Damiano Cerrone: AI for Participatory Planning (LINA 2023)

Lecture (25 April 2023) and workshop (26 April 2023)

Lecture: Participatory planning has long been hailed as an effective way of involving citizens in the decision-making process, but it often falls short in practice. Many communities struggle to ensure that everyone has a say and that their wishes and dreams are realised. Recent advances in generative AI models have the potential to democratise the process, changing the role of people from commenting to contributing to the design of public spaces. In this talk I’ll introduce the challenges of codesign, AI as a design communication tool and UrbanistAI, a generative AI platform for reimagining the future of our cities.

Workshop: This graduate workshop will explore the use of UrbanistAI, a generative AI platform for participatory urban planning, brainstorming, and co-design, to reimagine and redesign public spaces. Participants will learn about the general notions of generative AI, how to use generative AI models, and explore prompt engineering. The workshop will culminate in the selection of an area in the city to be redesigned using UrbanistAI. Introducing participants to the concept of generative AI and exploring its potential applications in urban planning and design. We’ll start with an overview of different types of generative AI models and discuss their strengths and weaknesses for urban design. Then, we’ll look at case studies and examples of generative AI in action, including how it has been used in architecture and urban planning.

Damiano Cerrone is an urbanist, researcher and educator. He cofounded SPIN Unit, an urban research and innovation practice; and UrbanistAI, a participatory design platform to reimagine the future of our cities. His practice focuses on urban research and policy design for the public sector. Cerrone is also affiliated with and teaches at several academic institution in Finland and abroad.

Tutors: Helena Hlávková, Zdenka Zedníčková

This event is part of VI PER’s 2023 LINA Platform programme and with LINA Fellow SPIN Unit.