Tuesdays (1 hour)
On Tuesdays, we focus on the use of digital technologies to represent, analyze and mobilize communities. The first part of the course explores the subject of visual representation and analysis, with a critical eye toward the use of photography, video and the internet to construct and communicate arguments about people and place. Anne Whiston Spirn, Professor of Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning, and Ceasar McDowell, Associate Professor of the Practice of Community Development will discuss the strategies they employ. These talks are intended to assist students in their exploration of the Central Square community.
Throughout the second part of the course, we address issues of spatial data representation and analytical mapping by examining the way in which communities collect, encode and display spatial data. Lorlene Hoyt, Assistant Professor of Technology & Planning will ask students to critically examine the role of geographic information systems in representing place, analyzing local conditions and mobilizing citizens.
Finally, the third part introduces the topic of presenting arguments by showing students state-of-the-art and three-dimensional methods used for visualizing and simulating change in the urban environment. Annette Kim, Assistant Professor, Eran Ben-Joseph, Hayes Career Development Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture & Planning, and Eric Klopfer, Assistant Professor of Science Education and will present their work and speak to the methods they use (satellite imagery, tangible computerized interfaces, and computerized simulations, respectively) for communicating ideas and revealing hidden processes.
Lecture 1: The Planner's Toolbox. (
PDF)
Lecture 6: Tools for Transforming Data to Action. (
PDF)
Lecture 7: GIS - A Tool for Analyzing Community. (
PDF)
Lecture 8 & 9: GIS - A Tool for Representing & Mobilizing Community. (
PDF)
Lecture 12: Adventures in Modeling - Exploring Complex Systems with StarLogo. (
PDF)