Date2015-17
LocationManchester, UK
FundingESRC
Principal InvestigatorProf. Deljana Iossifova
Co-Investigators
Prof. Ulysses Sengupta
Dr. Murilo da Silva Baptista
Christopher Doll
Dr. Alexandros Gasparatos
Roberto Kraenkel
Dr Nir Oren
Dr Eric Cheung
Partners
Association of Greater Manchester Authorities
Future Cities Catapult
Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce
Royal Institute of British Architects

Academic
Panagiotis Angeloudis
Shidan Cheng
Daniel Graham
Robert Hyde
Jun Luo

Summary

DACAS is an ESRC funded Strategic Network. It was part of the Urban Transformations (UT) program coordinated between 2015 and 2020 by Professor Michael Keith from the University of Oxford, showcasing research on cities. The UT portfolio included over 120 research projects that engaged with the challenges and opportunities of an increasingly urban world.

The ESRC Strategic Network: Data and Cities as Complex Adaptive Systems (DACAS) seeks to promote a more holistic approach through the integration of a wide range of data sources.  By bringing together an international group of researchers from a range of different fields, the project supports the development of an innovative and cross-disciplinary set of tools to gather and interpret emerging data sources.

The Network strategically connects 12 individuals with backgrounds in the social and natural sciences for 12 months. Three events and one summer school (targeting specifically PhD and Early Career Researchers) will facilitate face-to-face discussion between all Network participants. They will discuss discipline-specific methods for data analysis, protocols for the modelling of complex systems and tools under development using open urban data.

Grapical reprsentation of an policy brief output.

Aims and Objectives

The findings will benefits policy-makers, academics and other actors seeking to develop evidence-based responses to urban issues through the use of open data sources.

DACAS members will contribute their specialist knowledge and case studies, where appropriate. Set contributions are four events towards collaborative research outputs:

  1. Data and Cities as Complex Adaptive Systems, Strategic Network Launch
    Presentation and discussion of interdisciplinary methods for the analysis of soft and hard urban data sets. Roundtables and workshops with user group representatives serve the identification of user needs and the co-creation of DACAS research agenda elements.
  2. Modelling Urban Systems, Workshop
    Techniques for modelling linked urban systems based on data.Identification of needs of local government, planning departments and NGO representatives. How can the challenges surrounding urban informality in developing contexts be addressed using digital tools?
  3. Understanding Urban Transformations through Data, Summer School
    Cutting edge theoretical and methodological questions around data and cities as complex adaptive systems. Lectures, workshops and other training activities on data analysis, urban systems modelling and technological applications.
  4. Digital Tools for Urban Challenges, Workshop
    Application of interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks and modelling techniques to the design of digital tools that reflect urban complexity and aid policy makers and practitioners. How can digital tools be improved to meet the needs of planning policy and design with special emphasis on the context of rapidly urbanising China?