Diagrammatic Sketches as a Means of Design Interaction

参与城市设计和规划的创新工具的开发这项研究涉及到参与城市设计和规划的创新工具的开发。它主要侧重于制定方法，鼓励利益攸关方积极参与城市和景观形态概念的定义。这些方法有助于使用图形手势、绘制的草图和物理模型，然后通过不同的扫描技术捕获、分析并带回设计概念或进一步的咨询过程。他们的基本假设是，这些方法由于其“亲力亲为”的方法与精确的数据分析相结合，可以产生更好和更知情的咨询过程。目前关于示意图发展的研究目前的研究集中在一种参与式过程的工具上，即写意写生在景观和城市设计的发展中的使用。虽然这属于一种特定的城市参与类别，称为草图规划，但这项研究着眼于特定类型的图纸和数据分析，这可以帮助该学科更好地解决与景观和城市特征相关的问题。在参与过程中使用素描主要是基于使用某些类型的素描，即素描地图和概念地图，它们本质上适合于讨论解决空间问题、土地利用位置和地理数据收集等问题。然而，景观和城市外观、风格以及关于连通性的更微妙的讨论(我们称之为城市和景观特征)并没有通过这些手段得到适当的解决。另一种类型的图纸，我们称之为示意图，可以用来填补这一空白。这些通常是基于平面图的线条图，用于连接路径、所需的线和景观组件，如植物、人工地形或水景。它们往往比草图绘图更简单(例如，它们可能代表道路的中心线，而不是两边)，比传统使用的草图/概念地图更抽象(例如，有时可以以多种方式解释直线)。它们在设计实践中的使用与对性格问题的讨论更密切相关，如果充分使用，可以为参与进程带来新的视角。然而，它们的抽象程度可能会使它们在参与过程中难以被不同的用户群体采用或理解，从而对其可用性以及非专家解释的简易性提出问题。本研究试图了解图解素描在公众参与过程中的适用性。它假定，在对草图进行统计分析之后，可以通过草图开发和进一步的圆桌讨论相结合的方式，与利益攸关方集体讨论城市和景观特征问题。这反过来应有助于丰富规划讨论，并帮助利益攸关方表达通过其他方式没有出现的关切和问题。它目前正在开发一种名为网络特征的技术，这将有助于解释图表草图，并将其结果与参与进程中关于城市特征的讨论联系起来。研究应在分析现有历史背景的基础上，对现有的城市结构块进行网络表征，并将其结果与其特征的实际情况进行比较。同样，它应对不同用户群体的手绘草图进行表征研究，并确定其在捕捉设计意图方面的有效性。到目前为止，已经对10岁的儿童进行了一项测试。

DEVELOPMENT OF TOOLS FOR PARTICICIPATORY URBAN DESIGN This research deals with the development of innovative tools for participation in urban design and planning. It mainly focuses on the development of methodologies that encourage active engagement of stakeholders in definition of concepts of urban and landscape form. These are methods that facilitate the use of graphical gestures, drawn sketches and physical models which are then captured via different scanning techniques, analysed and brought back into to the design concepts or further consultation processes. They underlying hypothesis is that these methods due to their "hands on" approach combined with precise data analytics can produce better and more informed consultation processes. CURRENT RESEARCH ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF DIAGRAMMATIC SKETCHES The research is currently focusing on one type of tools for participatory processes, namely the usage of freehand sketching in the development of landscape and urban design. While this would fall into a specific category of urban participation called sketch planning, this research looks at specific types of drawings and data analytics which can help this discipline better address issues related with landscape and urban character. The use of sketches in participatory process is mostly based on the use of certain types of drawings, namely sketch maps and concept maps which are inherently suited to discuss issues of spatial problem solving, land use location and geographical data gathering. However questions of landscape and urban appearance, style and more nuanced discussions on connectivity (what we shall call urban and landscape character) are not addressed properly through these means. Another type of drawings, which we call diagrammatic sketches, can be used to fill this gap. These are typically plan based line drawings of connecting paths, desire lines and landscape components such as planting, artificial topographies or water features. They tend to be simpler than sketch maps drawings (for example they may represent centre line of roads as opposed to both edges) and more abstract than conventionally used sketch/concept maps (for example, lines can sometimes be interpreted in multiple ways). Their use in design practice is more closely related to the discussion on issues of character and can bring new perspectives to the participatory processes if adequately used. However, their level of abstraction can potentially make them hard to adopt or understand by different user groups in the participation process, posing questions on its usability as well as ease of interpretation by non-experts. This study tries to understand the applicability of diagrammatic sketching in public participatory processes. It assumes that questions of urban and landscape character can be collectively discussed with stakeholders by a combination of sketch development and further round table discussions following statistical analysis of the sketches. This in turn should help enrich planning discussion and help stakeholders express concerns and issues which do not emerge through other means. It is currently developing a technique called network characterization, which should help both interpret diagrammatic sketches and link their results to discussion on urban character during participatory processes. The study shall carry out network characterization of existing pieces of urban fabric and compare its results with ground truth of their character based on analysis of existing historical background. Equally, it shall carry out characterization studies of hand drawn sketches of different user groups and ascertain its efficiently in capturing design intent. One test has been carried out so far with 10 year old children.