Tuesdays 2:00pm-6:30pm, Start: 22 Oct 2019

The proliferation of new services and sensors gives rise to unprecedented volumes of data that increasingly shape our perception of our urban surroundings. Algorithms already influence the ways we move and meet in the city. This course is devoted to the visual analysis and communication of urban data with the goal to engage in critical reflections about the role that maps and apps play in the everyday experience of cities. Taking the city as the subject matter, this course provides an opportunity to experiment with information visualization–the visual and interactive representation of complex data–and reflect on its rhetorical power.

Lectures cover fundamentals of visualization, such as mapping data to visual variables, the role that interactivity can play, and techniques for representing typical data structures. Tutorials will complement the theoretical inputs with practical activities and assignments. Students of design and urban futures will form interdisciplinary teams to pursue projects at the intersection of the visualization and transformation of cities. The underlying question of the course is: How can seeing the city in new light lead to changes in personal, professional, or political decision-making?

Please note: The class will be taught in English. All communication during the seminars as well as literature and auxiliary materials will be in English.

Scheine (10 ECTS):

• BA Design: Entwurf/Fachvertiefung
• MA Design: Labor-/Entwurfsstrategien
• MA Urbane Zukunft: Fachliche Vertiefung