Jeroen van Schaick is a PhD candidate in Urbanism at the Technical University Delft on integrating knowledge on activity patterns of people in urban design and planning. The PhD research that will be finalized in 2009 explores three directions: the conceptual frameworks in urban design and planning and time geography, the visualisation of time in relation to space and the development of organization principles for urban areas.

Stefan van der Spek is Assistant Professor at the department of Urban Design, Technical University Delft.

Both have organized the event “Urbanism on Track”. During their presentation, they will talk about how architects may map activity patterns in the Network City.

While urban design and planning focuses strongly on actor-oriented and user-oriented design and planning approaches, technologies that give insight into the behavior of actors and users are rapidly evolving. Especially the use of tracking technologies – of which GPS (Global Positioning System) is best known – is booming in urban research.

Most research focuses on the technological possibilities and problems of using tracking devices. Little attention is paid to the questions to what extend and in which manner knowledge developed through the use of new tracking technologies might influence spatial design and planning decisions.

This expert meeting examines the application of tracking-based research on the scale of urban centres and pedestrian activity patterns, on daily paths of actors and diverse populations at urban scales and on the flows of suburban populations on a regional level. The contributions cover a number of different perspectives on the link between research and its application in design, such as transportation planning, branding, urbanity and routing in historical centres.