As layers of networks and digital information blanket urban space, new approaches to the study of the built environment are emerging. Combining data analytics, technology, and design, the mission of the Senseable City Laboratory—a research initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology—is to anticipate these changes and study them from a critical point of view 

Fabio Duarte is the Associate Director of MIT Senseable City Lab, and principal research scientist leading research on the intersection of data analytics, technology, and design. His research has been published in Nature Water, Science Robotics, Plos One, and his most recent book argues that technology is powerful when it is playful (Urban Play, MIT Press).

Access inequity extends beyond our neighborhoods, shaping the activity spaces we navigate daily such that we either come together or remain apart. Achieving equitable access to essential services and promoting active transportation are key goals of contemporary city and mobility planning. This seminar will introduce the latest breakthroughs in accessibility measurement developed at TU Delft’s Urban Analytics Lab. A cutting-edge software tool designed to assess access equity in X-minute neighborhoods will be presented, integrating measures of both individual and collective access to essential destinations and capturing dimensions of perceived accessibility. 

Dr. Achilleas Psyllidis is an Assistant Professor of Urban Mobility and the Director of the Urban Analytics Lab at TU Delft. His research interests include sustainable urban mobility, accessibility measurement, and spatial analytics. He specializes in how the design, structure, and perceived qualities of the urban environment affect the mobility and accessibility opportunities of different population groups. He has developed novel measurement methods and software tools for human mobility and accessibility analysis and planning. He leads several European and International research projects on urban mobility, city planning, environmental exposures, public health, and well-being. 

Fire and rescue services in the UK have faced challenges of downgraded services and delayed responses to fire incidents, and the service quality varies significantly within a region. Understanding the pattern and factors of fire service quality is essential for enhancing these services. In this presentation, I will discuss metrics and methods for understanding the barriers of place-based fire service quality, using geospatial machine learning techniques. Then, I will present the preliminary results from 15-year records of fire incidents from West Midlands Fire Services.

Huanfa Chen is an Associate Professor in Spatial Data Science at the UCL Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA). He holds a PhD degree in GeoInformatics from UCL SpaceTimeLab, and BSc and MSc from Peking University. His research interests span spatial optimisation and GeoAI, with applications in public health, fire services, and transport research. He currently serves as associate editor of Annals of GIS and reviewers for multiple academic journals. He has published over 15 articles on international journals, including IJGIS and CEUS.