Human-Computer Interaction in Cities and Architecture: Towards Co-Designing Inclusive Built Environments - Hamed Seiied Alavi
Title: Human-Computer Interaction in Cities and Architecture: Towards Co-Designing Inclusive Built Environments
Speaker: Hamed Seiied Alavi
When: Monday 19 October 9:30-10:15
Where: LAB42 L3.33
Join Zoom Meeting
https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/68971434087?pwd=VYcfH8TxpILbE21yGaXsLUQJbQNiwH.1
Meeting ID: 689 7143 4087
Passcode: 908844
Abstract:
As buildings and cities increasingly incorporate diverse forms of intelligence and interactivity, there is growing recognition of the need to understand how technology shapes human experience in the built environment. This lecture briefly presents Human-Building Interaction (HBI), a growing branch of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) devoted to the study and design of human experience in buildings and cities. HBI is an interdisciplinary field that brings HCI into dialogue with architecture and urban design. It raises foundational questions, such as: which specific attributes of built environments should HCI researchers take into account when shifting their attention and scale from “artefacts” to “environments”? I will first outline the mission and vision of this field. Then I present a selection of my research projects in this field, with particular attention to the concrete opportunities HBI research offers for inclusive design that advances the accessibility of buildings and cities. These projects span a range of application contexts and methods, for example, EEG studies examining how people with ADHD may respond differently to poor lighting in classrooms, or the use of computer vision to map unsafe canal quays in Amsterdam for people with visual impairments. The lecture concludes with a recently funded NWO project that examines urban mobility as a lived experience, mapping the accessibility barriers people encounter and addressing them through the combined instruments of artificial intelligence, design, and policy.
Short Bio:
Hamed S. Alavi is an assistant professor in the Institute of Informatics and a founding member of the Digital Interaction Lab at the University of Amsterdam. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and completed a postdoctoral research stay at University College London (UCL). His research explores the evolving relationship between humans and smart built environments. It capitalises on the opportunities that advances in data-driven and design-oriented methods create for understanding the diversity of human needs in built environments, and for co-designing inclusive living environments for all.