Today, images, videos, and visions of urban futures seem to frame urban development. However, these visualisations are not neutral but constantly used to sway public opinion about development projects even before the planning process starts. Yet, little is known about the ways these visualisations are produced, the stylistic rules they follow and how they are used to frame political decisions.
Our project seeks to fill this research gap and bridge the disciplines of urban planning and visual studies. We investigate, how images are used to advance particular visions of the city. We look at how visualisations are produced, materialised, and consumed in the context of planning and political decision making.
Using a visual culture approach to understand planning processes, we gain new insights into the production, materialization, and consumption of visualisations and the apparatuses of persuasion embedded in visual storytelling. In our analysis, we move beyond spatial imaginaries as visualised ideas and instead understand the practices of visualisation in urban planning as “persuasive visual storytelling”.
We consider visualisations in planning as performative means to take part in a city’s narration and construction of its urban reality. This allows us to study the role of visualisations shaping urban planning and development.
Funding: Academy of Finland
Duration: 2022–2026