Mahankali, Ranjeeth; Johnson, Brian R.; Anderson, Alex T. (2018). Deep Learning in Design Workflows: The Elusive Design Pixel. International Journal Of Architectural Computing, 16(4), 328 – 340.
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Abstract
The recent wave of developments and research in the field of deep learning and artificial intelligence is causing the border between the intuitive and deterministic domains to be redrawn, especially in computer vision and natural language processing. As designers frequently invoke vision and language in the context of design, this article takes a step back to ask if deep learning's capabilities might be applied to design workflows, especially in architecture. In addition to addressing this general question, the article discusses one of several prototypes, BIMToVec, developed to examine the use of deep learning in design. It employs techniques like those used in natural language processing to interpret building information models. The article also proposes a homogeneous data format, provisionally called a design pixel, which can store design information as spatial-semantic maps. This would make designers' intuitive thoughts more accessible to deep learning algorithms while also allowing designers to communicate abstractly with design software.
Keywords
Associative Logic; Creative Processes; Deep Learning; Embedding Vectors; Bimtovec; Homogeneous Design Data Format; Design Pixel; Idea Persistence
Acolin, Arthur. (2019). Housing Trajectories of Immigrants and Their Children in France: Between Integration and Stratification. Urban Studies (sage Publications, Ltd.), 56(10), 2021 – 2039.
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Abstract
Immigrants have been found to exhibit different housing tenure patterns from the rest of the population in a number of contexts. This article tests whether observed differences in tenure in France can be explained by differences in socio-demographic characteristics or whether unexplained differences might result from housing market mechanisms that affect immigrants differentially from the rest of the population, and extends this to the second generation. The article relies on data from TeO, a survey of 21,761 persons designed to oversample and identify immigrants and their children, providing information about the outcomes of children of immigrants that is otherwise lacking in French statistics. The results indicate that while immigrants are significantly less likely to be homeowners, even after controlling for compositional difference, the gap in homeownership between the second generation and the rest of the population is smaller and not statistically significant. This suggests a progressive integration in the housing market over time and over generations rather than overall stratified housing trajectories. Differences in terms of the share of social housing residents, the level of residential crowding, and housing and neighbourhood characteristics also decline across generations. However, children of immigrants from some non-European origins are experiencing higher levels of stratification than other groups, with continued significant differences in tenure.
Keywords
Immigrants; Housing; Home Ownership; Children Of Immigrants; Housing Market; Social Stratification; France; Homeownership; Housing Trajectories; Tenure; Segmented Assimilation; Location Choices; Wealth; 2nd-generation; Discrimination; Segregation; Inequality; Quality; Markets; Demographics; Homeowners; Neighborhoods; Crowding; Statistical Analysis; Residential Patterns; Children; Trajectories; Residents; Residential Areas; Integration; Statistics; European Cultural Groups; Sociodemographics; Stratification; Demographic Aspects; Second Generation; Property; Public Housing; Noncitizens
Idziorek, Katherine; Chalana, Manish. (2019). Managing Change: Seattle’s 21st Century Urban Renaissance. Journal Of Urbanism, 12(3), 320 – 345.
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Abstract
Evolution of the urban planning and historic preservation disciplines has resulted in an “uneasy alliance” in practice, one further complicated by the back-to-the-city movement and increased development pressure in older urban neighbourhoods. In Seattle, as in other U.S. cities, the pace, intensity and scale of redevelopment has caused dramatic spatial and social transformations. Although research has shown that older built fabric provides economic and social benefit for cities, neither regulations created by planners for guiding redevelopment nor strategies created by preservationists for retaining urban heritage have been successful in reconciling these different, yet interconnected, sets of values. We engage three Seattle neighbourhood case studies to clarify and evaluate policies, programs and strategies used by planners and preservationists for reimagining neighbourhood transformations. This work suggests a need for more creative, integrative collaboration between the two fields to simultaneously engage – and reconcile – social and economic tensions caused by urban redevelopment.
Keywords
Renaissance; Urban Planning; Biological Evolution; Historic Preservation; Seattle (wash.); Everyday Heritage; Seattle; Urban Conservation; Urban Renaissance; Redevelopment; Change Management; Neighborhoods; Regulation; Urban Renewal; Transformations; Cities; Preservation; Urban Areas; Planners; 21st Century; Cultural Heritage
Park, Kyungmo; Lee, Hyun Woo; Choi, Kunhee; Lee, Seung-hyun. (2019). Project Risk Factors Facing Construction Management Firms. International Journal Of Civil Engineering, 17(3), 305 – 321.
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Abstract
Very little is known about the project risk factors that affect construction management (CM) firms, which often struggle due to a lack of effective risk management practices. This study investigates the risk factors critical to project execution in CM firms and ranks them using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) methods. Interviews with executives at the top 15 Korean CM firms are carried out to identify major risk factors in the CM sector, and a survey is used to develop priority ranking. We find that payment delays and project delays are the two most critical risk factors affecting CM firms because of (1) lack of communication between headquarters and field offices, (2) shift of responsibility from headquarters to a field office, (3) absence of regular monitoring of project progress, and (4) ex-post management practices. The findings presented in this study should assist CM firms in establishing more robust risk management practices, thereby improving firms' profitability, project performance, and customer satisfaction.
Keywords
Analytic Hierarchy Process; Customer Satisfaction; Factor Analysis; Risk Assessment; Risk Management; Analytic Hierarchy Process (ahp); Construction Management; Construction Management Firms; Failure Mode And Effects Analysis; Korea; Management Practices; Risk Factors; Risk Management Practices; Industry
Acolin, Arthur. (2020). Owning vs. Renting: The Benefits of Residential Stability? Housing Studies, 37(4), 644-647.
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Abstract
In housing research, owning, as compared to renting, is generally depicted as more desirable and associated with better outcomes. This paper explores differences in outcomes between owners and renters in 25 European countries and whether these differences are systematically smaller in countries in which owners and renters have more similar levels of residential stability (smaller tenure length gap). The results indicate that the direction of the relationship between tenure type and the selected outcomes is largely similar across countries. Owners generally exhibit more desirable outcomes (including life satisfaction, civic participation, educational outcomes for children, and physical and mental health). However, when looking at the relationship between outcomes and country level differences in tenure length gap, findings suggest that renters have outcomes that are more similar to owners in countries in which tenure length gaps are smaller. These results point to the potential benefits of policies that would increase residential stability, particularly for renters.
Keywords
European Union; Homeownership Benefits; Length Of Residence; Tenure; Home-ownership; Homeownership
Hou, Jeffrey. (2020). Governing Urban Gardens for Resilient Cities: Examining the ‘Garden City Initiative’ in Taipei. Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.), 57(7), 1398 – 1416.
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Abstract
With rising concerns for food security and climate adaptation, urban gardening and urban agriculture have emerged as a rising agenda for urban resilience around the world. In East Asia, a variety of initiatives have emerged in recent years with different levels of institutional support. Focusing on Taipei, where a vibrant urban agriculture movement has been unleashed in recent years, this article examines the ongoing outcomes of the city's new 'Garden City Initiative', which supports the establishment of urban gardens including community gardens, rooftop gardens and school gardens. Based on interviews and participant observations during the initial period of advocacy, planning and implementation between 2014 and 2017, this study examines the background of the programme, the involvement of governmental and non-governmental actors and the programme's ongoing implementation. Based on the findings, the article further reflects upon their implications for the practices of urban governance in the face of contemporary environmental, political and social challenges. The case of Taipei suggests a model in which policy formation and implementation may require opportunistic actions involving a variety of actors and organisations in both institutions and the civil society. Rather than dramatic changes or instant institutional realignment, the effort may require strategic adaptation of the existing bureaucratic structure, while mobilising its strengths and resources. In addition, despite the critical role of civil society organisations, the Taipei case also illustrates a considerable public-sector investment, distinct from the predominant model of neoliberal governance that has been associated with urban gardening programmes elsewhere.
Keywords
Urban Gardening; Urban Planning; Sustainability; Urban Agriculture; Local Government; Taipei (taiwan); 地方政府; 城市农业; 城市田园; 政策; 治理; 环境/可持续性; 规划; Environment/sustainability; Governance; Planning; Policy; Urban Gardens; Community Gardens; Food; Agriculture; Space; Inclusion; Systems; Environment; Realignment; Intervention; Social Change; Food Security; Civil Society; Initiatives; Gardens & Gardening; Policy Making; Neoliberalism; Resilience; Urban Farming; Gardening; Advocacy; Implementation; Roofs; Cities; Adaptation; Urban Areas; Gardens; Institutional Aspects; Bureaucracy; Policy Implementation; Environmental Policy; Climate Change Adaptation; Taipei Taiwan; Taiwan
Mooney, Stephen J.; Hurvitz, Philip M.; Moudon, Anne Vernez; Zhou, Chuan; Dalmat, Ronit; Saelens, Brian E. (2020). Residential Neighborhood Features Associated with Objectively Measured Walking Near Home: Revisiting Walkability Using the Automatic Context Measurement Tool (ACMT). Health & Place, 63.
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Abstract
Many distinct characteristics of the social, natural, and built neighborhood environment have been included in walkability measures, and it is unclear which measures best describe the features of a place that support walking. We developed the Automatic Context Measurement Tool, which measures neighborhood environment characteristics from public data for any point location in the United States. We explored these characteristics in home neighborhood environments in relation to walking identified from integrated GPS, accelerometer, and travel log data from 681 residents of King Country, WA. Of 146 neighborhood characteristics, 92 (63%) were associated with walking bout counts after adjustment for individual characteristics and correction for false discovery. The strongest built environment predictor of walking bout count was housing unit count. Models using data-driven and a priori defined walkability measures exhibited similar fit statistics. Walkability measures consisting of different neighborhood characteristic measurements may capture the same underlying variation in neighborhood conditions.
Keywords
Built-environment; Physical-activity; Transit; Density; Obesity; Weight; Time; Gps; American Community Survey; Epa Walkability Index; Neighborhood Environment-wide Association; Study; Walking Bouts
Abdirad, Hamid; Dossick, Carrie S.; Johnson, Brian R.; Migliaccio, Giovanni. (2021). Disruptive Information Exchange Requirements in Construction Projects: Perception and Response Patterns. Building Research And Information, 49(2), 161 – 178.
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Abstract
The current proliferation of custom information exchange initiatives in projects disrupts information exchange routines of design and construction firms. This paper investigates how firms perceive, interpret, and act upon information exchange requirements that do not align with their existing routines. This case study examines a construction project for which the owner specified highly custom requirements for digital production and delivery of project submittals. Using ethnographic methods, the project parties' existing routines and their patterns of perceiving and responding to the requirements were identified. These patterns showed that the parties perceived disruptions to the existing dispositions and rules that guided their routines and shaped their performance across projects. The project parties used a combination of deductive, inductive, and abductive reasoning mechanisms to interpret the requirements, expose the inefficiencies associated with their workflows, and set new ground rules for action. The grounded propositions in this study hold that the limited opportunities for inductive reasoning and reflective assessment of workflows in projects can press project parties into identifying alternative workflows through cognitive search and abductive reasoning. This, in turn, results in highly situated, temporary, and fragmented workflows that are not durable and effective to contribute to refinement of existing information exchange routines.
Keywords
Construction Industry; Abductive Reasoning; Cognitive Searches; Construction Projects; Design And Construction; Ethnographic Methods; Inductive Reasoning; Information Exchange Requirements; Information Exchanges; Organizational Routines; Risk; Bim; Implementation; Innovation; Information Exchange; Disruptive Requirements; Routines; Construction Companies; Cognitive Ability; Project Engineering; Reasoning
Des Roches, Simone; Brans, Kristien, I; Lambert, Max R.; Rivkin, L. Ruth; Savage, Amy Marie; Schell, Christopher J.; Correa, Cristian; De Meester, Luc; Diamond, Sarah E.; Grimm, Nancy B.; Harris, Nyeema C.; Govaert, Lynn; Hendry, Andrew P.; Johnson, Marc T. J.; Munshi-south, Jason; Palkovacs, Eric P.; Szulkin, Marta; Urban, Mark C.; Verrelli, Brian C.; Alberti, Marina. (2021). Socio-evolutionary Dynamics in Cities. Evolutionary Applications, 14(1), 248 – 267.
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Abstract
Cities are uniquely complex systems regulated by interactions and feedbacks between nature and human society. Characteristics of human society-including culture, economics, technology and politics-underlie social patterns and activity, creating a heterogeneous environment that can influence and be influenced by both ecological and evolutionary processes. Increasing research on urban ecology and evolutionary biology has coincided with growing interest in eco-evolutionary dynamics, which encompasses the interactions and reciprocal feedbacks between evolution and ecology. Research on both urban evolutionary biology and eco-evolutionary dynamics frequently focuses on contemporary evolution of species that have potentially substantial ecological-and even social-significance. Still, little work fully integrates urban evolutionary biology and eco-evolutionary dynamics, and rarely do researchers in either of these fields fully consider the role of human social patterns and processes. Because cities are fundamentally regulated by human activities, are inherently interconnected and are frequently undergoing social and economic transformation, they represent an opportunity for ecologists and evolutionary biologists to study urban socio-eco-evolutionary dynamics. Through this new framework, we encourage researchers of urban ecology and evolution to fully integrate human social drivers and feedbacks to increase understanding and conservation of ecosystems, their functions and their contributions to people within and outside cities.
Keywords
Urban Ecology (biology); Urban Research; Urban Ecology (sociology); Social Processes; Biologists; Adaptation; Anthropogenic; Coupled Human-natural Systems; Eco-evo; Socio-ecological Systems; Urbanization; Rapid Evolution; Ecosystem Services; Long-term; Ecological Consequences; Partitioning Metrics; Evosystem Services; Genetic Diversity; Rattus-norvegicus; Local Adaptation; Urban Landscapes; Coupled Human-natural Systems; Eco-evo; Socio-ecological Systems
Mugerauer, Robert. (2021). Professional Judgement in Clinical Practice (Part 3): A Better Alternative to Strong Evidence-Based Medicine. Journal Of Evaluation In Clinical Practice, 27(3), 612 – 623.
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Abstract
Parts 1 and 2 in this series of three articles have shown that and how strong evidence-based medicine has neither a coherent theoretical foundation nor creditable application to clinical practice. Because of its core commitment to the discredited positivist tradition it holds both a false concept of scientific knowledge and misunderstandings concerning clinical decision-making. Strong EBM continues attempts to use flawed adjustments to recover from the unsalvageable base view. Paper three argues that a promising solution is at hand if we can manage several modes of inclusion. A modified original, moderate version of EBM continues though usually overshadowed. As definitively laid out by Sackett in the 1990s, clinical decision making is intended to be person-centered, recognizing and integrating multiple modes of evidence and knowledge that have been marginalized: professional experience, illness narratives, and individual patients' values and preferences. Complementary resources are at hand: interpretative understanding and practice, such as philosophical anthropology, hermeneutical phenomenology, complexity theory, and phronetic practices respond to the major problems and open new possibilities. Phronesis is especially important in regard to public decision making. Within part 3 an additional tone necessarily occurs. While most of papers 1, 2, and 3 are written in the classical mode of contrasting the theoretical-logical and empirical evidence offered by contending positions bearing on the decision making and judgement in clinical practice, a shift occurs when considerations move beyond what is possible for clinical practitioners to accomplish. A different, discontinuous level of power operates in the trans-personal realm of instrumental policy, insurance, and hospital management practices. In this social-economic-political-ethical realm what happens in clinical practice today increasingly becomes a matter of what is done unto clinical practitioners, of what hampers their professional action and thus care of individual patients and clients.
Keywords
Medical Policy; Judgment (psychology); Professions; Evidence-based Medicine; Patient-centered Care; Phenomenology; Decision Making In Clinical Medicine; Casuistry; Decision Making; Evidence‚Äêbased Medicine; Phronƒìsis; 2009 Cancer-control; Integrating Evidence; Decision-making; Health-care; G. H.; Mental-health; Tonelli; Challenge; Knowledge; Evidence‐ Based Medicine; Phronē Sis