The College of Design congratulates Gustavo Do Amaral for the successful defense of their dissertation, "Stadia, Urban Science and Data Visualization" on Tuesday, April 11th, 2023.

Abstract:

Stadia, Urban Science and Data Visualization

Sporting events attract hundreds of millions of people each year. Most stadia built in the last two decades to host such events were advertised as if they could perform extensive processes of urban regeneration. Curiously, in spite of their significance and monumentality, stadia remained mostly unstudied by Architecture academia. Much of the discussion about the impact of sports venues is too limited to reflect the significant impact that true mixed-use sports districts can bring. In effect, the analysis of contemporary urban stadia projects necessitates the incorporation of new technologies in shaping a method capable of quantify the urban socio-economic implications of these large scale sport and leisure architecture. The success of a sports facility at any scale requires a careful and detailed analysis of its urban context, to comprehend the ways in which these buildings would be able to become an anchor for socio-economic growth.

This doctorate dissertation is focused on the analysis of large-scale urban stadium projects and the relationship of this building typology to the city, leveraging the convergence of architecture, urbanism, and computer science concepts in order to develop software systems able to use location-based social network data to evaluate the performance of existing urban mega-projects through their connection to the street network and surrounding socioeconomic activity, offering new ways to model and understand the impact of large-scale buildings on urban landscapes.
The goal of this research is to provide the design industry with a new understanding about the urban impact of sports-related Architecture and Urban Design, revealing unexplored economic opportunities and amplifying the legacy to be achieved by sports in their local communities. The present research aims to provide place-making professionals with reliable information-driven system related to the impact of large scale urban stadia in the city, adaptable to a broader range of users, and ultimately able to benefit the entire design and planning community involved in the design and operation of sports and leisure facilities.