Aida Afrooz

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Research Associate at University of South Australia

Current approaches to smart cities have focused on implementing technologies to harvest and analyse data through sensors and artificial intelligence to improve urban performance from the top-down. However, cities are complex systems of interconnected layers that change at different speeds. More persistent layers, like networks and occupation, must...

The concept of Living Laboratory (LL) provides a novel grass-roots data-driven approach for collaborative design of place involving multiple stakeholders. In this paper we focused on reviewing the most common approaches utilised in the construct of user-centric LL. This is done by systematically reviewing methodologies and engagement techniques as...

There are numerous studies on the identification and explanation of the implementation gap of planning support systems (PSS), that support the smart planning process by analyzing and visualizing data, but which are currently not systematically used in urban planning practice. There is insufficient knowledge about how the PSS implementation gap can...

One of the challenges in creating plans for sustainable urban futures is the ability to work across government agencies and to break down traditional barriers to truly collaborative planning. Typically, metropolitan planning has been carried out by different agencies that are separate in their mandate and planning strategies. This siloed approach t...

This paper reflects on a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) in the context of architecture, urban planning and design. The paper aims to critically assess the ability of virtual environments to support experiential online learning. It contributes to the literature by providing the experimental results of implementing the TERF virtual world for unde...

https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/research/city-analytics/find-your-sport-wayfinding-mobile-application/.

Previous research shows that travel type influences cognitive mapping processes. However, little is known about the effect of active versus passive exploration of the built environment on visual processing. This paper aims to investigate the differences between active and passive travellers in terms of their recognition memory for details of the vi...

Geodesign method and tools are extensively used for collaborative decision making focused on different fields such as transportation, land use, and landscape and has been applied in various places around the world. Nowadays, Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and more recently AR sandbox are increasingly becoming very popular particularly...

Development application (DA) assessment requires high technical planning skills since it is not an easy task to envisage and assess proposed buildings which are originally in two dimensions (2D) in three dimensions (3D). To respond to this necessity, this study aims to assist local governments and real estate agencies in improving the quality of th...

This study is a comprehensive review of comparable national and international wayfinding practices. Fifty-four practices and plans were reviewed and twenty-four comparable cases to City of Sydney were described in this report. The target users are also identified. The aims, scopes, and the applied strategies of the common practices are presented. I...

The central aim of this thesis was to demonstrate how changes in travel type (i.e. active and passive exploration of the built environment) influence the way-finding process corresponding to visual memory, cognitive maps, and visual cues. Previous research shows that travel type influences cognitive mapping processes. However, little is known about...

We describe an experiment that was designed to explore differences between active and passive travelers in a way-finding task. In this study, we ex-amined the effect of active travel mode on spatial and visual memory for a built environment. After completing a way finding task in a university campus, we tested participant's memory for the test rout...

The visual appearance of the built environment provides navigational cues for travelers that might benefit the way-finding process. Therefore, when designing built environments it is important to consider how users will respond to the characteristics of the environment during way-finding. This study highlights the importance of travel mode in way-f...

1 ABSTRACT Movement from an origin to a destination within a city is an inevitable activity for all inhabitants, especially for those who are commuters. For the visually impaired, this movement task is a difficult activity, given inability to use visual properties and hence reliance on hearing and smell for navigation. This study seeks to determine...