Norm-creative Visualization in Urban Development

Research Project, 2016 – 2019

The pre-study show s that visualizations in urban development processes often are
stereotypical regarding e.g. age, gender, disability and ethnicity, but it also show s a potential to use visualization as an active tool to highlight and run norm-critical perspectives in urban development processes to achieve innovative norm-creative solutions.

Against this background, the purpose is to develop, implement and integrate: support tools for norm aw are visualization; tools for norm-critical visualization; interactive visual methods to raise norm-critical issues in dialog processes, and development and implementation of material
for dissemination of these tools and methods. The aim is to contribute to an inclusive urban development and to innovative solutions for inclusive cities.
The project is run by Visual Arena, Lindholmen Science Park, in collaboration with White Architects, Skanska, SP and Chalmers Architecture. Together, the actors represent research, implementation and dissemination. The project w ill also have a reference group w ith persons with norm-critical and intersectional expertise, representatives for Sw edish municipal planning practice and a visualisation researcher.

When the project is finished, developed tools and methods w ill be tested in urban
development projects and integrated in Skanska´s and W hite´s processes, and be available through courses and material at Visual Arena and SP. They have also started to be disseminated, both nationally by involved municipal actors, and internationally by researchers at Chalmers and SP. In the long run, the expected result is dissemination and integration of norm-creative visual innovation tools and methods in the entire building and urban development sector.