Emergence in Urban Environments: Agent-based Simulation of Environment Reconfiguration

Online PDF PhD Thesis, supervisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Henri H. Achten, MOLAB FA CTU

Online version of the Dissertation Thesis Emergence in Urban Environments: Agent-based Simulation of Environment Reconfiguration. Abstract: The paradigm of emergence that we are dealing with within the framework of several scientific disciplines (e.g. artificial intelligence, cybernetics, evolutionary biology, systems theory, cognitive sciences and others), also appears in architectural and urban context as an essence of design processes and methods of production or development of architectural and urban forms. This concept can be applied in observations and simulations of the unpredictable behaviour of the urban environment as well as validation of its characteristics in various simulated environmental scenarios and conditions by means of using information technology. It is a spontaneous creation of an organized whole out of a disordered collection of interacting parts. This phenomenon is very well legible in the field of architecture and urbanism as so called “bottom-up” concept of environmental development, where city urban structure emerges from low-level rules and negotiations between local participants to a higher-level sophisticated environment. The aim of this research is a spatial simulation of city environment development which would simulate its growth and reconfiguration based on demands and requirements on a lower level and its qualitative description. This spatial simulation would serve as a decision making tool for architects when applying various spatial scenarios of environment configurations and thereby it would create a basis for spatial planning decisions in subsequent stages of zoning proceedings, mainly in the early design stages. The core of the interest of this research is definition of the spatial alignment of the urban pattern based on bottom-up requirements. In particular, this embodies approach walkable distances in the places of interests in the selected urban environment, the spacing distances between the urban elements, and the definition of appropriate graininess of the urban fabric and its density. In that manner it is possible to specify an equable spread of urban activities and volumes in the structure and therefore define a relevant diversity of the environment with different measure of the densities of the spatial alignment. As such, the observer is allowed to simulate the spatial relations and explore its qualitative potentials and tendencies in already existing environment, or define its inadequacies.

Tokyo Pop Culture Lab

Honorable Mention Award

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Tokyo Pop Culture Lab

Early Conceptual Models

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Altar wall "Flames of Holy Spirit" Brno

"Do not quench the Spirit." 1 Thessalonians 5,19

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Iterative Protocols

Processing sketches exploring the iterative and coded rules-based behavior of the emerging animated custom brushes.

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Pheromonics design strategies

Natural behavior of the artificial living creatures can be reflected and embeded into the computational models used in urban speculations in order to discover and explore emergent phenomena and potentials of selected urban dynamics.

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Remote Calibrations

The Bartlett School of Architecture DfMA project

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Synthetic landscapes

Artificial landscapes emerged from disruptive processes which can be observed in computational models whilst the potential of their spatial organization and surface character can be understood as a novel type of pattern and tectonics of the future cities.

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Emergent articulation field

Speculative urban formations.

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Symbiosis

Test of user defined and controlled behavior of the moving agent-based system in order to disturb the spring elements in the field. Can two diferent systems live in mutual symbiosis?

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CHURCH OF HOLY SPIRIT BRNO

Jesus said to them,Have you never read in the Scriptures:The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this,and it is marvelous in our eyes? Matthew 21:42

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Hylacka-Vetrovy tower

The proposed tower with a contemporary appearance based on a parametric user-defined geometry is a significant symbol in the countryside of Vetrovy.It fully respects natural characteristics of the environment and its whole scenery- practically it melts into it.

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Disruptive Eco-logics

Observation of disruptive natural processes in computational models.

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Architectural and Urban Design

Selected architectural and Urban design projects.

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Emergence in Urban Environments

PhD Thesis

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Fish Trap Pavilion

FabFestival 2018 London

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Responsive City

Tanjong Pagar 2080+ Competition Entry IAAC

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Interactive Urban Design Prototyping

Empower Shack Project-A case study in Cape Town

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Programmed-In: Kiln Canopy in Flimwell

The Bartlett School of Architecture DfMA project

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Customised Floating Neighbourhoods

Design interface for non-experts and designers

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Video tests and tutorials

Selected Modelling Strategies

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ESUM

Human perception of Urban dynamics: research at the iA Chair of Information Architecture and Urban Data Visualisation tool

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Large-Scale Urban Prototyping

A Conceptual Framework. Richard Rogers Fellowship research in London, Spring 2018.

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Design-to-Production

Realisation of the Timber Structure in Flimwell Park

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Flux

Design of the Visual and Spatial Urban Intervention in Bratislava

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Paintings

Selection of hand-made paintings

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