the foreseeable future of efficiency and connection of people within their environment. About 10 years ago, technology did not enable a true connection of the city, but with the rapid growth of interest and companies developing newer and smaller technology, the Smart City movement is off and running on what is possible in connecting the city through a network of digital technology.
The technology for connecting transportation in the digital world is already with us. An Intelligent Transportation System (ITS)[4] is a concept built off the idea that physical objects are interacting and supplying needed data to the digital systems. Whether a vehicle is fully autonomous or has some human control, the use of an ITS is the road-map for a future of safer, more coordinated, and smarter traffic management systems. As the population and density of urban environments increase, so does the traffic congestion, for instance, the system integration would be able to be applied to traffic lights and speed cameras throughout a city’s traffic grid to increase the volume of cars moving efficiently throughout the network of roads. The system would identify the “speed of cars, traffic density, waiting times at lights and traffic jams”[5] to then make intelligent decisions based on the data collected. This new age of technological innovation can also be applied to the vehicles themselves.
“On the Future of Transportation”[6] explains that autonomous vehicles are already functioning on the roads. In California alone “the government has already given 52 private companies permission” to test this technology on the road networks. The autonomous vehicles (AVs) can operate and navigate the physical environment around them as well as interact and communicate with other vehicles on the road (autonomous or not). With the bottleneck of downtown traffic, about “30% [of downtown traffic] are [people] just looking for a place to park.” The use of AV technology can eliminate that percentage of people as well as free up new real estate to allow for more efficient use of discarded parking lots and parking garages. The urban fabric is already set up to accommodate the application of technology into the pre-existing nature of the place.
The integration of smart technology into the urban environment relies on the cooperation between private stakeholders and public authorities. Many cities, including New York, Amsterdam, and Copenhagen, have already begun to implement initiatives to further the push to a more connected and integrated city. These initiatives help to close the gap between the human and the computer, whether we know it or not. In one case, New York City public authorities and LinkNYC have developed stations, that replace old phone booths, and provide a connection with the city. The stations provide Wi-Fi, integrated cell service, device charging, and tablets to access city services, maps, and directions. People can easily and more efficiently contact services and maintenance along with tourists to be able to get immediate information about directions and reviews of certain places. The city of Copenhagen followed app developments, connecting the city to the people, in Amsterdam and worked with MIT to develop an integrated bike system that runs through the city. The system can monitor real-time data and usage of bike paths through the integration of the city’s existing traffic system. The system will then respond to create and adapt the traffic flow to be as efficient as possible.
The integration of technology into the transportation of the city is vital for the future existence of an efficient and less polluted city-scape. The innovation of technology will continue to adapt to the contemporary world and can be quickly applied and updated to a system that is in place and throughout the network of roadways and vehicles. Through applications in both the digital and physical worlds, an Intelligent Transportation System can help facilitate the lives of people who live in urban areas around the world.
[1] S. P. Mohanty, U. Choppali and E. Kougianos, "Everything you wanted to know about smart cities: The Internet of things is the backbone," in IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 60-70, July 2016.
[2] Peters, Adele. “See Just How Much of A City's Land Is Used For Parking Spaces.” Fast Company, Fast Company, 27 July 2017, www.fastcompany.com/40441392/see-just-how-much-of-a-citys-land-is-used-for-parking-spaces.
[3] Peccarelli, Brian. “Are Smart Cities The Next Great Disruptor?” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 27 June 2019, www.forbes.com/sites/brianpeccarelli/2019/06/27/are-smart-cities-the-next-great-disruptor/#7c87ece81594.
[4] Sherly, J. and D. Somasundareswari. “Internet of Things Based Smart Transportation Systems.” (2015).
[5] Al Nuaimi, E., Al Neyadi, H., Mohamed, N. et al. Applications of big data to smart cities. J Internet Serv Appl 6, 25 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13174-015-0041-5
[6] Hancock, P A, et al. “On the Future of Transportation in an Era of Automated and Autonomous Vehicles.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, PNAS, 14 Jan. 2019, www.pnas.org/content/116/16/7684.full.
Stakeholders and Values of an Automated Transportation System: Week 12
This week was very exploratory in the way in which I conducted research. I have been looking through many sources that deal with the public opinion along with the goals of private investors in the technology of transportation. Looking on the private side of the industry, Tesla has been at the forefront of the technology of this field and has an open source agreement on the broad use and innovation that they use with their vehicles. In order for the future of automated vehicles to work, the private investors must be able to share some technological information in order to build a cohesive network of vehicles for the road. Tesla has shared some of its information with larger automotive manufacturers (Ford, Chevy, Audi, BMW, etc.). This move by the smaller investors will boost the amount of new technology on the road. The larger companies are able to reach portions of the public that the smaller boutique companies are not able to accommodate. This cooperation between businesses is able to reach the majority of the first world population with a wider range of prices on the vehicle technology.
Along with the helpful integration between private investors is the relationship with the public stakeholders. Many of the private companies work at hand with public authorities on a larger and smaller scale. These public authorities are the key to being able to implement this technology into public infrastructure and the network roadways within the urban environment. Within the public realm are authorities on the larger federal level along with the city and state authorities. At large, the public opinion is the hardest to be able to convince about the innovation with this field of technology. Some of the research that I read this week include many surveys of people that have shown interest within the automated vehicle industry and the broader impact that it would have on society and urban life. Many of the surveys showed similarity with the younger male population being the most interested in investing and using automated vehicles in everyday life. The convincing does not have to happen with a majority of the millennial population, but rather with the larger generations that came before.
Much of the public is not convinced with the technology that has been put forward thus far, but with innovation happening at a rapid pace, implementation of this industry and way of living is a matter of “when” and not “if”. Many have suggested that this form of innovation is strictly for the advancement of First World Countries and not others. The goal is to market to the larger population in order to get the technology out on the public road and then connect the systems together through the technology that is already out there.
The influence that public authorities and private stakeholders have on the opinion and actions of the public are very large. These two forms of stakeholders need to work together to convince the population of the positive benefits and advancements that this technology can have on society, This time and influence of automated vehicles is congruent to what Ford was accomplishing in the early 1920s before the automotive world took off in the mid 1920s when the entire country was on wheels and the industry became vital in the American economy.
For me, it would be interesting in taking and analyzing the impacts that this technology could have for the world as a whole and not just a positive for individual parts. Looking at the values that the technology could bring to the world through a multitude of scenarios. For my method, I have been thinking about the use of scenarios through a Utopian ideals to really delineate the positive and potential negative impacts that and integrated transportation system could have on society.
Intelligent Transportation Systems in a Smart City: Week 10 - Week 11
For the last two weeks, I have been looking specifically into the idea of implementing Intelligent Transportation Systems into cities through the use of the Smart City concept. An Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) is an advanced application that aims to provide innovative services relating to different modes of transport and traffic management and enable users to be better informed and make safer, more coordinated, and 'smarter' use of transport network. With this and the implementation of technology and data, the city would become more efficient with travel and grids as the urban populations increase around the world.
From research, I have gathered and come to understand that this type of implementation is a 2-way idea where both parts need to work in tandem to create an efficient whole. Through physical implementation and digital implementation, data can be shared across networks to be applied by systems in the physical world. Big Data (BD) can come in from sensors and points throughout the city and then be evaluated by the system to make adjustments and change as needed. “Applications of Big Data to Smart Cities” suggests, sensors are placed throughout the city in “smart” street lights and can sense the surrounding physical world through data collected about “speed of cars, traffic density, waiting times at lights, traffic jams, etc.” This data is then sent through the interconnected network in the city and can adjust, through an algorithm, to make the traffic and streets as efficient as they can be.
Another more physical implementation is the look at the future of autonomous and automated vehicles. This idea a more tangible concept that begins to play into the lives of citizens that use this as transportation. The author of “On the Future of Transportation” suggests that the technology and intelligent way of implementation is already laid out for the city through the ideas and established basis of Uber and Lyft. Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) are already on the road with us and are just going to grow more and more. The use of a transportation system, allows people to not even have to own a car (as shown through studies of Uber and Lyft) and transportation becomes a system of pick-up and drop-off through the use of the citywide system. The paper puts forth data that suggests “30% of downtown traffic are people just looking for a place to park” and eliminating that number will eliminate 30% of cars on the road as well as parking lots that take up valuable land within the city limits. This allows more land to become available for a more dense city that relies on a more public transportation system that can be accessible to a majority of the population (as it is now).
From suggestions on the mid-review presentation, I wanted to take the idea and method that Le Corbusier laid out in his utopian cities and be able to look at how transportation can be optimized from a city of the future. Looking at the physical implementation of where technology is going and how it impacts the public and their lives as well as looking at the digital implementation of technology to allow systems and the city to be able to share and speak to one another.
From this research that I have conducted to understand variations of implementation and redesign of transportation systems within cities, I look towards being able to understand the technology that is behind the digital side of implementing these ideas into the city. The physical side is a little easier to look at and understand, but the digital side is a little more difficult to be laid out in words. I look forward to being able to use the data that I collect to potentially make a handbook of systems and implementation that can then create a kit of parts to be applied towards a city looking into the future. This will allow a city to be more energy-efficient as well as make the lives of people and traveling easier.
The Purpose of Technology within a City: Week 9
Over the past week, I have been looking into the idea of implementing Smart City ideals and concepts into a retrofitted urban fabric. Technology within a city is a new concept that is not fully relied on just yet. From the feedback on Tuesday’s class, I narrowed my focus into the Smart City and the interface, data, and purpose that goes along with the chosen topic. I am interested in the life of the tourist within a city. A tourist as someone that is visiting a place and may be unfamiliar with the layout and locations of places within the urban context. I began to narrow my curiosity to this ecology of people from reading many articles on the aspects and information of a “Tourist Metropolitan” (Gladstone). Gladstone identifies 8 other cities that are classified under this umbrella, but Las Vegas sub-categorizes itself in a highly capital-intensive group. After some of my research along with my personal experience of being a tourist, Las Vegas is a labyrinth of many different types of activities primarily located on a 4,2 mile stretch of land (The Strip). I began to relate the concept and layout of the city to that of a mega-mall. The mega mall-type has been integrating technology nodes that help to navigate users through space and to a destination, making their lives easier. Las Vegas is the same way if you begin to combine both the interior and exterior spaces that make up the Las Vegas Strip.
From looking at this, I have begun to narrow down the three topics of study: Purpose, Data, and Interface.
Purpose:
The purpose of the integrated technology would be to help better the quality of experience within the urban fabric. The consistent idea that technology can make our lives easier is something that has had success in proving in the past. As a case study, Las Vegas is a very complex place of “turning right to turn left”(Venturi) and people need a faster way to figure out where to go and to be able to stay in touch with everything that is constantly happening throughout the city. The Strip is complicated and packed full to be able to cater to the needs and experience of the number of tourists. Technology can help people to stay in touch and navigate themselves in and out of casinos and hotels.
Data:
The Strip accommodates about 3 million tourists a year which narrows down to about 343,000 tourists within the city every day. Most people gather around the strip for restaurants, gambling, shopping, hotels, etc. which is all jammed pack into a 4.2 mile stretch of road. This begins to create a maze of activities and locations throughout The Strip. The interface location would be determined by analyzing foot traffic and need to be based on certain locations along the strip or where many spaces begin to intersect. The technology will be accommodating based on need and information data that may also link up live games (betting and gambling) and people can join from a remote location.
Interface:
I am currently looking at the idea of technology through public implementation. This is the idea that nodes will be set up throughout the city and determined based on foot traffic data and the data of information that is deemed necessary. The nodes would primarily consist of nearby activities (restaurants, showtimes, etc.) The system may be set up to give information at a more micro-scale level close to where the node may be located rather than having to sort through information that is farther away.
From this information and inquiry about the smart city, I am beginning to try to rethink my question and narrow it down to fit within the ideas and concept of retrofitting an existing city into that of a Smart City.
How can public implemented technology provide the necessary information (directions, betting, showtimes) to improve the experience of place for people?
I think the question above helps to broaden the scope of the research to something that may be a kit of parts that can then be taken and replicated to other cities for their improvement which begins to hit on my motivation and goal for the research that I have conducted.
If you can provide feedback or thoughts please drop a comment down below.
Integration in the Urban Fabric and in the Lives of People: Week 8
Looking at this week and the mock review coming up on Tuesday, I have been looking at the implications and knowledge that surrounds the benefits of further advancing the human-computer interactions within everyday life and the integration into the place in which we live. I have been very interested in the way in which this concept can be employed into the hands of people at a more rapid pace than it would be to create new technology to accommodate the growing needs of the city.
Earlier in my research, I looked into the idea of being able to push out software-related improvements to people so that people then already were living with the technology and power needed just from their smartphones. The development money can then be spent at developing the digital systems rather than making physical objects to test. This research and thought are also utilized in the project “Mobile Edge Computing Potential in Making Cities Smarter”. The authors encourage the development of systems in the digital world that can transfer to the devices that everyone carries around. This idea of utilizing what we already have is essential for the continued retrofit of the existing city people live in and to truly integrate and connect sensors, systems, services, etc. The cities are rapidly growing for the need to innovate how the urban fabric functions within the world and how its impact on the Earth can be more efficient and those that live there can live an easier life.
The world is run through a vast architecture of the digital realm that everyday people do not get to see. The integration of technology also means a total integration of people. The Smart City concept is about the “quality of life” of the people that live there and everyone deserves this same experience. I Have been researching the positive impacts that this could bring on the people that would benefit from the integration. One source looked at how the IoT (Internet of Things) and its integration can help advance independence and improved accessibility for a growing portion of the population. This concept is looking at the use of augmented reality to experience objects that are not within an arms reach and how this can help to make those people more independent rather than dependent on others. Information can be displayed at a glance, real-time data can be monitored, of a person that needs that, and layouts of an urban fabric that make it easier to navigate for those with mobile impairment disabilities. From this research, it is building my understanding about how this technology can be widespread in helping different groups of people that may need specialized help or those that use it for extended experience as shown in “Engaging citizen communities in smart cities using IoT, serious gaming and fast markerless Augmented Reality”.
This project uses the concept of serious gaming which is the idea that people are dedicated more to accomplishing a goal while playing a game. The projects aim to build awareness and understanding of climate issues that are apparent in today’s urban environments. The games are played through the lens in the camera and through the capability and software of an app. The technology is already in the devices that we use every day, which takes from the idea of “Mobile Edge Computing”.
Looking back on this week’s research and continuing forward, I am interested more in the different ways that technological retrofitting can impact different people with different types of needs and wants as well as experiments that are being done in small portions to test the validation of the technology in the physical environment. People interact with the Internet of Things on a two-dimensional level and it helps to benefit and run our lives in a more efficient means, but how can the interaction with the computer be beneficial in a three-dimensional digital environment in the realm of the physical environment?
Dissecting Smart City Initiatives: Week 7
Looking back at my research from last week about trying to figure out and understand what a Smart City actually is and how they function. From my research and reading, I looked at how cities are able to use the existing urban fabric as a platform to introduce the systems that make a Smart City. During this last week, I continued to try to define the concept of a Smart City and felt that the most beneficial way of figuring it out is to begin to look at different cities and their implementation of technology into the urban fabric and everyday lives of people. For this process, I looked at four cities: New York City, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Songdo.
The relation of these particular cities is relatively different in the way in which the city functions. New York is a bustling urban environment, while Amsterdam and Copenhagen are pedestrian-friendly and more sanitary and clean than that of New York City. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Songdo, South Korea is the most technologically advanced of the four. The city was built to be a Smart City and did not use an existing urban environment, but rather creating one from scratch.
New York City
New York is very innovative in the ways in which the city government is implementing technology and the use of technology into the pre-existing urban fabric. One of the main concerns with people and Smart Cities is who developed and controls the technology? To combat this concern, an organization, NYCx, holds competitions that challenge developers in the industry to developed bold technological ideas that integrate into the city to combat urban problems such as sustainability (pollution), transportation, traffic, etc. These competitions help the people who live in the city have the opportunity to develop an integration that works with the existing city. Another organization that is changing the urban fabric is LinkNYC. This company is developing stations that provide wifi, integrated cell service, device charging, and tablets to access city services, maps, and directions. The stations will be retrofitted to replace the old payphones. The company is already using predetermined locations that they know will reach a lot of people where payphone stations used to be located.
Amsterdam
Amsterdam started its Smart City initiative in 2009 that began with over 170 projects to develop across the city. One of the major advancements, that many cities have not taken, is opening its traffic and transportation data up to developers. This position allows developers to work together to create public institutions to make the city and its transportation more accessible to the broader public. These developers made free apps that connect all transit systems into one place. This compares to a method that Anthony Townsend had mentioned, in the introduction of “Smart Cities”, that it is not always about making physical technology for the city, but using the technology and accessibility that almost everybody carries around the smartphone. Another advancement that the city had made is by creating and using autonomous delivery boats through the city’s waterways. This physical advancement is making it easier for companies to control deliveries all from one place and receive real-time data.
Copenhagen
Copenhagen followed in the success of Amsterdam by opening up its data and sharing it with MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in order to develop an innovative bike system that runs throughout the city. The system is said to be able to monitor real-time usage of bikes and bike traffic. The system will be integrated into the existing traffic system within the city and will allow traffic data to adjust based on people that are on the road, on a bike, or on foot. The sensors will take real-time data and the computer system will be able to move traffic in the most efficient way possible.
Songdo
Songdo is one of the first cities to be built from scratch based on the ideas and principles of a Smart City. The worry people are having with the success of the urban environment is that it does have the inconsistencies and qualities that a previous urban fabric contains. The city’s goal was to attempt to eliminate a majority of the problems with the urban environments of today. One major implementation that the city was built on is the trash system. Every space has a pneumatic tube that takes trash to an underground waste facility where it is sorted, recycled, or burned for energy. The systems that the city has in place are ones that create a stable environment for the people that live there. Songdo is one of the first cities to fully be able to call itself a “smart city”, but the reality is that technology has taken over too much power from the people that live there.
From this analysis of case studies, it is easier to comprehend the implication and results of initiatives within a city and when there is a possibility of giving technology too much power within the urban fabric and way of living. My understanding has been able to broaden based on positives and negatives that can be found within the typology of the Smart City. Cities are platforms for technology to enhance and not to try to build a city from scratch.
Merging the Digital and Physical Environments : Week 6
Reflecting on the work and discussion of the last class, the work on the case study analysis is moving along and helping to give an understanding of a particular type of research. The Function of Ornament is insightful to study solely based on the composition of how the author uses case studies to look at and identify specific types of work and the affect that they have on the urban fabric and culture that they correlate to. In connection to the last class, it is apparent that her work consists of the hard quantitative data along with the more subject qualitative data and how they compare in retrospect. Moving along the ideas of the case study, the tactics that she used are closely related to the work that I have been continuing to research. The research has begun to reveal quantifiable data that then can be correlated with a response from people with an urban environment.
My research this week has had me focused more on the broader context of the theories of Smart Cities and their potential implementation into the molds of the urban fabric that have already been created. A city is a tool that can be used to implement technology into the city. I have been looking a bit broader in order to understand the concepts behind what makes a Smart City compared to a regular city as well as the limits for what a Smart City can entail. This understanding will hopefully allow me to begin to look closer at the ever-growing urban fabric of Las Vegas and in particular Las Vegas Boulevard. My hope for the research and the project going forward is one that starts to physically manifest the ideals and concepts of the Smart City with the future of technology that is on the rise (autonomous vehicles, wearable technology, advancements in geo-locating, etc.) This technology can be well established within the existing urban fabric without having to reconstruct or build more of anything.
One source that really began to open up my mind about the possibilities of technology interacting with the city is from the book “Smart Cities: Big Data, Civic Hackers, and the Quest for a New Utopia” Anthony Townsend. I have just read the preface and introduction to the book but I hope to reference it a bit more over the next upcoming weeks. The book begins to look at the reality of implementing technology into the urban environment and the ways that could go about accomplishing such a task. We build and construct our lives and communities around mass mobile communication. This allows the city and urban fabric to use what it has in order to delegate innovation to the city. One potential drawback of the implementation of the digital world is its diversity. The internet went from the “Internet of People to the Internet of Things”. It is a world where people interact with not just people but objects and programmed AI. The internet and the use of the technology that people have in hand (smartphone) can help to transcend the intangible world of the digital environment and use it within the physical environment. Civic hackers and programmers create digital interfaces that allow people to see, touch and feel the city in completely new ways. This reading brought up thoughts about realizing augmented reality, as personal smart devices, in order to digitally amplify the existing environment and information that is perceived in the world.
What is the impact that the technology will have on the lives of the user (positive/negative? How can the basis of the city be used to merge the physical world with the digital world? These are the questions that I have been thinking about during this week of research, and the questions that I continue to look at and look further into while developing my ideas. I have been continuing the research and controlling my thought through my physical journals by sketching, writing questions and analyzing readings.
Moving forward I want to begin to start to analyze what I mean to live and function with layers of information that keep us going. Looking at my own actions and habits might unveil something about the tendencies and ways to further implement those ideas of the smart city through the use of personal technology and advancement.
A Look at Las Vegas - 1960s, 1990s, 2020s: Week 5
This week I was intrigued by looking at how technology can help to shape a city and play an important role within the urban fabric. The way people see the world and how the world is analyzing and moving forward through the lens of technological advancement. I started the week by continuing my Literature review and looking at The City as Interface by Martijn de Waal, and the author talks about how the Smart City is a future typology of the urban landscape. The City of today is a platform and baseline to build off of for the City of the future. Implementing technology to make society more efficient and be able to have a connection between people and technology as well as a building having a connection with technology. This concept of a Smart City will allow the city to practically run itself while still being open to the uncertainty that truly makes a modern city.
Looking at this book, I was intrigued about taking these concepts and attempting to comprehend what this means for Las Vegas as a growing tech hub. With large companies testing products on the Strip, starting to establish large headquarter, and showing off the latest technological advancements and concepts at CES for the last 22 years, Las Vegas is the perfect baseline to see how people can interact with technology implemented into the urban environment and experience of the city. This is why I looked at the advancement and questions for Las Vegas as we enter the 60 year mark since Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown visited Las Vegas for the first time and the 30 year mark since Mark C. Taylor wrote his analysis of Las Vegas in 1990.
I established this analysis based on 4 major components: How the City was Built?, Transportation, Signage, and Experience. This is a rough baseline for how Las Vegas is continuing to advance its experience and function of place through the use of technology. All notes are taken from my journal of thought
How was the city built?
Las Vegas of the 1960s was primarily built around the technological advancement of the mass production of the post-war automobile. In the 1990s, Taylor looked at Las Vegas and had seen that the city had switched its focus to build the Strip around the pedestrian experience. Looking at this year and into the future, it is apparent that the largest generation that will be visiting Las Vegas is the Millennial (the generation of technology). The city is now converting is structure and experience to be built around the implementation of the digital world. The exterior of the casinos on the Strip is based on the idea of worlds within worlds. What is the implementation of augmented reality that puts another layer of this effect and started to merge the digital world with the physical world? Las Vegas is built on the tourist attractions of being able to experience reality outside of the norm and Las Vegas has to be able to create new experiences around the generation of technology that attracts them to the city.
Transportation:
The 1960s experienced the 1960s post-war Fordism of mass production vehicles. At this time, vehicles were easier to get a hold of for middle class working for families and were an icon of the family lifestyle. The Strip was focused around this technology and was meant to be driven down with the lights and signs all directed to the actual driving surface. On the other hand, Las Vegas of the 90s was built around the movement of pedestrian traffic and the best experience was to walk the strip. Signs started to draw people in from off of the sidewalk. technology made its way into digital signs and flashing lights to grab the attention of the pedestrian. Looking at Las Vegas today, the city is at the forefront of testing new forms of transportation. Being a newly developed technological hub, many companies (Google, Tesla, etc.) are looking at and testing autonomous vehicles in Las Vegas. This concept of self-driving cars is a new form of traffic invented by the rapid growth of development and technology. How is Las Vegas going to adapt to this form of transportation? This is what Taylor was describing in his paper: when people go to Las Vegas to experience anything from the norm of their everyday lives.
Signage:
In the 1960s, Venturi and Scott Brown were looking at the sign as a new archetype. The sign was for directing and supplying information to those that give it attention and the way that a sign can give a standard building meaning to those that might not know what it is. Technology started to rapidly develope in the 1990s, and the Strip was coated in a layer of technology. This technology defined the new identity of the Strip with colors, flashing lights, more square footage of digital advertising space and so on. The experience of Las Vegas has turned into a spectacle at night with the lights and exterior shows put on by automated technology. The off way of the Strip was quickly changing and progressing forward. In this decade signs have become digitally implemented into our devices. People run into signs everywhere now and some of the most expensive advertisement is in the digital world. The question to answer now is: Are physical signs relevant anymore? People do not look at signs to navigate an unfamiliar place anymore. They wait for the little voice to tell them when and where to turn. The internet has the capability, of Geo-Locating, to tell us exactly what is around us and exactly how to get there.
Experience:
Las Vegas has had a timeline of developing experiential types for people that come to visit. Venturi and Scott Brown saw Las Vegas as a destination to get away and go out and gamble, similar to an oasis in the middle of the desert. Moving into the 1990s, Las Vegas had developed into a place of experience through the lights, flashing signs, shopping, gambling, dining, etc. Technology played a role in the way people experience the thematic worlds that the casinos go out to create. The big question for this next decade is: How does Las Vegas implement technology into the Strip to create a new experience for the local and tourist population? How do autonomous vehicles change the urban fabric and function of the Strip and the impact on the outskirts of the city?
Beginning of a Literature Review: Week 4
Looking back on the last week, I have begun to narrow down my question and topic a little bit further. From critiques and feedback from class, I am pursuing a path of looking into Las Vegas through how technology has transformed the perception of the city and its users. This topic definitely is not as narrowed in as it needs to be, but I hope to be able to keep developing it as the research continues. For this week, I have looked into generalization on the aspects of the topic I am interested in rather than trying to research specifics and then have it change through this process. I have started to keep a journal in my notebook of research and thought dumping. Through writing and sketching, I have been able to organize my thoughts more easily. By continuing this I hope to be able to keep straight thoughts in this process and not get bogged down in scattered thoughts about the topic or the more broad sense of my research.
Thus far, in my research, I have began to understand the mindset of Venturi and Scott Brown from reading excerpts from Learning From Las Vegas and refreshing on the notions that they made in the book. And then to adding my own research about the specifics of “enhancing the environment and not replacing it” and how technology can help people achieve this idea. Looking further, the key to this type of technology is augmented reality. In my research, I have looked at the basics and understanding of technology that has been under development and research for almost 6 decades. Architecture is supplemental to the environment and should not replace that. Las Vegas adds to the experience through the use of new technology and signs, but are the signs necessarily relevant in today’s society. Navigating the environment no longer depends on looking at signs or landmarks to denote where one is at in the world, but rather people look at their phone to determine exactly where they are. Architecture needs to play a role in the digital environment of space and not just the physical reality.
Some of my takeaways from my research thus far:
Learning From Las Vegas: This book is what started this fascination for the use of architecture as communication more than space. Architecture, signs, and symbols are a way of navigating the built environment. Signs help to draw people in, point people in the right direction, and catch the attention of people with information. However, how concrete is this idea now that it is 2020. With the advancement of technology, at a rapid rate, signs appear on our phone and mobile devices. It is important to be mobile in order to move at the pace that society demands. We no longer use signs to guide us on the road, in an unfamiliar place, but we wait for the voice on our phone to tell us when to “turn right in 500 feet.” It is interesting to understand the potential of staying mobile, but not by being disconnected from the real world by looking down into the virtual world. Augmented reality can play a part in continuing to develop the strip to coincide with the technological breakthroughs of today. Driverless cars, Augmented Reality, AI advencement, etc. all have an impact on the way we perceive the world and the way we blend reality and virtual reality. Back in the 1960s, the Strip was built around the postwar mass-production of the automobile (the advancement of technology at the time). Stripping Architecture, by Mark Taylor, compares the 1960s Las Vegas Strip to the Las Vegas Strip of the 1990s, and how it is now being built around pedestrian travel and advancement of Digital technology. Taylor analyzes and describes the strip where the “real become virtual and the virtual becomes real”. From this reading, I understood that the Strip keeps up with the pace of technological advancement in order to survive as an oasis in the desert. Taylor also analyze the enhancement of Fremont Street. This is an example of how technology enhances the timeless train terminal into that of a computer terminal. The experience of place is focused directly to the user.
So far, I have begun to establish an understanding of the broader sense of my topic, but would like to keep narrowing it down to a point where I can start to do more in depth research on the specifics. The Literature review along with keeping up with my personal journal will be able to keep my thoughts straight and be able to organize research that continues to fit and coincide together.
Link to Lit-Review: Click Here
Thoughts on Context: Week 3
Class, thus far seems to moving at a steady pace and is starting to help narrow in what I want to research and potentially make a Capstone project out of. Last class period was thought provoking in a sense of trying to figure out what other people’s questions were about or what they were trying to get towards. Thinking about how a question can be more specific and how it can start to reveal new things about a topic that I may be potentially interested in. From this week, I have been focused on researching and further developing my questions at hand.
I feel like this blog post will help me be able to think through some of the context, interests and motivation that lies at the core of my 3 questions. The Idea that I can start to write out exactly what I have in mind when I mean “What makes design comfortable?”, “What role do signs and symbols play in the built environment?”, and “ How can architects use social sciences to better design and make spaces more understandable?”
Motivation:
To start out, I have a string interest in the way people feel when they enter a space. How and what they are thinking about certain types of architecture, especially ones that are easy to understand for someone in the design profession. I want to be able to design for the user and keep that particular group in mind when a project is in the design process. How can more architects think about this group of people and how might it impact certain design decisions? I feel that it is important to not just design for the architecture community and for awards, but to design something that impacts the lives of those that use the space. I found an interest in the topic of how people navigate a complex environment of “turning right to turn left” (Venturi). It interests me that people often feel more comfortable going into a space with a big sogn that a place without that same explicit message.
Interests:
Some of the interests behind my questions is the thoughts and theories of Rem Koolhaas and the idea that drive his architectural thinking. For example, reading portions of Delirious: New York, it is apparent that he understands that within a skyscrapers spaces have a strong variety between floors. From this notion is what makes up the essence of the skyscraper, individuality and variance with every floor. Another interest that represents the merge between architecture and symbols is the work of Bjarke Ingels. His architecture emits a clear understanding based on a symbol that the project follows. It would be interesting to see how people or if people react differently to his archirtecture compared to other styles of design or other architects work. It is intriguing the notion that Venturi and Scott Brown make in “Learning From Las Vegas” about how humans prefer the signage to help with guidance in the complex environment that we live in. In today’s architecture it is important and a necessity to be able to design for the public or the user of a space. To guide and help people through design.
Audience:
Through research and interests, I feel like the three question all point towards an audience of architects and designers. The audience, at this point in the process is hard to judge and finalize. The audience are the people that can take the ideas from this capstone research and be able to apply them to work and projects. It would also be interesting to see if the project goes towards a broader audience, that being the user (space dweller). To focus how people should feel within a space or how the architecture can impact the experience of a space and be able to see and hear what others feel with different types of spaces.
Impact:
I hope that the impact, of this research, is one that people can replicate in their own architecture and spatial propositions. Architecture is powerful and the built environment is what users experience and interact with each and everyday. Design should reflect the user and influence their lives in a positive manner and not a negative one. The research can help to identify the experience of a user versus a designer and make claims towards the differences in viewpoints and be able to merge the two voices.
Theory of People and Architecture: Week 2
Moving through week 2 of class, I have begun to try to find what it means to design for people. After some research and readings, I understood the topic more as “inclusive design”. I see inclusive design as being able to meet the requirements of the user experience within a specific space. Whether it is size, program, systematic layouts, people need and have specific notions of what needs to be in space. The architecture for people needs to make sense for the user to feel comfortable within a project, especially a home or work environment.
After furthering knowledge about the workplace in our studio, it is my understanding that people still need certain elements of an office environment. Some unsuccessful works try to take the work “work” out of “work-space”. Office spaces are changing in the present and becoming more progressive for the future of the workplace. People still need to be able to get projects and work done within the space. I read “Bigness” by Rem Koolhaas, and what I took was that people, in the old office typology, felt like one in a million and of no importance. Today, people work better and more efficiently when they feel like they are apart of something bigger. From this, I started to understand that these larger workspaces need to be split into more isolated spaces of groups of people (either team space, or open office filled with collaboration), but the parts still need to remain committed to the whole. People feel less comfortable within a larger space and narrowing down and dividing a larger space will help to relieve that feeling that many people have.
Looking forward to a more narrowed question, I have a passion for the way people live and work. Whether those lives are separate or combined, people need a space to feel efficient and comfortable. In addition to this idea, I started to read some papers from Bjarke Ingels and looking at his website with his collection of projects. It was interesting the way that the projects could be simplified and narrowed down to a symbol. Most of the time people feel uncomfortable in this type of architecture because of it is derived from architectural theory that is written by architects for architects. Bjarke makes this notion a much simpler one. The buildings are understood and experienced through the symbol. People who enter the space do not have to guess what is to come in the building if they know or have seen the symbol throughout. The building or project may not be a known symbol but a symbol is made for the user to understand the design and intentions. I gathered from this exploration that architecture can be appreciated and accepted, by ordinary people and those within the field of architecture, even as a simplistic form.
Thinking about both Koolhaas and Ingels, it is apparent that they both have strong theoretical and symbolic approaches to their designs. I had purchased S, M, L, XL to try to further my understanding of how Koolhaas’ thoughts start to transpire within his firm’s work. Understanding how people function, understood from the varying nature of the levels and activities of a skyscraper to the movement and feeling of people within a world of Bigness and the dominance of that form of architecture. Moving forward I am curious to figure out a connection between the social sciences of people and be able to try to understand the theories and be able to see how it can be transferred into architecture and design.
The Start of Inquiry: Week 1
To start, I am an aspiring architecture student at the Fay Jones School of Architecture + Design. My goal at the school is to be able to provide a way of thinking for the future of design and to make an impact that may not have been seen before. Last semester I read a lot of theory papers and essays that comprised of the reality of the world we live in the theoretical future that can be designed.
I found myself very intrigued by the final project for the Fall semester of the third year. The project dealt with multi-family housing and being able to efficiently and aesthetically add high-density near downtown Los Angeles. I started to think about how people are used to living in the city, and it comes from the standard single-family home with too much land. This prospective idea helped to generate a project that consisted of stacking 6-unit neighborhoods in a tower to be able to open up the ground plane as much as possible.
From this project, I took ideas in collaboration with Gabe de Souza Silva and worked on a project for a professional elective class. For this class, we looked at the proposals for a higher density of living along transit lines in West Los Angeles. The project got me into this mindset of thinking about design and how it correlates and impacts how people live. Transit-Oriented Living in Los Angeles plans to try to entice people to use public transit more. This, in turn, will hopefully lessen the number of cars traveling on the road. It was interesting to see the argument of people on both sides of the debate. People who owned single-family homes in the areas that were under the proposed plan were generally against the idea. However, some people need Transit-Oriented Living but were also against the idea. Digging further into research, it became clear that the Metro lines, in Los Angeles, were not sufficient or extensive to those who needed to get to work. Another big issue was how these living conditions were being built. The projects were assigned out to developers who want to build the project for a cheap cost to increase profit margins. The end product of this class project was a 3’ x 15’ isometric drawing, combining the fictional and the reality. The drawing aims to create a timeline of housing typologies from the past to the future. Developers are people and need to also begin to think about the impact that they have on a portion of the population’s lives.
Another interest of mine has to do with Las Vegas and the structure around how the city was and is being built. From reading Learning in Las Vegas, by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, it was interesting how they decode the city on an analytical level. The city is comprised and directed towards an accumulation of tourists. The signs overpower the buildings or on the other hand, the building is the sign or symbol. The structure of this city is unlike anywhere else. Out in the middle of nowhere to a popular tourist destination. Venturi and Scott Brown discuss the impact of the architecture and the advancement of the sign and its relationship with the human experience of place. A person’s reliance on signage and symbols to navigate the complex world we live in. I feel based on this, it would be interesting to look at a place with a language barrier and see how signs and symbols help to navigate and persuade people. For example, the “out-there” signs that comprise the streets of Osaka, Japan. The bold lights and colors lure people in a specific direction, whether inside or along a path. From this observation and fascination, people and designers can have a better understanding of how the average user reacts and understands a project. This is a way to see how symbols have started to dominate the architecture.
Thinking about how the world functions on a deeper level are what starts to intrigue me about a project or claim. The idea of Time as the fourth dimension of architecture and how it has the potential to make people react/move in a specific way. Time is a way to study the architecture of the past and its longevity for the future as well as see how design elements begin to push Time: make people speed up, slow down, stop, etc. The interest of time is another understanding of the reaction to people and the design and architecture that they interact with. Rather than just being a stagnant object or space, this idea helps to understand how people respond to design or points within a larger whole.
Overall, I want to be able to look further into the realm of people and how the user experiences architecture/design. People and users interact differently with buildings that the designers and others within the design field. Instead of designing for other architects, the user needs to be the focal point for design and see how that can impact the future of how and why things are what they are.