Edyta Augustynowicz

Idea:

The Attractive City Generator is an interactive installation with which users can create or rearrange virtual cities by placing and moving physical objects. The aim of the project was to enhance wider public in the urban development process. The ACG serves mainly as a game, which enhances the physical interaction of a group of people using a digital medium. Through the set of simple inputs that the users provide the ACG is capable of creating complex and growing cities. This ability to effectively combine direct physical movements with a virtual creation giving real time feedback is what makes the ACG unique. Only a few moves are needed for the users to create and rearrange big cities – a task, which would have been tedious and time consuming when using physical models. The users are drawn to the colourful and simple interface. Due to the practical feedback that the city returns, the users can feel more attached to the city they have created. A dynamic dialogue is formed between the city and its creators.

Organisation of the program :

Color recognition:
-Identifies the different colors
-Assigns an attribute to each color
-Tracks their movement on the table

Grid creation:
-Based on L-systems
-Grid areas spilt differently depending on the closest attractor
-Each face is given a certain attribute corresponding to different city features
-Various city areas are created

City buildings creation:
-Different buildings rise depending on the attribute given to each plot

Physical input:

The input data that the attractors represent and that is used to build up a virtual city can be categorized into three general classes:

- Landscape maps – water scheme, drawn by the user

- Sociostatistical maps – zone maps: residential, business or industry zones represented by physical objects

-Important buildings and landmarks – churches and bell towers, city halls, monuments, represented by physical objects

Grid:

The idea of the grid arrangement was based on the variation of Lindenmayer Systems, so-called map L-Systems. The starting point of segmentation is not a line, like in typical L-systems, but a closed 2D polygonal shape, representing the city boundaries. The type of the tessalation in particular areas depend on the distance to the closest attractor. Each of them influences the so-called production rules of particular areas, and in consequences modifies the final image of the grid. The user affects the tessellation pattern of the city by moving the attractors. This pattern is responsible for the assignment of different city typologies.

City creation:

The created grid is transformed into a city map, where each grid region represents plots of a specified function and in consequence, a different city area.The array of plots forms an intelligent system that can rearrange according to their neighbour situation. The newly formed city plots give rise to buildings. Each plot leads to the creation of different building types depending on the city typology that is assigned to it and the on the neighbouring situation.

Statictic data: On the right-hand-side of the screen, the user can find a table with facts about the created city, that can be divided into 3 types of data:
- sociologic (population; density and permeability; the general quality of life)
- economic (city’s main function and products; employment)
- environmental (pollution)

ACG -version 1: