The Gastronomy of the Eye

Works of art can be read at various levels: from being objects of simple retinal pleasure to the other extreme of being significant critical statements of their time. This chapter aims to strike a cerebral dialogue through the works of art. The current study shall consider the latter function of art and analyze the methods in which contemporary Indian artists have made attempts to provide a critique of the early initiatives towards developing Delhi and Mumbai as ‘smart cities'. The review of works from India concludes the essential role of infrastructural projects and envisioned spaces built in the era of economic liberalization. The study aims at drawing a methodological approach, with an art historical perspective, with the artists analysing and translating the urban experiential phenomenon, into artworks.

Towards a Smart Neighbourhoods Simulated Model

The literature generally describes a conventional neighbourhood as an urban area that consists of houses, schools, shopping, religious buildings, and open spaces. This work focuses on the challenge of establishing smart neighbourhoods. The contribution here is in presenting a new model for a smart neighbourhood that contains two frameworks. The first framework is related to input specific parameters from the user and gets reports for timetable, map, and materials. The second framework uses the virtual reality aspect and compound of multiple layers. The concluding remarks figured out that the importance of using the model's work depends on reusing and ABC clustering algorithm.

Transformation of Urban Space by Smart Technologies

This chapter evaluates the Istanbul Historical Peninsula, which has been the historical, cultural, and financial core of the city, in its quest for becoming smart(er) with reference to the five principles that are put forth by Mitchell, in his 1999 book e-topia. The chapter aims to define the role of ICTs in urban planning and management of Istanbul Historical Peninsula by depicting its fields of use in redesigning the societal, financial, and cultural aspects of urban life in the area. Additionally, the transformative feature of these technologies, used in urban planning, conservation, and heritage management, will be validated whether they serve for a vision and a strategic framework of transitioning the community into an information society.

The Concept of Atmospheres

Architects and urban planners currently face the challenge of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) that quickly permeates urban environments. In an effort to understand this event as one that goes beyond technology use and technological innovation, the authors investigate how the concept of atmosphere is key to envisioning the future of smart cities. In order to clarify the understanding of the concept, this chapter presents an original alignment of three clusters of authors (Goethe and Wittgenstein, Böhme and Schmitz, and Bratton). The goal is to demonstrate that atmospheres and urban ambiances are fundamental urban design elements. They have the ability to positively shape technology use in cities as decisive elements to promote sustainable smart cities.

The Atmospheres of Urban Environments

This chapter investigates the ambiguity of the word “atmospheres” in the fields of urban studies. It examines the justifications (plausibility) beyond its uses, with the terms that are focusing on the perceptual qualities. The author investigated the uses of the word “atmospheres” from the beginning of the 17th century to the year 2020, a period which he divided into four stages. The investigation covered the work of 27 thinkers in the fields of natural sciences and humanities, including 10 in architecture disciplines, in addition to 28 manuscripts that addressed the relationship between atmospheres in the areas of architecture, particularly urban planning and design and urban landscape architecture between 1998 and 2020. The outcomes were developed through a comprehensive literature review by gaps analysis and a deductive online survey with 58 specialized participants, using SurveyMonkey. This chapter contributes to the rationale that an urban designer can use to study people's changing feelings, emotions, and moods according to the understanding of the terms related to atmospheres.

Situational Atmospheres

This chapter examines how placemaking and filmmaking can improve teaching urban design-based situations of atmospheres. The qualitative-deductive form of content analysis addresses atmospheres in four Egyptian and American films and thus creates a conceptual framework for design strategy in studio of urban design. In this chapter, the authors discuss this framework with regard to the works of the Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz. They show that filmmaking and placemaking are similar in the intellectual discourse because both produce ideas, themes, and events together with architectural elements and experience of everyday life. The findings highlight the impact of local architecture on the quantitative and nonquantitative factors that create affective atmospheres. The theoretical argument proved that the process of filmmaking could constitute a method for teaching in urban design studios and urban design history. The conclusion gives an action plan to use cinematic works as a tool for enhancing teaching affective atmospheres in urban-design studios.

Theorizing the Critical Placemaking

All over the world, lots of challenges are affecting the urban development of spaces in the cities, especially spaces attached to the heritage site. It provides various ambiances that touch the senses of the users. Although the attached public space to heritage sites is full of rich, deep knowledge and plays an active role in the community, it was neglected. Those spaces contribute to the entrenchment of culture and social heritage of the community to let future generations get benefit from it. In this chapter, the researchers theorize the “critical placemaking” with creative ambiance as a tool for successful attached to public spaces. This has been drawn from key concepts in environmental psychology of the users such as physical environment, atmosphere, and services environment. The proposed framework seeks to theorize the processes of placemaking and its key concepts and how it helps in the preservation process. The argument that the placemaking process needs a creative ambiance, which contributes to transforming community narratives and that space, becomes more inclusive.

Impact of Urban Ambiance on the Productivity of the Built Environment Using Cluster Analysis

Productivity is the key measure of success and efficiency of any process or activity, and it is dependent on a number of factors. The ambiance of cities and the use of latest technology and environment also affect the productivity of the residents working in the city. The objective of this chapter is to identify the attributes of urban ambiance from the literature review and to analyse the impact of satisfactory urban/city ambiance on the productivity of the built environment. The methodology adopted for the study is to collect the data using a structured questionnaire survey on the impact of urban ambiance on the productivity form the different cities of the world. The collected data shall be analysed using reliability analysis, relative importance index, exploratory factor analysis, and cluster analysis. The finding of the study shall provide an understanding of urban ambiance on the productivity of the built environment and the ways and means to improve the situation.

Potentials of ICT and IoT in the Design of Smart Public Spaces

This study aims to show that information and communication technologies (ICT) and the internet of things (IoT) can be used in order to improve the atmosphere of a space. This chapter is based on the assumption that if ICT and IoT are used to better the physical environment of the space, its atmosphere will also be enhanced. A summary of the design of public open spaces and how current ICT and IoT can help in this regard is presented. This theoretical background was the base for a proposal that uses current technology to allow constant changes to the physical layout of a space to accommodate the changing needs of users and improve the space's atmosphere. The proposal advanced here is intentionally simple in terms of its idea and its execution. It is also possible to be tested at any scale a designer or a researcher would prefer. The different and economically conscious experiments will lead to continuous improvements to the proposal.