Page 17 - Are You Future Ready?

data-science.

We try to more clearly explicate urban analytics by using
more and finer scale data and in so doing need to make
more use of pattern-based tools from AI, generative
computing and data-mining, which take us further away

from explicitly behavioural models. Behavioural analysis
is pushed both backwards and forwards in the process of
inquiry – in structuring data and inquiry and in interpretation
of patterns.

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What all this means is that the techniques and paradigms
for understanding spatial dynamics driving city growth
and change are going through a subtle shift from 20th

century style urban social science towards a 21st style of
urban science. The roles, weighting and sequencing of the
various stages of scientific thought – abduction, deduction
and induction – are shifting. Are you ready for the future?

The question is a profound one for those working with,
teaching and reflecting upon the spatial sciences and their
application to society.

Should we dispense with formal theory-driven urban