Urban spatial reasoning

Urban spatial reasoning equips you with essential geospatial tools to address key aspects of future urban life as it is experienced across neighbourhood, town, city, and regional scales. The unit is designed to prepare you to analyse and influence urban environments through data-driven insights and practical applications, addressing challenges at multiple spatial scales. Through it you will explore how social, economic, demographic, and environmental aspects of life interact with urban form, physical buildings, and infrastructure.

The unit is structured around two complementary themes. The first focuses on geospatial software, covering data collection, management, analysis, and visualisation using relevant GIS platforms. You will also explore emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR), and Virtual Reality (VR) and their potential in urban design. Additionally, you will integrate field data to enrich your spatial analysis, grounding your digital work in real-world contexts.

The second theme examines theoretical principles of urbanisation across scales, including central place theory, economic overspilling, shadow effects, carbon emissions, sprawl, in-situ urbanisation, polarisation, segregation, poverty, economic circularity, and net-zero development. By connecting these principles to practical geospatial tools, you will gain a comprehensive understanding of how these dynamics shape urban environments and inform sustainable design decisions.