Virtual Cities

The parallel re-reading of the topography of the two urban landscapes portrayed in the Science Fiction movies of Metropolis, Fritz Lang (1927), and The Matrix, Wachowski siblings (1999), highlights the role architecture plays in building part of the symbolic meanings both the movies address about the importance Urban Planning has in relation with the society's development. Specifically, this essay's goal is to target the role of architecture as a system of meanings, whose understandings is helpful in order to meditate on some of the most forward-looking themes that such movies anticipated. The first one chronologically speaking, Fritz Lang's film Metropolis, substantially differs from other science fiction futures displayed at that time, which more deeply reflects an image of people living inside machines or, generically overwhelmed by the new rising technology, pretty much like what happen in Modern Times (1937) where a majestic Charlie Chaplin is slide and transported along and within the new technological superstructures. Soon after, the city as the main object of representation, takes the spotlight of the action and its characteristics are begin to be shown by the director's eye: the point of view being located within the city and its structures and infrastructures, the urban landscape is portrayed focusing on the city's vastness. The ultimate goal of such cinematographic vision is to make the spectators feel as if they are observing the entire system of the place, in this case an urban ecosystem, as it operates. This kind of shot-camera acts in the exactly opposite way than an Earth-from Space images, or a zenithal urban shot from a plane, which both enhances the outside point of view of representation. One famous example of what I am speaking about it is the 9 minutes film directed by the architects Charles and Ray Eames The Power of Ten (1977), in which the outside point of view is specially remarked by the aerial perspective and the further widen of the camera lens, two effects that

In recent years, virtual worlds have become increasingly popular in education and social life. Using a ‘city’ metaphor, we are developing a 3D virtual world enriched with social and educational tools. This virtual world allows performing a number of activities, such as exploring the city, learning and communicating with its citizens, building a social network. In this paper we report the results of a case study we have performed to explore users’ activities and behavior in a virtual city context. Our goal was to investigate how such a city can facilitate learning and socializing, also in a cross-cultural context. Based on the empirical results, we derive a list of recommendations for a virtual city as a place for social and educational activities.

This paper is focused on virtual campuses, i.e. virtual worlds representing real educational institutions that are based on the metaphor of a university and provide users with different learning tools. More specifically, the idea of integrating a virtual campus into the context of a virtual city is suggested. Such a virtual city, where students live and work, can extend the possibilities of a virtual campus in supporting learning and socializing. This paper provides a description and analysis of an empirical case study that was performed to test and develop these ideas. Based on the results of the study, a set of guidelines for designing a virtual campus in a city context is presented.

This paper introduces a methodology for the development of a high quality 3D city model using geographical informational system (SIG) tools and its possible applications in urban planning decision making. The approach used for modelling discusses the use of SIG instead of traditional CAD modelling. The final model includes an average total of 16.468 buildings in an area of 4,5 km_, with over 500,000 polygons. The longer term aim is to incorporate new data to the model including trees, urban furniture, new urban projects and be able to apply real-time queries for use as a public urban planning and evaluation tool.

The use of three-dimensional Collaborative Virtual Environments (3D CVEs) for educational purposes has been constantly increasing during the recent years. One of the reasons is the potential of such environments and the possibility they offer for supporting collaborative work with various types of content. Another important reason is an opportunity for participants to interact in a way that conveys a sense of presence lacking in other media. These opportunities result in a number of benefits for establishing and supporting learning communities, simulating various contexts and conducting educational activities. Nevertheless, this area is in the early stage of development and needs both theoretical concepts and empirical results. The research work presented in the thesis has three main objectives. The first is to provide recommendations and guidelines for supporting collaborative work on 3D educational content. The second is to provide frameworks for designing tools and environments i...

In recent years, virtual worlds have become increasingly popular in education and social life. Using a 'city' metaphor, we are developing a 3D virtual world enriched with social and educational tools. This virtual world allows performing a number of activities, such as exploring the city, learning and communicating with its citizens, building a social network. In this paper we report the results of a case study we have performed to explore users' activities and behavior in a virtual city context. Our goal was to investigate how such a city can facilitate learning and socializing, also in a cross-cultural context. Based on the empirical results, we derive a list of recommendations for a virtual city as a place for social and educational activities.

In recent years, virtual worlds have become increasingly popular in education and social life. Using a 'city' metaphor, we are developing a 3D virtual world enriched with social and educational tools. This virtual world allows performing a number of activities, such as exploring the city, learning and communicating with its citizens, building a social network. In this paper we report the results of a case study we have performed to explore users' activities and behavior in a virtual city context. Our goal was to investigate how such a city can facilitate learning and socializing, also in a cross-cultural context. Based on the empirical results, we derive a list of recommendations for a virtual city as a place for social and educational activities.

In this paper we focus on virtual campuses, i.e. virtual worlds representing real educational institutions that are based on the metaphor of a university and provide users with different learning tools. More specifically, we focus on the idea of integrating a virtual campus into the context of a virtual city where the students live and work to extend its possibilities for supporting learning and socializing. In this paper we describe an empirical case study that was performed to test and develop our initial ideas. We present a set of guidelines for designing a virtual campus in the city context, based on the results of the study.