Exploring ways to integrate Data Science and Urban Design

The difficult art of recreating a commercial street with Data Science

Urbanism in times of Artificial Intelligence has many open questions that need answers in order to adapt planning frameworks to the amount of technology and information available. Smart City Concept can be meaningless, if it does not provide a solution to adapt complex data schemas available to local architectural and planning practices. Most of data models and predictions algorithms are not linear, so evidence-based urbanism is not an easy task to achieve. Nonlinearity means that a land use or a planning law can achieve different contradictory results. In order to preserve architectural ensembles, in old towns, like Venice or Barcelona, we preserve outdoor facades, but we are not able to keep residents for being displaced, then changing social composition of cities or neighbourhoods, so preservation objective is not being fully achieved. Process like gentrification can’t longer be judged as good or bad, as they have shown benefits and drawbacks, but indeed Gentrification have shown to be powerful and behind the scope of local administrations as they represent global forces like tourism, or real estate investments, among others.

The converge of local and global actors in urban zones creates dysfunctions that are difficult to analyse or predict traditionally, but with the extension of more complex models, like in Deep Learning, we can still figure out, which are these dysfunctions and how to translate them in designing the urbanism of the “new information city”. Our goal in urbban is to analyse and classify city interventions, to locate successes and failures comparing different vectors as economic opportunities, social composition, tourism, real estate values, in urban scenarios. Urban Data Science and Architecture are not commonly linked, as modernism approach is more linked to ideology and willing to transform society through design alone. The output of many of urban design projects haven’t been largely analysed, in behalf to the effects of socio-economic vectors. More globalized cities, like Berlin or Barcelona, are being constrained to act to fight some global forces that alter local processes creating social tensions, specially related with housing, tourism, mobility or climate change adaptation. Urban improvement has been a cause of gentrification and in Berlin a law “Milieuschutz” has appeared in order to protect social composition of neighbourhoods. New projects in these areas need to face higher tests and are more complex, but urban improvement projects are still necessary to correct underperforming urbanism.

In this post we will explore Dürerkiez, a small neighbourhood in the south of Schöneberg that borders Steglitz and Friedenau in Berlin, as a good approach to include data analysis and urban design, in order to present solutions to solve underperforming urbanism. Dürerplatz has had some articles of opinion about the bad situation of the square although it’s great potential in a high-income residential zone and a small shop and restaurant concentration. Exploratory Data Analysis for urbanism is indeed spatial, so exploring of the concentration of habitants and commercial activity with a kernel density estimation (both scaled at 100), we see some interesting patterns. We are analysing 426 different neighbourhoods in every Berlin district, to detect specialization. That means some areas concentrate more habitants and activities than others inside the district. Districts like Mitte and Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg show similar distribution in habitants and commercial activity, but districts like Marzahn or Spandau have some areas with high concentration of stores.

Kernel density Estimation for stores in red and habitants in blue.

If we analyse the correlation between activity and habitants, we observe a not strong correlation, with a r value of 0,56, with a 95% confidence interval between 0,56 and 0,65. But if we redo the correlation between districts, we can see better how shop location works. Shopping destinations districts, like Mitte with KuDamm or Steglitz with Schlossstrasse, show a smaller correlation between habitants and stores, meaning that they are popular destinations for population living outside of local area and location. Resident density is not that important for shop location in that case. On the other side other district with low correlation is Marzahn, a district dominated with modernist soviet era buildings, with no space for ground floor shopping. The rest of the districts show a moderate strong correlation indicating that residential density is important for shop location, in some cases with more than 85% correlation, like Lichtenberg district. The uniqueness of every neighbourhood with a different social composition, location, connectivity, planning and architecture, makes more difficult to derive general data models.

Scatter plot between habitants and stores with economic activity in Berlin Correlation difference between density of population and store location in Berlin

But still with neighbourhood and district scale, it is however a big approach for an urban design towards data science. In this case we divide the whole city of Berlin in a grid of hexagons of 500 m radius each and compute the median difference of habitats per shop/restaurant in every cell. As a next step we divide the city in 6 quantiles, excluding the ones with no habitants. The result is that cells in central Berlin (in green) tend to have a smaller median (more shop per habitant) averaging at 60 habitants for every shop. Zooming out different part of cities we can observe the existence of commercial corridors, of areas developed only for residential use with no space for commerce. Usually out of the big commercial areas there are still many little concentrations of stores and services that are important for citizens, in terms of proximity and effectiveness. But these areas are facing a greater threat, especially stores with the continuous rise of e-commerce, because the consumer habits change. Consolidated commercial zones and malls tend to polarise shopping and restaurant activity in many cases, but these small zones are important for local communities as they present a proximity advantage that many residents value.

Quantile median difference for stores location with 500 m hexagon Quantile median difference for stores location with 500 m hexagon detail arround Dürerplatz in Schöneberg

The 15 min city is a concept that the mayor of Paris made popular and is linked with Superilles of Barcelona and other similar approaches in urbanism. This concept values proximity, as it intends to provide all citizens of a city with a range of a maximum 15 minutes time commute to different facilities and services. This list can be long, as they include transportation stations, stores, restaurants, but also other cultural activities, as well as green zones. Vast majority of urban developments with modern urbanism have not been able to recreate the idea of high streets and commercial activities tend to concentrate in malls or other facilities not directly linked with streets of apartments. Many of these small commercial corridors not only deal with consumer demand, they also deal with planning issues and increasing cost. It is highly more expensive to install a big chain supermarket inside an already built environment than in a new green or grey zone in the outskirts. As proximity is being increasing valued in terms of urban development, 15 min city represents a big opportunity adjust cities and commercial corridors, improving vitality of some areas, but reformulation of these areas can also lead to gentrification, with its risks and opportunities. In this example we are presenting the situation of Dürerplatz in the district of Schöneberg, just adjacent to Friedenau and Steglitz neighborhoods. Cranachstraße has a small concentration of restaurants and stores and is the only considerable concentration of the whole Kiez.

Walking isochrones around Dürerplatz in Berlin Density heatmap with 15 quantiles in Dürerplatz

In the analysis of the commercial activities existing in the area, we can see a small concentration of stores in the south, in Bismarckstraße and in the west around Rheinstraße, but without reaching the area of Schloßstraße in Steglitz. In the east there is a big area of small farmland. The existence of a highway and railway station creates a big barrier on the west of the area. Inside the 15 min walking area distance we observe little difference in density of habitants. This heatmap has been created with the habitants existing inside every residential building in Berlin, so with a raster map of 15 quantiles, to exaggerate differences, we observe little change in habitants density, but the area of Dürerrkiez, show some important gaps with no residential buildings that diminish the residential compactness of the zone.

Index of compactness around Dürerplatz Contiguity of Buildings around Dürerplatz

A closer look into the morphology of the area, using some urban morphology data science libraries, we observe that the compactness of Cranachstraße is higher than its surroundings, this particular street is aligned with historical facades. In the east part these buildings are not as compact as they have more discontinuities and open spaces. The area in the east is representing residential architecture from the National Socialist era and has no space for commercial activities in any of the buildings. In the south, the area of Bismarckkiez has a more compact urban composition, but different from Friedenau and Dürererkiez, that have a higher amount of historical buildings and a pre-war urban street pattern. Building adjacency shown, in red, represents the continuity of buildings and confirms that just in the area of Dürerplatz the highway creates an imbalance. The chosen buildings have no connection with the rest of the urban tissue. This square presents a dysfunction, as the surrounded buildings stick out in shape from the rest of the Kiez and present some commercial discontinuity.

Dürerplatz detail before II world war Building construction age around Dürerplatz (500 m)

The so called “Malerviertel” with streets named after painters was created as a new development area in the end of XIX century. At this time a real estate agency "Schöneberg-Friedenauer Terraingesellschaft" was promoting the new quarter as ´artist town´ with amazing healthy location, excellent connection to Berlin by Wannseebahn (train in 10-minutes traffic), access to public transportation Ringbahn, completed roads with gas and water facilities. Dürerkiez belongs postal to Friedenau, but political to Schöneberg. The idea about creating a quarter with artistic flair did not really fulfill, although the buildings constructed shortly before World War One created very idyllic atmosphere and harming ambiance. Many historic buildings with unique characteristics such as high ceilings, stucco decorations, hardwood floors and bay windows are a defining feature of Dürerkiez. Structured facades with classical proportions, various architectural elements such us architraves, oriel windows, balconies or are reflecting character of Berlin´s Gründerzeit. Unfortunately, the bombing attack on 23/24 August 1943 left in ruins the main square of the quarter Dürerplatz, which was a welcoming gesture for all the visitors coming by train. The houses were not reconstructed although the archive dispose of many photos from the post-war period. Instead the construction administration of Schöneberg approved totally unfitting, soulless new buildings that are completely breaking the continuity of the existing buildings. The charming square had lost the identity and failed decisions initiated the still actual crisis of Dürerplatz.

Walking from Dürerplatz, through the train station Friedenau until the other part of the rails with charming little square, we can observe the urban inequality. In the shadow of the motorway, with few, bad positioned benches, many urbanistic obstacles, overwhelming number of parked cars, plague of rats and abandoned locals, Dürerplatz is experiencing a crisis. Also see the article https://abendblatt-berlin.de/2020/02/06/berlin-friedenau-duererplatz-in-der-krise/

Volumetric and usage detail in Dürerplatz

Two of the three buildings surrounding the square diverge the harmonic identity of the historical neighborhood with well-structured facades and ground floor responding well to the needs of commercial locals, cafes and restaurants. The U-formed building, with flatten roof, low ceilings and flats on the ground floor needs an intervention. Not only because people are suffering from lack of intimacy and are scared of break-in, but also because this floor needs to respond to a unique situation of the building. A square is missing life as it´s the case on the other side. New locals, restaurants, cafes with terraces and well-structured urban furniture’s can improve the situation. The L-shaped building on the opposite side, with flat, soulless façade and shabby, abandoned local is not really making an inviting impression. The supermarket Aldi moved suddenly out from the local with around 500 m². Probably the rather small square footage caused that Aldi wanted to extend, unfortunately the construction work had never really ended. As a result, the closure of the market affected even small local stores in the neighborhood, that are experiencing loss of sales due to the desolation of Dürerplatz.

Some renders with 3d shapes with different weather conditions

The street analysis confirms that Cranachstraße is not an important link to other parts of the city, its main function is to connect Dürerplatz with other streets of the neighbourhood. As the street represents a big number of stores, can be a perfect example of a new pedestrian street. A closer look with a 300 m radio, ‘betweenness edge base’ analysis shows a triangle that envelopes the square that generate the more important streets for car circulation, so again Cranachstraße is not an import street for connectivity, and conform an ideal candidate for a more pedestrian friendly street.

Street Connectivity with 1000 m and 250 m in Dürerplatz (from red to white)

Perpendicular on-street parking is allowed on both sides of the Cranachstraße, leaving few space for pedestrian transit. According to our study, this strategically selected street with commercial locals on both edges, should be transformed to pedestrian-only street, where people, not cars, are prioritized. These kind of corridors with less vehicular traffic and more cafes, restaurants or terraces offer the habitants a place for diverse activities and as a result are becoming an attractive destination filled with economically well prospering commercial locals. This urban study has shown many dysfunctions and presents how urbanism combined with data science can bring many interesting insights in how the city can be improved. Two squares divided by the Friedenau S-Bahn Station have different social and economic impact, activities, different flair and visitors. But what factors are deciding about this inequality? Can we recognize them through data science and apply to the real architectural and spatial models? What measures can bring the life back to the Dürerplatz? The answer for these questions will be presented in the next post of Urbban.