Medialab Prado

 

Abstract:

"Living systems, from cells to human society, can be analysed in terms of interactions within and between complex networks of interconnected components. Likewise, cities can be considered “flows of people, vehicles and information” (Sheller, 2004) transported along diverse urban networks. This 'living' city, defined by flow and social interaction, is composed of a multitude of "invisible cities" (Batty, 1990) which do not leave tangible traces in the urban environment. This dynamic, living city exists in a constant symbiotic relationship with the physical, infrastructural city of streets, buildings and transport networks.

Whether from RFID cards, GPS-enable mobile phones, or other instances of 'wired' infrastructure, increasingly, large-scale data is becoming available detailing the movement of people in this 'living' city. In light of this, a generalised toolkit for visualising the dynamics of spatial urban networks is becoming essential for urban researchers, in order to comprehend the data trails left as residue by the living city.

I will present a series of visualisations and analyses relating to flows, interactions and boundaries in urban systems, based on large-scale geographic data from London and other cities. These include flows of passengers using RFID transport cards, the structure of complex public transport systems such as the London Bus network (30,000 nodes), and trips on the London Cycle Hire network. I will then briefly present the Flowprint software I have produced to deal with visualising these datasets.

Flowprint allows for topological analyses of urban networks, flow simulations and playback of real trip data, and is an open-source work in progress. It is generalised to deal with any spatial network. I will detail how it aids my analytical work, which is grounded in spatial analysis and network science.

After presenting the salient features of the software I will discuss the role of visualisation in analytical research. Should visualisation be regarded as mere evidence or illustration, or rather as a catalyst and active component, influencing the evolution of a research project? I will argue for a positioning of visualisation as all of these, but most importantly as a catalyst which can inform methodology. I will provide examples of this from my own research practice. "