ChairforArchitecturalInformatics DepartmentofArchitecture TechnichalUniversityofMunich SebastiánCanovasQuintana 03718946 LeoPetriRocha 03726465
2 TheSiteSpecif cTrashProject ChairofArchitecturalInformatics Prof.Dr.-Ing.FrankPetzold CriticalModeling IvanBratoev,NickFörster,FrankPetzold SebastiánCanovasQuintana 03718946 LeoPetriRocha 03726465
3 #01 #02 #03 #04 #05 #06 #07.1 #07.2 #07.3 #07.4 #08 #09 TheContext:CriticalModelling Introduction:StreetTrash TheProject:SiteSpecifcTrash TheCaseStudy:CigaretteButts Research:CigaretteButtLitter OurConcept:TheVisualizationofaCriticalModel Methodology:TheArduinoPrototypes Methodology:TheDataandEvidenceCollection Methodology:Rhino3DandGrasshopper Methodology:Unity TheStories Conclusion TableofContents
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Thefrstrestrictionwastheplacethatwaschosenfortheprojects,namely theSonnenstraße,averyactivestreetnearthecenterofMunich.Thecityof Munichsupportedthecoursebyprovidingageometricdigitalmodelofthe streetthatwascreatedfortheDigitalTwinofthecity.Thisisavirtualmodel ofMunichthatstrivestohaveasmuchinformationofthecityaspossible, thuscreatingadigital“twin”ofthecity.Withthisinformation,allthestudents ofthecoursefocusedoncreatingdigitalmodelsofdifferentaspectsofthe Sonnenstraße.
#01-TheContext CriticalModelling Asmallconfessiontomake,beforetherealtextbegins:
Takingpicturesoftheinsidesoftrashcans,thentohandpickandcollectall thecigarettebuttsfoundinonestreetwhileGPS-taggingeverysingleone ofthemmightseemconfusingwhendealingwithanarchitectureproject. However,thiswastheresultofthecontextandofusstickingtoourconcept withoutgoingbackeventhoughinthefrststagestheprojectseemedto bedirectedinanunusuallpath.Thisshortbriefngisintendedtoclarifythe backgroundfromwhichtheprojectwasborn.
Thisproject wascreated forthe coursecalled CriticalModeling ofthe Chairof Architectural Informatics in the Technical University of Munich. The goal of this course was to teach students how digital tools can impact a city and affect the waypeoplepercievetheirurban environment.Amongotherthingsthe course taughtstudentshowtousedifferentdigitaltoolstocreatea“criticalmodel” thattheyenvisioned.Studentshadthefreedomtochoosethedirectionthey wantedtotake,andtheyhadsomerestrictionstoorienthowtheydeveloped theirprojectandtomaketheresultsmoresimilarandftting.
Wealso thoughtand discussedabout whata “CriticalModel” isand itsgoals. We understand this concept as any form of visualization of data that was done thoroughlyanalysingaphenomenonandwhichusesanunconventionaland oftenunderestimated pointof view.Furthermore, acritical modelis presented
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ofscepticism
TheSecondlimitation,orbetterdescribed,orientation,weretheWorkshops heldduringthecourse.Startingwitharesearchphaseinwhichthestudents learntaboutdigitaltools,theirimpactontheenvironment,andhowto translatephysicalphenomenaintodigitalinformation.Afterwardstheylearnt howtobuildsensingdeviceswithArduinos.TheyalsohadaRhino3Dand GrasshopperworkshopandfnallyanintroductiontotheUnitygameengine. insuchwaythatdoesnotsimplycommunicatetheresultofaresearch, butratheravisualizationthatservesasaresearchtoolinitself.Itisanew insighttothedata,informingthroughuncovensionallenses,andaddingnew perspectivestoatopic.Foruscriticalmodelhasacertainlevel towardstheinformationthatisanalyzed.Onemustbeawarethatthereisno wayofanalyzingdatawithoutsubjectivity.Thecreationandinterpretationof themodelalwaysdependsonthelensewithwhichitisdone. Keepingtheseideasinmindwechosetrashasourtopicandasthelense withwhichwewouldanalysetheSonnenstraße.Bycombiningourtopicwith theideaofusingthesoftwareandhardwaretaughtduringthecourse,we wereheadedintoanamusingdirection.Eventhoughitfeltstrangetopick upandGPS-tagrecentlysmokedcigarettes,moresoconsideringthatweare inapandemic,thestrangenessofitalsomeantthatourvisualizationcould hopefullyofferauniquewayoflookingtothecity,throughtheperspectiveof itstrash.
6 Figure1:CriticalModeling
7 #02-Introduction: StreetTrash
Everypiece oftrash lyingon thestreet hasa uniquestory totell. Howit ended upthere?Wholeftitthere?Whywasitnotthrowntoatrashcan?Ourgoal with this project is to pay attention to street trash in order to better understand ourcities andthe waythey dealwith ourconstant creationof trash.Maybe we couldlearnsomethingaboutthecitizensoraboutthecityitself.
Everyoneproducestrashinthestreetsonadailybasis,whichgeneratesa challengefor theurban environment,namely, howto dealwith allthe different formsoftrashthatthecitizensproduce.Currentlytheurbanenvironment offersa singlesolution, thetrash bin.However, thisis nota propersolution for allthedifferentkindsoftrashthatwegenerate,andoftenitdoesnotftthe situationwhen peoplewant todispose ofa pieceof garbageor itis simplynot nearenough. Thatmay beone ofthe reasonswhy peoplekeep throwingtrash onthestreet,eventhough trashisconsideredbythe commonsenseasdirty, somethingthatshouldnotbeontheground.
Whenpeopleareathome,thetrash theyproduceusuallygoesdirectlytothe trashbin.Peoplegeneratelargeamountsoftrashduringseveraldays,they sortit andfnally theytake itto containerswhere thetrash ofmany individuals ismixedandultimatelycollected.However,whenpeopleareinthecitythis behaviourchanges.Itisnotlikeathomethattheydisposeofthetrashthat theygeneratedduringawholeweek,butratheritismostofthetimeasingle object;asinglepieceoftrashthatremainedaftertheyconsumedsomething, generatingtheneedtodisposeit.Thishappenseveryday:waitingforthe bus,running toa meeting,walking towork whiledrinking acoffee, ormeeting friendsforfastfood.
8 Figure2:TrashintheConstructionSite
ForthesemesterprojectofCriticalModelingwechosetostudythetrash thatisthrownonthestreetwiththegoalofbetterunderstandingtheurban environment.Therearevastamountsofinformationhiddeninthethingsthat peopledisposeof.Thereasonisthatgarbagemirrorsthebehaviourofthe citizens.Itistheevidenceofsomeone’spaththroughthecity.Forexample, whilecommutingtoworksomeonemighthavethrownawayacoffeecup; afnishedcigarettebeforetakingthesubway;apoliticianpamphletor advertisementthathereceivedandfounduninteresting.Thewayinwhich thistrashisthrownawayrefectsboththebehaviourofanindividual,but alsocharacteristics ofthe environment.It couldcontain informationabout the time-periodinwhichitwasgenerated,whichproductscanbeboughtinthe vicinityaswellasthetasteandopinionsoftheindividualsthatcreatedit. That is why we coined the term Site Specifc Trash (SST), a name for the garbage thatcan beaccounted forunderstanding trashin theurban environment.SST istrashthatistoospecifctoitsenvironmentnotjustrandomlyplaced.It isthetrashthatallowstobediscussedandtheorisedtobetterunderstand howtobetterdealwith trash,sinceSSTisrelated toitsenvironmentandthat containsinformationaboutitandaboutthepeopleinhabitingit. IndividualelementsofSite-SpecifcTrashcontaininformationaboutasingle caseofanindividualdisposingofsomething.However,themoreinteresting cases are those where concentrations and patterns begin to emerge. Patterns thatcanindicateacommonbehaviour,orthatacertaineventledtothe litteringofoneplacemorethananother.Wewanttoreadthepatternsof theSite-SpecifcTrashandlistentowhatstreettrashistellingusaboutour environmentandhowthecitizensrelatetoit.Furthermore,thesepatterns might mean that there are systematic problems in the way we view and handle certainkindsof trash.Bydoing thisprojectwe mightbeable toidentifythese problemsandfndasolutionforthem.
9 #03-TheProject:Site Specif cTrash
ForthisprojectwefocusedontheareaoftheSonnenstraße,inMunich.This streetisbesidetheoldcityofMunichandisoneofthemostusedstreetsin thecity.ItconnectstwoofthemainsquaresofMunich,SendlingerTorinthe South,andKarlsplatzintheNorth,eachonehasalargesubwayandtram station.Furthermore,therearealotofestablishmentsinthestreet.Dueto thesefactorsthestreetseesalotofmovementduringtheday,andithas relatively high amounts of trash. That is why it is an interesting location to start analyzingstreetgarbage.
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Figure3:TrashintheSonnenstraße
Tocreatethisprojectourgoalwastoputintopracticeeverythingwelearnt duringtheSemesterCourse,namelytheinformationweresearched,the ArduinoPrototypes,theRhinoandGrasshoppertoolsaswellasthegame engineUnity.
11 #04-TheCaseStudy: CigaretteButts
Cigarettebuttsareaveryinterestingexampleofsite-specifctrashbecause theyarecloselyrelatedtotheirenvironment.Firstly,theirpresenceindicates thatpeoplewerethere.Iftheconcentrations
arehigh,itcanbeassumedthat therewere largeamounts ofpeople spendinga longtime ina particularplace. Additionally,theyconcentrateinplacesthatpeopleconsiderappropriate locationstodisposeofthem.Furthermore,cigarettebuttsarealmostallthe same.Theyhaveapproximatelythesameshapeandsize,thatiswhythey canserveasahomogenoustypeoftrashthatiseasytocollectandcount. Additionally,patternsofhowtheyaredisposedofareeasytorecognize. Moreover,cigarettebuttsareeverywhere.Theywerethetypeoftrashthat wesawmoreoftenwhenwewalkedthroughtheSonnenstraße,biggerand smallerconcentrationsofcigarettebuttsalmostfeltomnipresent.
Startingwith ourgoal ofunderstanding theSonnenstraße throughthe lenseof trash,wequicklyrealized thatthestreetwas verycleanandthere wasalmost notrash.However,werealizedthathiddeninmanyplacesofthestreetthere wasalotoftrashrelatedtodifferentkindsofdrugs.Fastfoodwrapping, alcoholbottles,coffeecups,andmostofallcigarettebutts.Thislasttypeof trashwaseverywhere: inthetram stations,inconstruction sites,evenaround andabovetrashcans,eventhoughtherearemanytrashbins,andthestreet isconstantly cleaned.Cigarette buttsare aparticular typeof trashthat canbe constantlyfound onthe streetwithout regardsto thesystems thatthe cityhas inplacetomanagewaste.
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This gave us a great source of motivation for this project. Dealing with cigarette butts and trying to fnd a solution to the problem, creates a leveraged position. Ifsomethinggoodcomesoutoftheresearch,itcanberepeatedandtested throughouteverycitywiththesameproblem.CigaretteButtsbeingmostly standardized, makes a possible outcome useful and relevant to a vast number ofplaces.
Figure4:CigarettesintheLightPost
ThatiswhywechosecigarettebuttsasourcasestudytoanalyzetheSiteSpecifcTrashintheSonnenstraße,becausetheyarecloselyrelatedtotheir environment;theyareoneveryspecifcandhomogenoustypeoflitterand becausetheycanbefoundalmostanywhereinthestreetandthebestpart forusaboutit,isitalmostglobalpresence.CigaretteButtsareaproblemin almosteverybigcityintheworldandduetothestandardizationdiscussed before,theyarealsoalmostthesameeverywhere.
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Onceweidentifedcigarettebuttsasourcasestudyfortheproject,we proceededtoresearchaboutcigarettebuttlitter,thepropertiesofcigarette butts,thesolutionsthathavebeenfoundtocombatthem,andtheresearch thathasbeendonetoidentifypatternsinthem.
First,wediscoveredthatcigarettebuttsusuallyconsistonlyofthecigarette flter.Thisflterisnotmadeofcottonasmanypeoplethink,butratherof celluloseacetate,atypeofplasticthatisalsousedtocreatetheframes ofeyewear,industrialflters,diapers,buttons,andflmrolls[1].Thismakes cigarettebuttsthe mostlitteredplastic iteminthe world[2].Cellulose acetate takesalongtimetodecomposeandwhenitdoesitisusuallynotdestroyed, butratherreducedtoalargenumberofsmallplasticfbersthatcontaminate theirsurroundings.Furthermore,thisfltercontainsnicotineparticleswhich arealsoharmfultotheenvironment[1].
#05-Research: CigaretteButtLitter
Figure5:CelluloseAcetate
Figure6:Projekt“Schandkreise”
Cigarettebuttlitterbringsmanyproblems,frsttheaestheticproblemthat citieslookunhygienicwhentherearealotofcigarettebutts.Thereisalso thesocialproblemthattheirubiquitouspresencenormalizessmokingwhich canbeafactorinducingpeopletostartthishabit[3].Furthermore,cigarette buttsnegativelyimpacttheenvironment.Usuallywhenacigaretteisthrown onthegrounditiswasheddownbyrainuntilitreachesthesewagesystem whichfnallycarriesittothesea.Onceintheoceans,cigarettesdecompose intosmallpiecesofplastic,andtheyreleasethetobaccotoxinsthatthey containedpollutingthewateranddamagingthewildlifeoftheoceans[1].
Tocombattheseproblems,cities,andinstitutionsallaroundtheworldare implementingdifferentstrategies.InSpainamovementstartedwiththegoal of picking up and collecting all the cigarettes in the beaches and creating huge pilesofcigarettebuttsthattheycall“MountainsofShame”.InGermanythe conceptof theSchandkreise wascrated whichcan beseen inthe nextfgure. Theidea ofthe Schandkreiseis todraw chalkcircles aroundcigarette buttsto drawpeople’sattentiontowardsthem.Theirgoalistomakecigarettesmore notablesothatpeoplestartconsideringcigarettebuttsatypeoftrashand realizethattheydonotbelongontheground[4].
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Furthermore,weresearchedabouturbansensing,citizensensingandthe impactthattheinhabitantsofacitycanhaveontheirurbanenvironment usingdigitaltools.Wefoundseveralcasesinwhichcitizenshavecreated initiativestocollectdataoftheirenvironmentandthenusethisdatatosolve theproblems oftheir surroundings.That isthe caseof theCitizen SensingKit, asensingdevicethatwasdesignedtobeusedbycitizenstoimprovetheir environment[6]. Wealsodiscoveredcampaignsinwhichestablishedinstitutionsusethese tools to gather data about their cities and then analyze it, like the MIT Sensable CityLab. Oneof theirprojects hasa similarconcept toours, thatis theproject Underworlds,which seeksto understandneighbourhoods byplacing sensors onthesewagesystem.
Thesesensorsanalyzethe substancesinfecalmatter todeterminetheaveragehealthofacertainneighbourhood.Theytryto understandthecitythroughthelensofthedisposal[7].
Theydeterminedthatthepresenceofpublictransportstations;moreleisure activitiessuchasrestaurants,bars,cafés,andnightclubs;andplaygrounds increasethelikelihoodofcigarettebuttlitter[3],[5].
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Additionally,research hasbeen doneon thetopic ofthe presenceof cigarette butts in our cities. Researchers in Madrid and in San Diego created estimations oftheconcentrationofcigarettebuttsindifferentneighbourhoodsinthecity todetermine whichelements makea neighbourhoodmore likelyto belittered.
16 Figure7:Densityofcigarettebuttsinpublicoutdoorspacesinthecityof Madrid,Spain
Theconceptofourprojectintegratesalltheseideas.Wedecidedtocreate a3DvisualizationoftheSonnenstrasseinwhichtheprecisecoordinatesof everysinglecigarettebuttcanbevisualizedwithanenhancedpresence.The frststepinourprojectwouldbetocollectthedataforthevisualization.For thiswewouldcreatetwoArduinoprototypesthatrecordtheirGPSlocation everytimea buttonispushed. Withthistool wecouldwalk throughthestreet recording the position of every cigarette. Additionally, while recording the GPS data,wewouldcollectallthecigarettesandknowexactlyhowmanythere wereandwhere.Inthiswaywewouldactivelyanddirectlyimprovethecity. Thisisanexampleinwhichdoinganurbansensingprojectalreadyimproves itsurbanenvironmentwhiledoingit.
Withalltheinformationweresearched,westartedtoplanaconceptforour project.First,ourgoalwastouseallthetoolsthatweexploredduringthe semester,namelytheArduinoprototypes,Rhino3D,Grasshopperandfnally the program Unity. Also, we wanted to improve the city while doing our project activelyanddirectly.Moreover,wewantedtogivevisibilitytotheproblemof thecigarettebuttssothatpeoplewouldnoticethemandrealizethattheyare atoxicmaterialthatshouldnotbethrownontheground.Also,wewanted tointegratetheconceptoftheSite-SpecifcTrashandusecigarettebuttsas anexampleoftrashbeingabletoshowthebehaviourofcitizensandtheir relationtotheSonnenstrasse.
17 #06-OurConcept: TheVisualizationofa CriticalModel
Lastofallwewantedtocreateavisualizationthatmakespeoplenoticethe enormousamountsofcigarettebuttsinthestreet.Createavisualizationthat grabspeople’s attentionand bringsit tothe cigarettebutts, similarto thegoal oftheSchandkreise,butbyusingdigitaltools,wecaneditcigarettebutts insuchawaythattheycannotbeleftunseen.Wedecidedtoenhancethe presenceofthecigarettebutts,notonlybymakingthembig,butbymaking theconcentrationmore relevant.Thisenhanced perspectivewillbe explained intheChapter7.3.Rhino-Methodology:Rhino3DandGrasshopper.
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Figure8:KeepBritainTidy Once the data is collected, we would place the coordinates on top of the model of the street to look for patterns and listen to what trash is trying to tell us. This partoftheprocesswouldbedoneinRhinoanditsgoalistocreateasmallscalemapofthecigarettebuttdistributioninthestreet.Alltheresearchthat hasbeendonearoundcigarettebuttsfocusesontheirdistributioninalarge scale,itanalyzesentireneighbourhoods.Asfarasweknow,ourvisualization wouldbethefrstsmallscalemapofthecigarettebuttdistributioninwhich smallpatternscanbediscovered.
One of the goals of the Critical Modeling course was to work both with softwareand hardware.Thisiswherethehardwarepartcomes into play.The course incentivised the students with an ArduinoWorkshop-Dayinwhich it was taughthow touse Arduinostocreate sensing kits.These sensing kits could thenbe used to map the Sonnenstraße inall possible forms.We decided tousethemtocreatea GPS trackertomark thelocationsofall the cigarettebuttsintheSonnenstraße.
After creating our frst prototype we started to search for other similar examplesusinghackster.io.Anexamplethatwas very interesting foruswas one posted byShawnCruise(Link to article) becausehecreated adevicethat was similar towhat we needed. His projectconsisted ofan Arduino thathe used tosave theGPS coordinatesofdiferent objects liketrees,benches, lampposts. In theorywe could adapt thisconcept to recordthe location of anything, even cigarettebutts.
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#07.1 - Methodology: The Arduino Prototypes
Ourgoalwas simple:tocreate a small handhelddevice thatwouldsave itscurrentGPS locationwhen a buttonis pressed andhave theoutput as anExcel-list withthe needed data.
Using what we learned intheworkshop and withthe helpof many YouTube tutorials, thefrst twoPrototypes oftheGPS DataLoggerwere created.This prototypes used the Elegoo Uno R3. In the beginning the main challenge was tomaketheGPS workandmakeitshow thesignalstring thatitgenerated. Once theGPS was giving theinformation,thenext challengewas tobeable toreaditandknow whattheessentialdatawas. We hadtocreate asystem that would only show what was importantfortheproject and leave outthe unnecessarydata.
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Figure9.2:TheArduino Prototypes
Usinghisproject as abasis, thechallenge became tomake our GPSs work andtobe able tomakethemostefcientcode possible, since bothlibraries weinstalled (one for the SD-CardReaders andthe other for the GPS-Reader) were taking the 2KB memory of the ElegooUno R3.The Codewe created is amodifed version of Shawn CruisesʻCode, however, ours takeslessmemory tooperate andworks betterwithour prototype.Ourcode isattached onthe following Page andcan beused for further projects.
Once thecode was fnished, we used a 3Dprinter tocreate cases forthe prototypes that wouldenableus touseour device in thefeld. Each case has a button and whenever it is pressed, it savesits current GPS position. Although our prototypeswereworking correctly,in theendwedecided touse anappcalled Geo Tracker tomark thelocationof thecigarettes.Thereasons forthiswillbeexplainedinthenextsection.
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22 Figure10:TheArduino Prototypes 1Figure10.2 :TheArduino Prototypes 1
#07.2 -
WhilewewereGPS-taggingthecigarettes, weusedthe appStrava to record our pathsthrough theSonnenstraße tohavemoreGPS dataincase thatwe neededtocorrect thecoordinatesofthe cigarettes.Also,we took picturesof all the spots that we noticed had a higherconcentration of cigarettes. The collection ofdatatookusbothapproximatelyfour hours.From10:25 to14:46 ofDecember22,2021. Intheend wehadmarked4536 coordinates each one ofthem representsonecigarette buttthat we saw inthe street.
To recordthe preciselocationof all the cigarettebutts in the Sonnenstraße the only possiblemethodwastomanually mark thelocationsof allthe cigarettes. Additionally, wewantedtocollecteverysinglecigarette from the street sothat oursensingprocess already directlyimproves theconditionof thecity.We decided todivide this partof theproject anddoit in twoseparatedays. Inthe frst day we onlymarkedtheGPS locationsofallthe cigarettebutts.Inthe second daywe collected all of them.
Methodology: The Data and Evidence Collection
Tomarkthecoordinates of the cigarettes we used the app Geo Tracker because with theArduino prototypeswecouldnot besure of theconsistency ofthe information. With thesmartphone we could know ifwe managed to save everypoint created,while with the Arduinos wewould haveto waitto the endofthe daytobeable toreadthe SD cardsee if everything worked.
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Afterwecollected thecoordinatesofallthecigarettes, we proceeded tocollect them.This partofthe project tookplace onJanuary 12,2022 and tookus approximately3 hours,from20:00 to 22:45.We chose thattime anddatebecause it was easiertodotheclean-up withanempty streetandwethought thatthenight ofa Sunday wouldbe appropriate.To dothe clean upeach oneofus worelatexgloves andwecarriedplasticbagswith usto collectthecigarettes. Figure11:4536 Cigarette Butts 1 Figure12: Samples ofCigarettes 24
Thefrststep towards creatingthe visualization was tocreate a 3Dmodelin which all the cigarettes of the Sonnenstraße can be seen with the built environment of the city, the publictransport stations,andthe trashcansofthe street. Tocreate itwe used the programRhino 3D as well as its plug-in, Grasshopper.Inthenextsectionwe willdescribe howwe created thedigital model. Firstly,we importedthe3Dmodel ofthe Sonnenstraße intoRhino. Thenwe modelled otherimportantelements ofthe street inordertomarktheplaces withthehighestconcentrations ofcigarette butts.These places includethe entrances tothe subway station,the tramstations,the walkways, and the trashbins. The next stepwas tocreateacsv fle with the coordinatesof all the cigarettes that wecollected with thegoal of havingafle that wecouldimport into Rhino as a point cloud. Wecreated this csvfle by merging all the GPS data that we collected in theSonnenstrasse andweused anonline convertertotransform the GPS informationinto CSV.Oncethe fle had been created, we imported it toRhino.
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#07.3 - Methodology: Rhino 3D and Grasshopper
Figure15: TheProject in Rhino3DandGrasshopper
For thiswe used thepictureswe tookof thestreets,as wellas thepathsthattheAppStrava recordedwhilewewere collecting thecigarettes. With thiscomplementarydata we corrected the point-cloudto have more accurate coordinates of the location of the cigarettes. Once we correctedthecoordinatesandcreatedanaccurate point cloud,we neededtoimplement amethod to easilyrecognize the places with the highest concentrations ofcigarettes. To achieve this,we decided torepresenteach pointwith a thincylinder that resembles a cigarette. Allcylinders have the same diameter, butthey have diferent heightswhich aredetermined by the amount of otherpoints thatarefound in aradiusof 1 meteraround theoriginal point. Ifthere areno other pointsaround theoriginal one,the cylinderreceives a heightofone meter. Ifthere is one point,then theheight ofthe cylinder is two meters; two pointscreate a cylinder thatis threemeters high;and so forth.
After placing the point cloud in the rightlocation of the 3D model, we proceeded tocorrect thepointsthatwe noticedwere outsidethepaths we tookwhilecollectingthecigarettes.
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Once we correctedthecoordinatesandcreatedanaccurate point cloud,we neededtoimplement amethod to easilyrecognize the places with the highest concentrations ofcigarettes. To achieve this,we decided torepresenteach pointwith a thincylinder that resembles a cigarette. Allcylinders have the same diameter, butthey have diferent heightswhich aredetermined by the amount of otherpoints thatarefound in aradiusof 1 meteraround theoriginal point. Ifthere areno other pointsaround theoriginal one,the cylinderreceives a heightofone meter. Ifthere is one point,then theheight ofthe cylinder is two meters; two pointscreate a cylinder thatis threemeters high;and so forth.
Withthismethod weaimedatcreatingavisualization in whichtheviewercan recognizetheplaces withthehighestdensityofcigarettes by simplylooking atthe heightofthecylinders. Iftherearemany tallcylinders inonelocation, thatmeansthatthere isa high concentrationofcigarettes inthat place. To automate theprocess ofmeasuring and recordingthe numberofpoints arounda pointwe used Grasshopper to programa k-NearestNeighbour algorithm. Thisalgorithm measures thedistance thateach pointhastoallthe other points, ifthe distance of the points is morethan 1meter they are discarded, if the distance issmaller, then theyare recordedin alist. In this way we created a list for each point, containing the amount of points in the surroundingmeter.Then we used the length of each list to determine the heightofthecylinder.Thatishowwe linkedthenumber ofpointsaroundone coordinatetotheheightof thecylinderineach coordinate.
Thenextstepwas todivide each cylinderintothethreediferent sections in orderto have threecylinders withdiferentcolours ontop ofone another, resemblinga cigarette. The lower section has the same heightfor all the points,and itrepresentsthe orangepaper atthe bottomofa cigarette. The uppermostsection isalso equalforallthepoints,and itrepresentstheburnt paperand tobacco attheend ofa cigarette.Themiddlesection istheone witha variable lengthand itrepresents the white paper inthe middleof a cigarette. For thisprocess we also used Grasshopper. To makethe lower sections we created a 0.90 mhighcylinderat each point.We chose this lengthbecause with the k-NNalgorithm we determined that the smallest cigarettes are 1 m high, and we need 0.10m for the other section. The uppermostsections are0.10 mtall.Their base coordinatewas placed atthe heightthatthek-NN algorithmdeterminedforeach pointminusthe0.10 mof thesectionitself. Themiddle sectionwas themost complicatedone.Itsbase coordinate isontop ofthelowersection. Anditslengthisequalto thevalue determinedbythe k-NN algorithm, minus 1 m of theother sections combined. Inthis way wemanagedtocreatethreecylinderswith diferent heights that all combined areequal totheheightdeterminedby thek-NN algorithm. The laststep wastocreatea fle that canbeexported to Unity. To achieve this, we hadtoconvert allthesurfaces ofthemodelinto meshes andensurethat their normal vector was pointing outwards,sothatwe can beproperlyedited in Unity. We exported thefle asan“.obj” with all theelements representedas meshes.
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The goal forUnity was to create a virtualversion of Sonnenstraße, but a specifc one,onewherethepresence ofthecigaretteswouldbe enhanced, justas described intheRhino 7partofthe project.A game wheresomeone wouldalso have access totheproject website togainmoreinformation and beable toexplore theStreet andbe abletoclick ontheHotspots tosee the information we gathered.
Theplayer starts fxed ona Menu, withapixelatedretrostyledinterface that has theintention tomakethe whole projectmorevisually pleasing. Thiswas one ofthe bigchallenges since inthebeginningitlooked likean old2000ʼs 3D game that “aged badly”.Onecoolfndingthat helped alot wasthe website fontmeme.com which had a very good collection of pixelated fonts to generate textas images. Thismeantthat themenuofthe game created in Unity is a mixture ofa pixelated font(forexampleinthebuttons)and images ofText where nointeraction isneeded (forexampleintheTitle).
#07.4
Unity played a very special roleinthis project. Not onlyit was the frst experience witha Game Engine forusboth,butitwas thelast step ofthe project. Using unity, we would present ourfnding and allow otherpeople to experienceourvisualization oftheSonnenstraße.
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- Methodology: Unity
Figure16: TheProject inUnity3
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Another challenge was tobe able toclick ona hotspotandmake anImage appear, even thoughit sounds simple, it would not work. We solved that problemwitha script that made the attachment on Buttons to 3Dobjects possible. Once ithadbeen fxed anotherproblem emerged.Thegoalwas to have apop up,thatmadeapixelatedmouse appear toindicatetotheplayer thathecould click ontheobject. Theimageitselfwas emerging butitwould appear no matterhow farthe player was fromtheobject, itwas appearing only ifthe player was lookingtowards it.Tosolve this problem,it meant to understandtheway distances aredealt insideofunity. Both thischallenge and a challenge tomake thegame start diferently (withthemouse already toggled)wheresolved withhelp.
WorkingforthefrsttimeinUnity feltlikepatchwork, usingwhat othergame developers shared openly to the web and tryingto make itwork on the VersionI was workingon.Gave Developers have a very active online communitythatgenerate a permanentsource ofhelp forthemost random questions possible. Most ofthe timesthe tutorialswhere older, butwhen usingthe 2018 version, therewere also many morerecent examples and tutorials. Brendan Washer createdan3D environmental viewer(Link to Article) that wasusedasthebasisfor our Visualization. Manyanewthing wereadded in topof his projectmanly the Game Menu,the Interactioninside of the Model and thepop-ups.
#08 - The Stories Afterthemodelwas ready,we wrotesome stories aboutthe journeyofthe cigarettes thatwe documented. Thisis a subjective analysis. They are imagined storiesaboutthecigarettes, howandwhy theyended inthespots we foundthem in. We invite you to also create stories about how the cigarettes arrived to those spots. That way we mightall learn about the challenges thatthecityhas as wellas understandmore deeply howhumans behave. 32
Figure1:Trash intheConstructionSite Construction Site
The area inside the construction site was flledwith all sorts of trash from cigarettebuttsto alcoholbottles.Furthermore, talking toother architects about thisphenomenonthey toldus thatthis is a problemthatmany construction sitesface. People passingbyseemtoperceiveconstructionsas huge landflls wheretheycan dispose oftheir trash.
Oneof themost polluted places of theSonnenstraßewas theconstruction site nearJosephsstraße. Theconstructionsite is surrounded by “Bauzauns”, construction fences thatdo notallow thatpeople trespass the construction. However,these fences have largeholeswhich aretoo smallfora personto enterthrough thembutaregreatforsmallobjects likecigarette butts.
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We think thatthe storybehindthis phenomenon isthatpeoplepassing bywho have a piece oftrashthattheywant tothrowaway,do notwanttomake dirty aclean partof thestreet.That iswhytheydonot throw it away in themiddle of thewalkway,rathertheylook for aspot thatisalreadydirtyandchaotic.
Another constanthotspotofthe streetwerethe entrances tothe subway.The area surrounding theelevators and thestairs was consistently litteredwith cigarette butts. We also noticed thatoften thereare notrash bins near the entrances to the subway, that is the case of this elevator inSendlinger Tor Platz. Thatis why we think thatthe story behindthose cigarettes is very simple.Smokers walkingin theSonnenstraße thatwanttoenterthesubway donothavea properwaytodispose oftheir cigarette,thatiswhy theythrow themtothefoor. These kindsofcigarettes highlight thelack ofinfrastructure for smokersin theplaces wheretheyareneeded themost.
An interesting case is that of the light post near another entrance of Sendlinger Tor. Thisentrance tothesubway also does nothave a trashcan, so smokers adapted an element of the street and transformed it to a provisionaldisposal spot.Thissmallopeningin thebase ofthelight posthas becomeanashtrayfor the citybecause there isno other better place to throw thecigarettesaway.
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Figure17:Trash neartheelevator
Entrancesto the Subway
Anothersimilar hotspotwere theoutdoorrestaurants and thetables placed outside ofbuildings.We think thatthishotspot is similartotheentrances to thesubway because itsreason is also thatitalso lacks properdisposal infrastructure,so people have to create theirown trash cans. Usually, fowerpots become those provisionaltrash cans. These pictures of the fowerpots outside restaurants are evidence of the problem.The lack of ashtrays transforms theplantsinto trashcans.
Outdoor Restaurants
Figure18: Cigarettes in theRestaurants
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Aninteresting aspect isthatpeople actively chose tohidetheir cigarettes in the foliage of plants even thoughdoing so is arguably worse than throwing themtothestreetbecause inthisway theyareactively placed wherethey damage a livingbeing.We think thatthereason behindmight be thatpeople liketothrowtheirtrashwhere itwillnotbe easily seen. People knowthat littering isbad so throwing itin themiddleoftherestaurantfeels likeataboo, whilehidingtheminthe soilof a plantfeels likea properway ofdisposing them.
Aninteresting hotspotof thestreetswerethe trees.Thebaseofthetrees was almostalways flledwith cigarettes. We think thattherearetwo explanations forthat.One ofthemis thatpeople likethrowing theircigarettes toa place where they willnot be seen similarto what happens inthe restaurants. However,wethink thatthere isanother aspect toit. We think thatthe problem is that the garbage collecting vehiclesthat the cityusesto cleanthe walkways cannotaccess thebase ofthetrees,thus afterawhilecigaretteaccumulate inthoseareas. Therefore,thishotspothighlightsafurther problemofthecity. Namelythatthe strategiesthatthe cityuses tocleanthestreet donot work in itsentirety. Therearespots thatneed adiferentsolution.
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Figure 19:Cigarettes intheTrees
CityTrees
Oneofthemostinteresting hotspotsthatwe discovered werethetrashbins. Thissounds counterintuitive.Why wouldthe area surrounding a trashcan would be morelitteredthanusual ifthereis properdisposal infrastructurein themiddleof thatarea. We think thatthe explanationis thatpeople do not perceive trashbins asproper disposalmethodsfor cigarettes.Many smokers have theintention ofproperlydisposingtheircigarette buttsand approach a trashcan, however they do notwant tothrowa burning cigarette buttintoa place thatis probably flledwithpaper,so they throwtheminitssurrounding area. These hotspots highlightthe lack of proper infrastructurethat deals with cigarette butts.The solutionthatthecity oferstocombat trash,namely the trashcan, isnotusefulforcigarette litter. To solve these hotspots trashcans should haveproper ashtrayswheresmokers canproperly throw their cigarette buttsaway. Figure20: Cigarettes nearthetrash can
Trash Bins
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Additionally, byusingall thetoolsthat werepresented in thecourse we learnt how digitaltools can be used toimprovethe urbanenvironment.Moreover, we learnthowtouse thosetools thathelpedus understandthisspace ina better way. Furthermore,by doingthe collection of cigarettes we directly improvedtheconditionsofthestreet.
#09 - Conclusion
By lookingat the Sonnenstraße through the perspective of trash we understood this space in anewway.Werealized whatarethe challengesthat it faces, and weseeasthe bestnext stepfor this project is to usethe research we conducted intotheimplementation ofpossible solutionstothe problem. TheSonnenstraße wouldnot onlybecomea betterurban space, butit would serve as a case studyexampletoa problem thatcouldnotonlybe used in manyotherstreetsinMunich,butothercities as well.As described before, cigarettes areuniform and standardized,itcould be thecase ofone good solutionbeingabletodeal withthesame problem inalotofother cities.
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Contact Leo Petri Rocha 03726465 BA Architektur5.Semester <STUDENTENNAME> <MATRIKELNUMMER> <SEMESTER> 40
[1]Root, T. (2019). Cigarette buttsare toxicplastic pollution.Should they be banned?. The National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/ environment/article/cigarettes-story-of-plastic
[4] WorldCleanup Day - Deutschland. (2020). Keynote Sesion Cigarette Butt Littering [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=u0Q3krXx2sQ&list=PLmN0osBvu3jnVRYdADkMDEfCGer7vU6rM&i ndex=4 [5] Marah, M.,Novotny,T. (2011). Geographic patternsofcigarettebutt waste in the urban environment. Tobacco Control. 20. https:// tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/20/Suppl_1/i42 [6] Smart Citizen.(n.d.). Smart Citizen.Smart Citizen.https://smartcitizen.me/ [7] MIT Senseable City Lab (n.d.),Underworlds. MIT Senseable City Lab. http://underworlds.mit.edu/
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[2]Rubenstein, J. (2020). The Great Global Cleanup. Tiny but Deadly: CigaretteButts arethemostCommonlyPolluted Plastic. Earthday. https:// www.earthday.org/tiny-but-deadly-cigarette-butts-are-the-most-commonlypolluted-plastic/ [3] Valiente R, Escobar F, Pearce J, Bilal U, Franco M, Sureda X.Estimating and mapping cigarette butt littering in urban environments: a GIS approach. (2020).Environ Res. 2020;183:109142.https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.envres.2020.109142
References
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Figure10: Petri, L. (2021) TheArduino Prototypes 8.[Photograph]
Figure6:Schad, B. (2021). Projekt“Schandkreise”. City Cleaners Germany [Picture]. https://citycleanersgermany.de/projekt-schandkreise/
Figure 5: Rvlaw. (2021). Cellulose Acetate. Wikimedia Commons. https:// commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Celluloseacetatephthalate.svg
Figure 7: Valiente R, Escobar F, Pearce J, BilalU, FrancoM,Sureda X.(2020) Density of cigarette butts in public outdoor spaces in the cityof Madrid,Spain [Map]. Estimating andmappingcigarette buttlittering inurbanenvironments: a GIS approach. Environ Res. 2020;183:109142. https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.envres.2020.109142
Figures
Figure3:Canovas, S. (2021) Trash intheSonnenstraße. [Photograph] ****
Figure2:Canovas, S. (2021) Trash intheConstructionSite. [Photograph] ****
Figure9:Petri, L. (2021) TheArduino Prototypes 1.[Photograph]
Figure4:Petri, L. (2022) Cigarettes intheLightPost. [Photograph] ****
Figure1:n.d.(n.d.)Critical Modeling. LehrstuhlfürArchitekturinformatikTUM School ofEngineering and Design TechnischeUniversität München. https:// www.arc.ed.tum.de/ai/lehre/master/critical-modeling-wise-2021-22/
Figure8: Carbon Creative. (2022). Keep Britain Tidy[Photograph]. Carbon Creative. https://www.carboncreative.net/work/keep-britain-tidy-big-butts/
Figure 15:Canovas, S. (2022) The Project inRhino 3Dand Grasshopper. [Photograph]
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Figure11: Canovas, S. (2022). 4536 CigaretteButts 1.[Photograph]
Figure14: Canovas, S. (2022). 4536 CigaretteButts 2.[Photograph]
Figure18: Canovas, S. (2021) Cigarettesinthe Restaurants 2[Photograph]
Figure17: Canovas, S. (2021) Trash neartheelevator. [Photograph]
Figure10: Petri, L. (2021) TheArduino Prototypes 8.[Photograph]
Figure20: Canovas, S. (2021) Cigarettesnearthetrash can [Photograph]
Figure 13: Canovas, S. (2021).Leoholding 4536 CigaretteButts.[Photograph]
Figure19: Canovas, S. (2021) Cigarettes inthe Trees [Photograph]
Figure12: Petri, L. (2021). Samples ofCigarettes.[Photograph]
Figure16: Petri, L. (2022) TheProject inUnity3.[Photograph]