Visualizing Social Patterns in Virtual Environments on a Local and Global Scale

Measuring urban form: Overcoming terminological inconsistencies for a quantitative and comprehensive morphologic analysis of cities

Environment and Planning B Urban Analytics and City Science ◽

10.1177/2399808320910444 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 239980832091044 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Martin Fleischmann ◽

Ombretta Romice ◽

Sergio Porta

Keyword(s):

Spatial Distribution ◽

Quantitative Analysis ◽

Urban Form ◽

Large Scale ◽

Global Scale ◽

Urban Morphology ◽

Systematic Classification ◽

Social Patterns ◽

The Impact

Unprecedented urbanisation processes characterise the Great Acceleration, urging urban researchers to make sense of data analysis in support of evidence-based and large-scale decision-making. Urban morphologists are no exception since the impact of urban form on fundamental natural and social patterns (equity, prosperity and resource consumption’s efficiency) is now fully acknowledged. However, urban morphology is still far from offering a comprehensive and reliable framework for quantitative analysis. Despite remarkable progress since its emergence in the late 1950s, the discipline still exhibits significant terminological inconsistencies with regards to the definition of the fundamental components of urban form, which prevents the establishment of objective models for measuring it. In this article, we present a study of existing methods for measuring urban form, with a focus on terminological inconsistencies, and propose a systematic and comprehensive framework to classify urban form characters, where ‘urban form character’ stands for a characteristic (or feature) of one kind of urban form that distinguishes it from another kind. In particular, we introduce the Index of Elements that allows for a univocal and non-interpretive description of urban form characters. Based on such Index of Elements, we develop a systematic classification of urban form according to six categories (dimension, shape, spatial distribution, intensity, connectivity and diversity) and three conceptual scales (small, medium, large) based on two definitions of scale (extent and grain). This framework is then applied to identify and organise the urban form characters adopted in available literature to date. The resulting classification of urban form characters reveals clear gaps in existing research, in particular, in relation to the spatial distribution and diversity characters. The proposed framework reduces the current inconsistencies of urban morphology research, paving the way to enhanced methods of urban form systematic and quantitative analysis at a global scale.

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Self-organizing collaborative filtering in global-scale massive multi-user virtual environments

Proceedings of the 2009 ACM symposium on Applied Computing - SAC '09 ◽

10.1145/1529282.1529668 ◽

2009 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Alexander Höhfeld ◽

Patrick Gratz ◽

Angelo Beck ◽

Jean Botev ◽

Hermann Schloss ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Collaborative Filtering ◽

Virtual Environments ◽

Global Scale ◽

Self Organizing

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The sense of presence in virtual environments:

Zeitschrift für Medienpsychologie ◽

10.1026//1617-6383.15.2.69 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. 69-71 ◽

Cited By ~ 84

Author(s):

Thomas W. Schubert

Keyword(s):

Virtual Environments ◽

Coding Theory ◽

Model Building ◽

Self Report ◽

Survey Study ◽

Spatial Presence ◽

Component Structure ◽

Sense Of Presence ◽

Being There ◽

Measure Sense

Abstract. The sense of presence is the feeling of being there in a virtual environment. A three-component self report scale to measure sense of presence is described, the components being sense of spatial presence, involvement, and realness. This three-component structure was developed in a survey study with players of 3D games (N = 246) and replicated in a second survey study (N = 296); studies using the scale for measuring the effects of interaction on presence provide evidence for validity. The findings are explained by the Potential Action Coding Theory of presence, which assumes that presence develops from mental model building and suppression of the real environment.

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Dreamlike and Playful Virtual Environments to Inspire Children’s Divergent Thinking

Journal of Media Psychology Theories Methods and Applications ◽

10.1027/1864-1105/a000279 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-11

Author(s):

Jérôme Guegan ◽

Claire Brechet ◽

Julien Nelson

Keyword(s):

Virtual Environments ◽

Divergent Thinking ◽

Idea Generation ◽

Combined Processes ◽

Office Environment ◽

School Aged Children

Abstract. Computers have long been seen as possible tools to foster creativity in children. In this respect, virtual environments present an interesting potential to support idea generation but also to steer it in relevant directions. A total of 96 school-aged children completed a standard divergent thinking task while being exposed to one of three virtual environments: a replica of the headmistress’s office, a replica of their schoolyard, and a dreamlike environment. Results showed that participants produced more original ideas in the dreamlike and playful environments than in the headmistress’s office environment. Additionally, the contents of the environment influenced the selective exploration of idea categories. We discuss these results in terms of two combined processes: explicit references to sources of inspiration in the environment, and the implicit priming of specific idea categories.

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