Ms. I-Ting Chuang is currently a Doctoral student of Architecture and Sustainable Design, Singapore University of Technology and Science and was previously an Assistant Professor at Architecture Department, Taiwan Tech, Taiwan. Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Ms. Chuang was educated at University of Auckland, New Zealand and graduated with first honor B.Arch. (Bachelors of Architecture) degree. Then attended Graduate School of Design (GSD), Harvard University, USA, gaining her M.Des (Master of Design) degrees. Ms. Chuang spent 7 years in New York practicing Architecture and Urban Design in renown firms before embarking on an academic career in which focuses on architecture design and studio curriculum. Ms. Chuang’s current research focus is on design informatics in urban geography with emphasis on data analytics and spatial quality of public spaces.

Leveraging large geolocated datasets has shown the potential to be transformative in how we understand and study the urban environment. My research builds forth on this potential by making two central concepts in planning and design contexts – density (popularity) and diversity (inclusiveness) of urban spaces – measurable and mappable through an analysis of geolocated social media data. The research aims to contribute as well as a bottom-up strategy to comprehend our social landscape and a top-down proxy of the ‘performance’ for urban spaces. I specifically zoom in on ‘special’ places across the city – e.g., those that have low density but high diversity – as these can be challenging to identify through conventional techniques. This ‘quick scan’ can aid in bringing a more comprehensive and informed view of the urban landscape to the attention of policymakers and designers.