**7. Conclusions**

*Sustainability in Urban Planning and Design*

reformation of the community.

layout of the blocks. The solution corresponding to the absolute minimum number of new streets could be impractical for the citizens themselves for the reason that it does not offer enough flexibility; however, it offers a good basis that is easily perceived by the users, in which they can develop and customize further. The process has been enriched by additional functionality that allows the users to exclude streets from the calculation and customize their priorities prior to the calculation based on what reflects their needs best. This is the kind of local knowledge that emerges from processes that allow active user engagement, and its value is immense for the

The input required is a map of the properties in the community in a shape file format (.shp). The design system is articulated by specific front-end and back-end processes (**Figure 18**). The front-end processes are related to the display of the website based on user demand, which constitute the User Interface, and the back-end processes are related to the background processes needed for the calculation, such as reclustering calculation, queuing of tasks being performed, registering a user in a database, and creating a user profile. As the calculations could potentially demand a

*Cape Town example. Process of "reblocking." New road network is gradually formed (graphic design by Stamen* 

**170**

**Figure 19.**

*design).*

**Figure 18.**

*"Openreblock" design system of processes (figure was created by the author).*

Due to the staggering rise of technology, our ability to generate data far exceeds our capacity to comprehend the complexity that is entailed in the process of allocating the right kinds of data, analyzing it and finding meaningful connections between different data sets. As this has become one of the biggest challenges that planners are facing, it is important to employ innovative strategies and attempt to go beyond the conventions in data diagnostics. The core of this paper is devoted to an examination of direct or indirect user participation in understanding and pursuing social cohesion in the urban context.

In recent theoretical and policy debates concerning social correlation with the built environment, human participation has re-emerged as an important asset that could provide insight regarding the dynamics of urban space. In this context of renewal of interest in the local, social interactions, the deployment of notions such as, subjectivity, human scale, and temporality offer a critical review of constrained and narrow-sided methods of visualizing the dynamics of urban space solely from a top-down perspective, that of planners and stakeholders. Beyond its sociopolitical implications, participatory approach in urban planning aims to establish a framework toward a more resilient and sustainable environment that benefits both researchers and citizens. From the researcher's perspective, the ability to visualize and analyze peoples desires and opinions that reflect their background allows for a culturally enhanced database that captures their common aspects and differences as it was demonstrated on the first case study.

The first case study aims to provide a calibrated understanding of the multiple grains of constructed space through top-down and bottom-up methodologies, as well as to offer a tool of visualizing dynamical characteristics of the urban environment. The research balances the traditional census data analysis with more dynamic layers of collective platforms and crowdsourcing. Whichever methodology is considered more or less descriptive of the reality, it is worth examining all the conduits and corridors available to us, by which changes in the urban context are being delivered.

The results of the three surveys were overlapped and weighted in order to produce a series of maps at different scales that visualize gentrification in the Bay Area. Each method described presents certain advantages. The census data analysis provides an

overview of the context over a significant time span (2000–2012) and helps us understand major socioeconomic shifts. The open data analysis depicts the ephemeral layer of relationships that take place in the urban environment, which is impossible to be described by authoritative data; however, it is more relevant to the actual conditions, revealing user demands through open-source platforms. The third method enriches the process with cultural inputs are captured as data and user personal feedback about ranking the environment of a neighborhood as it currently stands. Looking at urban issues through maps can give us several hints about spatial and social transformations, in which we can think upon, as visualized information provokes feedback, either logical or emotional. Throughout this entire process, we can assess certain findings:


**173**

**Acknowledgements**

*Human-Centered Approaches in Urban Analytics and Placemaking*

the understanding of the unique challenges that the city faces.

The first case study was initiated in the context of the University of California, Berkeley, during the Master of Architecture Program "Studio One: The Data Made

This new establishment of relationships is replacing almost entirely the previous condition of gradual displacement and gentrification. It evolves rapidly, and although it looks more orderly, visually, as many areas are undergoing significant upgrading, this esthetic ordering might not have a social correlation. Social structure and social stability are inversely proportional to visual order. This condition is known to be establishing in Oakland, which was significantly undermined in the past few years; however, the challenge is not only to identify the problem but also to find the ways to analyze by mapping its characteristics and communicate it visually to its extents. Understanding the shifts of urban space and finding the patterns that drive them is a big challenge. We support that close engagement with users leads us to explore numerous research methods, which have a way of contributing to meaningful connections inside data networks. We find inspiration in the combination of the traditional ways of space categorization by investigating the relationship of home value, income, transportation, etc., with a bottom-up, participative approach in which individuals provide more ephemeral social elements of neighborhoods. The second case study is a first step in designing a platform that showcases a social and vital problem of undeveloped slum communities. The primary aspect in designing this tool is to understand the problem through the citizens' perspective, resonate it to a wider audience and formulate methods to represent it effectively. At the moment, "Openreblock" platform computes and visualizes access to essential utilities such as water, energy, and sanitation at a building block level, along with showcasing how the lack of these may relate to risks or disasters faced by entire communities. The potential contribution of this platform could extend beyond a computational and visualization tool, into a powerful decision-making tool used by both policy makers and slum communities alike, with the objective to improve the lives of the communities through design and data, build partnerships with organizations that could bring innovative solutions and impact stakeholders' strategies to become more tailored toward what is important for the communities. From the citizens perspective, the ability to collect their own data, own the process of development, and reshape the urban fabric prompts the residents to participate in its evolvement and grow conscience and care for their neighborhood. As the above case studies open the possibility to operate at a fine spatial scale, examining the city, and neighborhoods, block by block and building by building, they provide the context for a more fine-grained understanding of community characteristics, conflicts, and relationships that reveal the heterogeneous characteristics of the urban space. We argue that the key in improving policy-making is engaging community members to collaborate and take advantage of the available information, in order to become more active members in the society and become able to respond with their own creativity and capacity. From the researchers and planners perspective, the key would be to find ways to anticipate the infrastructural requirements of user involvement, come up with new tools and ideas that maximize the potential for cooperation, coordination, and creativity, while diminishing friction. The future goal would be to design for a convergence of trajectories of citizens, stakeholders, researchers, environment, and local authorities. This could be a first step toward the equalization of power and influence between citizens and stakeholders, which could lead in the collaborative construction of urban space and

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89675*

#### *Human-Centered Approaches in Urban Analytics and Placemaking DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89675*

*Sustainability in Urban Planning and Design*

displacement.

overview of the context over a significant time span (2000–2012) and helps us understand major socioeconomic shifts. The open data analysis depicts the ephemeral layer of relationships that take place in the urban environment, which is impossible to be described by authoritative data; however, it is more relevant to the actual conditions, revealing user demands through open-source platforms. The third method enriches the process with cultural inputs are captured as data and user personal feedback about ranking the environment of a neighborhood as it currently stands. Looking at urban issues through maps can give us several hints about spatial and social transformations, in which we can think upon, as visualized information provokes feedback, either logical or emotional. Throughout this entire process, we can assess certain findings:

1. Based on the census data analysis, nearly half of the San Francisco Bay Area census tracts are undergoing some form of neighborhood transformation and

2.Although varied in their approaches, questions and results, one consistent finding across the three methods is that movers in gentrifying tracts were more likely to be higher income, college educated, and younger in age. This came down to depicting certain categories as indicative that the process of gentrification has already been underway: (a) shift in tenure, (b) influx of households interested in urban living, (c) increase in high-income serving amenities such as music clubs, coffee shops, galleries, etc, (d) rise of educational level.

3.The data accumulated from the open data research depict a significant artists' movement regarding art studio rent requests, artwork sale, and creative services in general in the entire Bay Area and especially in San Francisco and Oakland. The San Francisco arts scene has historically overshadowed Oakland; however, in combination with the staggering rise of rent in San Francisco, we can anticipate that the artist movement will intensify in East Bay in a short timeframe.

4.Studying Oakland at a local street view scale, we can assess that the area is undergoing disperse development that presents high contradictions related to infrastructure condition, affordability, and safety. The results from the crowdsourcing survey vary significantly in building block scale; therefore, any sense of continuity of the same character because of proximity is not necessarily a

5. Moreover, certain redeveloped areas have uniform functional identity, such as Emeryville, as they present excessive duplication of the most profitable uses (malls, restaurants), while San Francisco and Oakland downtowns present

6.We notice significant contradictions on the results of the crowed sourced research regarding infrastructure condition, safety, and affordability perception of the participants. Some of the findings depict areas of new development (last 3–4 years) that are yet islanded off because the surrounding area is significantly undermined. However, this contradiction reveals certain dynamics regarding the future, further redevelopment of the area, as well as the areas that accumulate similar features. If we combine the above with the data related to artists' movement and the real estate requests associated with it, we can anticipate that the areas that are currently popular to the artist community will upgrade and the areas that are still undergoing reanesthetization (industrial,

excessive duplication of financial functions (bank district).

criterion to rely upon (**Figures 11–13**).

abandoned buildings) will follow (**Figure 10**).

**172**

This new establishment of relationships is replacing almost entirely the previous condition of gradual displacement and gentrification. It evolves rapidly, and although it looks more orderly, visually, as many areas are undergoing significant upgrading, this esthetic ordering might not have a social correlation. Social structure and social stability are inversely proportional to visual order. This condition is known to be establishing in Oakland, which was significantly undermined in the past few years; however, the challenge is not only to identify the problem but also to find the ways to analyze by mapping its characteristics and communicate it visually to its extents. Understanding the shifts of urban space and finding the patterns that drive them is a big challenge. We support that close engagement with users leads us to explore numerous research methods, which have a way of contributing to meaningful connections inside data networks. We find inspiration in the combination of the traditional ways of space categorization by investigating the relationship of home value, income, transportation, etc., with a bottom-up, participative approach in which individuals provide more ephemeral social elements of neighborhoods.

The second case study is a first step in designing a platform that showcases a social and vital problem of undeveloped slum communities. The primary aspect in designing this tool is to understand the problem through the citizens' perspective, resonate it to a wider audience and formulate methods to represent it effectively.

At the moment, "Openreblock" platform computes and visualizes access to essential utilities such as water, energy, and sanitation at a building block level, along with showcasing how the lack of these may relate to risks or disasters faced by entire communities. The potential contribution of this platform could extend beyond a computational and visualization tool, into a powerful decision-making tool used by both policy makers and slum communities alike, with the objective to improve the lives of the communities through design and data, build partnerships with organizations that could bring innovative solutions and impact stakeholders' strategies to become more tailored toward what is important for the communities.

From the citizens perspective, the ability to collect their own data, own the process of development, and reshape the urban fabric prompts the residents to participate in its evolvement and grow conscience and care for their neighborhood.

As the above case studies open the possibility to operate at a fine spatial scale, examining the city, and neighborhoods, block by block and building by building, they provide the context for a more fine-grained understanding of community characteristics, conflicts, and relationships that reveal the heterogeneous characteristics of the urban space. We argue that the key in improving policy-making is engaging community members to collaborate and take advantage of the available information, in order to become more active members in the society and become able to respond with their own creativity and capacity. From the researchers and planners perspective, the key would be to find ways to anticipate the infrastructural requirements of user involvement, come up with new tools and ideas that maximize the potential for cooperation, coordination, and creativity, while diminishing friction. The future goal would be to design for a convergence of trajectories of citizens, stakeholders, researchers, environment, and local authorities. This could be a first step toward the equalization of power and influence between citizens and stakeholders, which could lead in the collaborative construction of urban space and the understanding of the unique challenges that the city faces.
