In this presentation we introduce UD-R, a robot that assists investors and architects to understand and apply urban diversity mapping and quantitative cultural analysis in urban space. The bot is trained in particular to explain new research concepts such as "urban diversity mapping" or "iso-lex". It is a step forward in the fields of urban diversity mapping and quantitative cultural analysis in urban space, and it is also an experiment in using AI to explain new research concepts to professional audiences. As part of our presentation, we include a hands-on demonstration of how the bot responds to a set of predefined queries as well as queries from the audience.

Digital tools potentially improve interaction between planners and citizens, reduce barriers to participation, encouraging creativity and expression (Wilson and Tewdwr-Jones, 2019) and promoting more sustainable urbanization (Hasler et al., 2017). However, this can only be an improvement if citizens are able to participate effectively. As Rosener (2006) has shown, it is not enough to evaluate the success of participation based on more citizens taking part, but rather its impact, to achieve better public policy. Our study examines the challenges faced by citizens in actively participating in the planning process in the digital age through an ethnographic approach of a citizens’ association in Dublin. Specifically, we investigate how citizens strive to gather and mobilize data and integrate themselves into the planning system to voice their opinions, particularly during the planning appeals stage. In the context of the increasing digitization of the planning process, we scrutinize the data flow within the system and its implications for citizen interaction within the planning and building control processes. Additionally, we examine how citizens leverage data to pursue collective or personal goals, probing the extent of their influence on the planning process. By demonstrating the significance of citizen engagement, we assess its impact on transparency and accountability, shedding light on biases in participation. The paper discusses power inequalities within the planning process, underscoring that only a minority of citizens familiar with the urbanization process are actively involved. It demonstrates how participation through data can either empower citizens or create an illusion of empowerment. Our analysis encourages reflection on how open data and transparency on the data generation, flow, analysis of planning data, and how citizen participation can be enhanced and equitably distributed in the age of digitized urban planning.

The post-internet era encapsulates a time where the internet, in its myriad facets including perception, influence, fragmentation, polarization, disruption, accelerationism, and speculation, shapes the milieu of the extreme present. This paper delves into the paradigm of post-internet time and its profound impact on urban and architectural experiences. This period witnesses the influence of internet microgenres and subcultures on the aesthetic, form, and relational structures within city architecture. Notably, technologies such as the semantic web, blockchain, and digital ownership intertwine with political, cultural, and economic realities, exerting a multiplicative effect on combinatorial innovation. The concept of the Post-Internet City underscores the coalescence of virtual and physical realms, where technological interfaces merge with social and cultural interfaces. This reality transcends mere extraction and mediation of technology, presenting an imperious yet inconspicuous virtual presence that impacts urban infrastructure profoundly. The paper focuses on the convergence, interweaving, and tensions between physical urban spaces, their digital counterparts, and technological overlays. It examines design-research initiatives that explore the intricate interactions stemming from an increasingly interconnected world, contemplating the influence of social media, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and surveillance on urban form and behaviour. Central to this exploration is the query: How does architecture and the city respond to, enable, or counterbalance the effects of technology? Speculating on a potential domain of urban and architectural invention, the paper envisions cities transcending cadastral space to embrace virtual realms and digital ubiquity. It scrutinizes the hyper-reality of virtual space as a nexus for invisible societal, economic, and cultural forces. Moreover, the research postulates trajectories where technological shifts manifest within the urban process, crystallizing in architectural practice. The investigative studio operates at the nexus of physical, virtual, and holographic realms, leveraging real-time urban data analytics, simulation, gamification, AI, and generative techniques. The theoretical framework posits Post-Internet Cities as kinetic processes fostered by data, energy, people, and logistics. It advocates for a spatial operating system that challenges chronological urbanism, overturning traditional static principles in favour of an opportunistic, agile, and multiplier-based approach. This temporal city embraces complexity, variability, unpredictability, and imbalance as catalysts for accelerated change and innovation. The research and projects utilise static and real-time urban data analytics, techniques of data scrapping from web-based APIs and platform technology applications, hybridising datasets, to build operative urban models and generative scenarios, visualisations, and propositions for the city.

Urbanization, modern lifestyles, and technology addiction have disconnected us from nature, resulting in detrimental effects on individual well-being and social relationships. While the relationship between humans and the natural environment has been extensively studied, recent decades have witnessed a growing interest in the concept of Biophilia due to its multiple benefits of people-nature interaction. As an emerging research field, Biophilia presents various aspects that warrant further investigation. In this paper, we delve into the notion of Biophilic Perception (BP) as a global and local attitude across the main terrestrial biomes, and we propose new tools for measuring it. Assuming eight cities as case studies, we firstly employ Visual AI, specifically Dense Prediction Transformer (DPT) Model, to assess the presence of Biophilic settings within urban areas using 25-class segmentation applied to Google Street imagery; secondly, we calibrate our model using data collected from a survey involving over 400 participants to examine the correlation between BP and city-biomes; finally, we compare the outcomes from the previous phases in terms of quantitative and qualitative metrics. As results, we provide maps that visually depict the presence and perception of Biophilia on a global scale, and we deliver a transferable model that can advance the specific research field based on evidence. Furthermore, our research aims to contribute to city planning renewal by encouraging designers and decision-makers to prioritize the integration of people and nature at the core of the urban development agenda.