Community of Practice

The co-research sessions with our consortium of nine innovative Dutch urban design and (landscape) architecture firms and the Dutch professional association for urban designers (BNSP) play a central role in the Sensing Streetscapes project. The co-research sessions draw the three different lines of research (Neuroarchitecture, Research through Design and Artificial Intelligence) together. The panel of practitioners—the ‘co-researchers’—coming as they do from various disciplines, are vital at different stages of the research project. For instance, each co-researcher uses his or her expertise to peer review streetscapes according to the appearance of applied design solutions. They provide valuable feedback from the user’s perspective on the development of tools (e.g. the AI search engine and Biometric dashboard), and to reflect on interim results and proposed next steps.

Each co-research session is organised around one central theme, during which the participating spatial design firms not only co-research but also familiarise themselves with emerging technologies and act as representatives for the intended end-users.

The co-research sessions are organised in three phases. First, during the inventory and exploration phase, co-researchers are introduced to the three lines of research, they start collecting reference locations and test the first ‘paper’ prototypes.  In the second phase, designers test, analyse and develop preliminary findings; they discuss and enrich initial conclusions. During the third and final phase of deepening and refining, co-researchers reflect on the substantive results of the entire research and discuss the deliverables.