This paper presents a work in progress on how to visualize the impact of vegetation on urban air quality in a virtual city model, explorable using virtual reality (VR). The transdisciplinary project CityAirSim - Visualizing and modelling urban air quality - influence of vegetation, building morphology and traffic emissions develops a modelling framework to simulate the effects of vegetation, buildings and traffic strategies on air pollution, in order to understand the synergies and conflicts between these factors. The resulting data will be visualized in a VR-application allowing interactive exploration. Two primary target groups for the VR-application are high school students and urban planners. We aim for the tool to be used in teaching, e.g., in environmental science, as well as in communication with the public in exhibition environments, such as science centers. This paper focuses on how we should visualize invisible air pollution in an otherwise realistic urban setting to facilitate understanding. One important aspect to consider is to create a visual balance between data visualization and the visualization of the built environment in the model. Another aspect is to define the appropriate levels of data visualization and abstraction of representation to use, without losing richness of information.
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China’s urbanisation in the past decades has been mirrored by large scale rural-urban migration. During this process, hundreds of millions of rural inhabit-ants move to cities for better employment opportunities while leaving their children behind in rural villages. The separation with parents causes negative transformation of family welfare supply structure. As a result, many “left-behind” children (LBC) display characteristics include loneliness, misconduct, low self-esteem, and crime tendencies. Based on welfare pluralism theory, this paper uses GIS-based planning and design approaches to improve social welfare for LBC in rural China. Using a case study in Hubei Province, we demonstrate that LBC welfare can be improved by increasing community social capital through the provision of functional and child-friendly public space in rural villages. This study provides useful insights to issues surrounding LBC through the lens of planning and design. We hope it will inform similar endeavours aiming at improving LBC welfare in other villages in rural China.
The paper presents the analysis of aims, theories and practices in city planning and in the use of web-based technologies under the light of the three key dimensions constituting the pillars of Urban Informatics: people, city and technology. The analysis had been developed focusing first on the misalignments between current web-based technologies and city planning, then moving to the identification of their convergences. Building on this analysis, the paper outlines three future directions to rethink the integration of digital technologies in the planning practice, by enhancing also the contribution that city planning theories and practices can offer to the design of future web-based technologies working as planning support systems to manage the production and use of city data, the orchestration of local activities, and the integration of global plans with distributed urban initiatives.
Schools around the globe increasingly realized the importance of technology and its application in the education system. To guarantee a successful educational innovation, schools seek out different parties for valuable opinions. Among them, parents are the important feedback providers, because their attitudes are influential on children’s academic performance. Moreover, their involvement and support are considered the key factor that facilitates an effective implementation of programming education at schools. This study aimed at developing and validating an instrument measuring parents’ perceptions of programming education among P-12 schools in Hong Kong. We propose that parents’ perceptions of programming education is a multidimensional construct which constitutes (a) understanding, (b) support, and (c) expectation. In total, 524 questionnaires were collected from the parents who attended programming workshops and seminars. Exploratory factor analysis shows evidence for the three-dimensional construct. Confirmatory factor analysis reconfirms the measurement structure. Implications of the study are discussed.
Increasingly, student learning is online or computer-mediated. Keyboards and screens are replacing pens and books. This is just as true in schools as in universities. These educational institutions are socially conservative, especially with respect to high-stakes assessments that credential the awards they make. Gradually, computer-based assessments are being trialled, in a multitude of forms. This symposium brought together a diverse group of such trials from Iceland to Australia. Geographically diverse, they represent a variety of approaches to eExams. Some use institutional equipment in dedicated spaces on campus. Others allow candidates to use their own computer, either under a security blanket or by booting from an alternative to the internal hard-drive. Each of these technological approaches has different sets of educational affordances. We are still evaluating the benefits and barriers for these different approaches. Some institutions value the time saved for teaching staff through automated marking. Others look at the entire assessment reticulation process, from examination composition to return of marks to candidates. Yet another group look at the potential for curriculum transformation arising from computer use at the assessment stage. Participants shared their design decisions and practical implementation experiences. Going forward, we may see commonality emerging that will make eExams convenient, reliable and educationally beneficial.
Digital tools are being developed for involving stakeholders in urban planning and transformation processes. One challenge is how to visualize and act upon all parameters that are relevant for dealing with complex plan-ning problems, such as environmental factors. Dialogue tools involving vis-ualization can bridge the distance between planners and citizens. This paper focuses on the problem of representing invisible environmental parameters affecting the urban climate such as wind, solar radiation, air pollution and noise, in a city model. The aim of the paper is to discuss challenges for rep-resenting and communicating environmental data in city models. In this pa-per, we have accounted for literature studies; our own conceptual modelling and prototype studies in three projects; as well as a survey with 16 urban planners. We conclude with defining design criteria for dialogue tools cre-ating a comprehensible base for communication in urban transformation processes.
