Visualisation for Sustainable Cities PechaKucha Vol.20
On the 9th of December I presented at PechaKucha Vol.20 on the topic of sustainable cities and how data driven visualisation has an impact on triggering behavioural change for sustainability. On the 10th of December I delivered a similar but more detailed presentation to the International Conference on Smart Meters, Networks and Information Processing.
During this speech I played two videos to illustrate the point. They are below
(click menu on the bottom left to view full screen)
Sustainable Cities - The importance of visualisation
The Green Cloud Project, Helsinki
An artist’s projection of the energy consumption data of a local community over the smoke stack of its local power station. This led to an immediate sense of ownership and reductions in consumption. While we cant put a green laser light on every smoke stack, I invite people from all backgrounds to think of how we can borrow this concept in our own cities. How can we bridge the ‘knowing’ and ‘feeling’ gap?
Nuage Vert à Ivry from HeHe on Vimeo.
Ecological Age - City of Manchester Retrofit, Arup
This video shows the potential vision for the City of Manchester, UK after an extensive retrofitting program. You will notice that the technologies are currently available (although the algae system may be a while off). Notice also how there are no new ‘green buildings’. While improved standards in new build are certainly important, the future of our cities depends on our ability to improve the performance of our existing stock. This video was shown as it highlighted two aspects of visualisation that I think are important:
1. When giving someone a vision of something, make it realistic and achievable.
2. Using positive reinforcement to affect change (in this case inspiration) is potentially more effective than negative reinforcement.
3. Show it and not just say it. The concepts in this video are not new, and are often suggested in studies.
At ISSNIP I spoke a bit about the Slim City initiative where Arup partnered with the world economic forum to produce a set of research cards. You can find them here:
http://www.driversofchange.com/slimcity/
Enjoy :)
