Northumbria awarded prestigious national research project

A Northumbria University academic has been awarded a prestigious national research project by the Government Office for Science.

Dr Emine Mine Thompson, a Senior Lecturer in Visualisation within the Department of Architecture and Built Environment, has won a project as part of the Government’s Foresight Project to visualise Newcastle’s future.

Newcastle Urban Foresight Visualisation and Modelling Project will be based on the recently published work by Professor M. Tewdwr Jones, Professor Goddard and Dr. Paul Cowie from Newcastle University titled Newcastle City Futures 2065. This report explores the future of cities over the next 50 years by looking in detail to the various scenarios for Newcastle as a test bed.  The visualisation project will selectively visualise these scenarios explored in the report, which will support knowledge exchange and public engagement activities for the Newcastle Futures Project. Furthermore, the VRV group will also provide a report on selecting the best possible visualisation techniques for a project in this manner.

Northumbria  have an integral role within this collaboration, and the University’s Virtual Reality and Visualisation Group’s flagship project, Virtual NewcastleGateshead model (VNG) will be the foundation for this visualisation project. VNG is a definitive, accurate and an interactive model, and currently covers more than 100km square of Newcastle and Gateshead city centres and their conurbation, stretching to Newcastle Airport on the North and to Port of Tyne to the East. Since 2008, numerous large and small scale urban development proposals have been supported with this model and both Councils accepts its accuracy as tool to use in planning process.

Dr Emine Mine Thompson said: “We are, as the VRV Group,  delighted to get this opportunity to work on this prestigious scheme for the UK Government Office for Science, Future of Cities Foresight Project. One of the many activities from this Foresight Project is the Newcastle City Futures 2065 report completed by Newcastle University in July 2015.

The report investigates the future of cities over the next 50 years and specifically studies City of Newcastle as a testbed. Our flagship work, the Virtual NewcastleGateshead model offers a great background for this project and with our knowledge and expertise in virtual city modelling and visualisation tools and technologies; we will decipher the scenarios and storylines established in the above mentioned report.

This work is also a great showcase tool for both of the universities in the City and demonstrates the required collaborative work between universities for the good of the city and the citizens.”

The project is expected to be completed by the end of November 2015.

To find out more about Northumbria University’s Virtual Reality and Visualisation Group, visit: https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/academic-departments/architecture-and-built-environment/research/virtual-reality-visualisation/