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Tag Archives: data visualization

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Time-Lapse Evolution of Istanbul’s Urban Form: 330 AD to Present

  4 April 2025 , ,
Using the tools of historical cartography and geographic information systems (GIS), this time-lapse animation reconstructs the urban form of Istanbul during key periods of its millennium-long history. All of about 200 known and major archaeological sites are drawn in plan and overlaid above the city’s contemporary geography. The process reveals Istanbul as a city of layers, spanning three key periods of settlement: the age of Byzantine rule and Christianity (330AD to 1453), the age of Ottoman rule and Islam (1453 to 1923), and the emergence of Istanbul as a model metropolis of population fifteen million (1923 to present). The accompanying soundtrack echoes the spirit of each age: a Greco-Roman Lute, a Turkish lavta, and then electronic music for the modern age of a now global metropolis.
For each of three eras, the map also overlays the estimated locations of Istanbul coastlines that were – and are – in the process of movement as the city builds new land to support population growth. On the more detailed and labeled static map below, you can zoom in to reveal the plan of each archaeological site. For instance, Christian churches were converted into mosques after the 1453 Ottoman conquest. They are labeled with their original Christian names in bold, their Ottoman re-namings in italics, as well as the date of their original construction. Also shown are the known locations of buried water cisterns and the paths of the two major aqueducts that filled them: the Aqueduct of Mocius (entirely demolished) and the Aqueduct of Valens (still in existence). Other features shown on the map include the topography of Constantinople’s seven hills, neighborhood names (both Byzantine and Turkish), and the speculative locations of the Roman roads (via / mese) that terminated at civic spaces (forums).

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Research Method and Source Files:

This project uses QGIS and Adobe Illustrator to replicate the process I also used to animate the time-lapse evolution of New York City’s urban from from 1609 to present. Building plans are sourced from archaeological reports, edited and re-colored to the same scale in Photoshop, and then geo-referenced above the contemporary satellite imagery in QGIS. Labels and final color corrections were then made in Adobe Illustrator. And lastly zoom animations were added with music in the Final Cut Pro software for video editing. To access the geo-referenced maps and building plans behind this project, please email me. I am happy to share them with you.

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View full size image >

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Source Maps and Inspirations:

1. David Hendrix, The Byzantine Legacy: Maps of Constantinople, 2016.
Data on key buildings – all surviving Orthodox churches, water cisterns, palaces, main roads, and civic spaces – in ancient Constantinople. Data on building plans and the source for most maps on which this time-lapse film is based.

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2. Şehri Konstantin, City of Constantine: Mapping the remnants of Byzantine Constantinople, 2020.
Data on key monuments and their coordinate locations in present-day Istanbul.

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3. Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Archnet, Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT, 2016.
Source for the majority of building floor plans incorporated as images into this map: https://www.archnet.org/search.

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4. Wikimedia Commons, Map of Byzantine Constantinople, 2008.

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5. Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae, c.425-550s.

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6. Lanciani, Rudolfo (cartographer) and Edizioni Quasar (publisher), Forma Urbis Romae, 1901 / 1990.
Inspiration for my maps of Istanbul came from these maps of Rome. This composite map of ancient Rome in a grid of 46 sheets overlays on a single map the various layers of Rome’s 3,000-year history: one color for buildings of Roman date, another for medieval and Renaissance, and a final color for the contemporary city. The name of this map of Rome inspires the name of my project map: Forma Urbis Constantinopolis.

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Audio Sources:

In order of appearance

1. Brian Kay, Oldest Complete Song: “Epitaph of Seikolos” on the Greek Lyre and Har-Mose Lute, 2021.
Ancient Greek music performed on the ancient lute, minutes 7:33 – 11:48.

2. Call to prayer in Hagia Sophia, 2023.

3. Traditional Turkish Music on the Lavta, 2022.

4. Maserati, The Language of Cities (track 6), 2002.

5. Istanbul Streetscape on Istiklal Caddesi in Beyoglu, May 2007.

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Envisioning Seneca Village

  11 June 2024 , ,

A project by Gergely Baics, Meredith Linn, Leah Meisterlin, Myles Zhang

In collaboration with the Central Park Conservancy and the Institute for the Exploration of Seneca Village History

 

Email project authors here if you have questions.

 

As featured in the magazine of Barnard College at Columbia University
As featured by the Central Park Conservancy, the park’s official website

 

Envisioning Seneca Village depicts what this significant nineteenth-century village might have looked like in the spring of 1855, about two years before it was destroyed by the City of New York to build Central Park. It features an interactive 3D model, a non-interactive tour through the 3D model (A Tour through the Visualization), a printable PDF guide with maps (A Map-based Tour), and supplementary materials. The project is anchored in extensive scholarship and aims to make the village’s history visible to a wide audience.
Seneca Village was a community established by African Americans in 1825, two years before emancipation was completed in New York State. By the mid-nineteenth century, the village was the home of at least 50 families—about ⅔ Black and ⅓ white, mostly Irish. It was situated on an approximately four-block area east of present-day Central Park West between 82nd and 86th Streets, which was then a few miles north of the city’s urban core and between the villages of Bloomingdale to the west and Yorkville to the east. This location offered a safer, freer environment to live than downtown. Villagers built a thriving, complex, and heterogeneous community with core institutions including three churches and a school. Seneca Village’s destruction by the City in 1857 abruptly ended 30 years of successful efforts to nurture families, sustain livelihoods, and create community. It was also the first instance in a long history of the City’s abuse of eminent domain to sacrifice Black neighborhoods for urban development projects—in this case, to build a world-famous park.

 

 

3D Model References and Methodology. See also: Tips for Navigating the Model.

As residents scattered to different parts of New York and the Northeast, the Park construction crew buried building debris, covering it with landscaped lawns, hills, and paths. The community’s memory faded for a century and a half. Yet the lives the villagers made there left both an archival paper trail and extensive material traces underground. Since the 1990s historians, archeologists, educators, descendants, and artists have mined the fragmentary sources, excavated the site, and sought new ways to recover the village’s history and memory.
Despite all of the information that researchers have unearthed, there is a lot that is still unknown about the village and its community members. It is hard to imagine what it was like to live there. No photos or drawings survive, the present-day Central Park site is devoid of above-ground traces of Seneca Village’s built environment, and this region of New York City was quite different in the nineteenth century than today. Envisioning Seneca Village addresses these blindspots by creating a visual interpretation of the village that integrates social historical, archival, and archeological evidence into digital cartographic and architectural reconstruction. Through this model we seek to amplify existing scholarship, help visitors to learn more about the village’s history, catalyze new research with the questions the model raises, and above all, keep the memory and spirit of this past community alive in the present.
Envisioning Seneca Village is a collaborative project between Gergely Baics, Meredith Linn, Leah Meisterlin, and Myles Zhang that integrates our expertise in archaeology, social history, historical geographic information systems (GIS), and digital architectural reconstruction. The project has been aided by research assistants, additional support from the Central Park Conservancy, and generous guidance from a diverse group of Seneca Village advisors and stakeholders. Learn more about the project and team.

 

 

High-resolution still images provided on the project site (A Tour through Seneca Village).
Printable PDF version of the tour through the Envisioning Seneca Village model, with site maps is live. See “Envisioning Seneca Village: A Map-based Tour.”
To cite the project: Gergely Baics, Meredith Linn, Leah Meisterlin, and Myles Zhang. 2024. Envisioning Seneca Village. Website with interactive 3D model. envisioningsenecavillage.github.io

 

 

Project Map Launch

Juneteenth 2024 in Central Park, at the site that was once Seneca Village
Envisioning Seneca Village 1
Envisioning Seneca Village 2
Envisioning Seneca Village 3
Envisioning Seneca Village 4
Envisioning Seneca Village 5
Envisioning Seneca Village 6
Envisioning Seneca Village 7
Envisioning Seneca Village 8
Envisioning Seneca Village 9
Envisioning Seneca Village 10
Envisioning Seneca Village 11

 

Project Workflow

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Computer Model of the Kaaba in Mecca

  9 June 2024 , ,
Developed with input from James White,
historian of Islamic literature at the University of Oxford
The Kaaba (Arabic: ٱلْـكَـعْـبَـة “The Cube”) is a building at the center of Islam’s most important mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. This is the most sacred site in Islam. Muslims consider it the “House of God.” Wherever they are in the world, Muslims are expected to face the Kaaba when performing prayer. One of the Five Pillars of Islam requires every Muslim to perform the Hajj and visit the Kaaba.
In 2018, I was unhappy with the available quality of 3D digital models of this important building for Muslim culture. I could find no models that were detailed or accurate enough. So I created this accurate-to-the-inch model based on architects’ drawings and photos.

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Audio: the call to prayer, recorded in Istanbul

 

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University of Michigan Campus Drawing

  12 April 2024 ,

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I made a map of each place where I lived an extended period of time: Newark, New York City, Oxford University, Columbia University, and now the University of Michigan. This map depicts almost every major landmark on the University’s central campus and took about 300 hours to create over the past 18 months. Click the image for full resolution or scroll down for details.
Medium: ink on paper with watercolor wash
Dimensions: 26 by 45 inches (66 by 114 centimeters)
Sources: synthesized from Google Earth, satellite images, maps, and street view
Please contact [email protected] to order artist quality prints of this image. The image can be printed at any size you need: as small as 10 inches to as large as 180 inches wide with no loss in image quality.

 

View full size image >

Image is provided at resolution suitable for viewing, but not for large-format printing.
Please contact me for the source file.

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1. Image Annotated with Building Names:

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Buildings on State Street
Buildings on State Street
President's House
President’s House

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2. Work in Progress:

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Work in Progress
Work in Progress
Work in Progress
Work in Progress
Work in Progress
Work in Progress
Work in Progress
Work in Progress

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3. Detail Views:

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Engineering Building Tower
Engineering Building Tower
Newberry Hall
Newberry Hall
Detail of the Diag
Detail of the Diag
Last to Graduate in the Class
Last to Graduate in the Class
Protesters
Protesters
Three Soldiers
Three Soldiers
Detail of Pedestrians on Diag
Detail of Pedestrians on Diag
Detail of Windows on History Department
Detail of Windows on History Department
Rackham Building
Rackham Building
Michigan Theater
Michigan Theater
Michigan Theater
Michigan Theater
Rowdy Fraternity Party
Rowdy Fraternity Party
Car Crash at Michigan Union
Car Crash at Michigan Union

 

Angell Hall
Angell Hall
Engineering Arch
Engineering Arch
Engineering Arch
Engineering Arch
Clements Library
Clements Library
Crowd
Crowd
People on Lawn
People on Lawn
First Congregational Church of Ann Arbor
First Congregational Church of Ann Arbor
First Congregational Church of Ann Arbor
First Congregational Church of Ann Arbor
First Congregational Church of Ann Arbor
First Congregational Church of Ann Arbor
Hill Auditorium
Hill Auditorium
The Cube Sculpture
The Cube Sculpture
Law School Reading Room Window
Law School Reading Room Window
Law School Tower
Law School Tower
Cartman in Law School
Cartman in Law School
Law School Window Detail
Law School Window Detail
Law School Window Detail
The Law School
The Law School
Wedding
Wedding
Wheelchair
Wheelchair
Campus
Campus

View full size image >

Image is provided at resolution suitable for viewing, but not for large-format printing.
Please contact me for the source file.
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Setting Up Sex Offenders for Failure

  9 April 2024 , ,

How the intersection of law and city planning exposes sex offenders to longer prison sentences

Published to the AGORA: Issue 18, 2023-24
The Urban Planning and Design Journal at the University of Michigan

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Abstract:

Our nation’s laws for sex offenders, although designed to protect the public, often have the opposite effect: increasing the chance sex offenders will be re-arrested and re-convicted for new crimes. The core of the problem is not that public safety rules, like Megan’s Law, are too weak. The problem is that these laws are written too strongly and too powerfully that they have the reverse effect: increasing the chances that sex offenders will commit new crimes. There are many problems with sex offender laws: too weak in areas they should be stronger; too strong in areas where they should be more flexible. But today I will examine just one aspect of the sex offender registry (the home address requirement) and how it affects one place (New York City). This analysis of New York City points to concrete and better ways to protect public safety than the current system: ways that reforming Megan’s Law will increase public safety.

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Article:

Download article as PDF / open in new window >

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Acknowledgements:

Thank you to dissertation advisers Dan O’Flaherty for his research on homelessness and Mary Gallagher for her advice on case law. This essay was originally written for Heather Ann Thompson’s fall 2023 PhD seminar on The American Carceral State. Most of all, thank you to editor Jessie Williams for her patient and insightful line edits.
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Homeownership and the Racial Wealth Gap

  5 March 2024 , , ,
Presented March 5, 2024 at the Newark Public Library

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The world’s largest concentration of wealth is in the New York City metropolitan area, yet the region contains many under-resourced cities, including Newark. What historical factors created this division between low-income Newark and its wealthy neighbors along lines of race, housing, income and social class?
The agents of change are more complex and nuanced than a simple narrative of redlining and white flight following the 1967 uprising. From discriminatory actions by the Federal Housing Administration and highways that carved through the urban fabric, to suburbs that pulled middle-class families away from Newark and factories that relocated outside of the city, contemporary poverty in Newark was more than a century in the making.
Drawing from the archives of the Newark Public Library, this presentation examines the range of challenges Newark faces and how the city overcomes. This is a Newark History Society program, co-sponsored by NJPAC and the Newark Public Library. Light refreshments will be served.
The presenter is Myles Zhang, urban historian and doctoral candidate at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
This presentation will evolve into my dissertation entitled:
“An island of poverty in a vast ocean of material prosperity”:
Homeownerhip and the Racial Wealth Gap in Newark

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1959 Blight Map

1959 Map of “Blighted” Areas by Newark Central Planning Board

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View event on NJPAC website

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Jersey City: Urban Planning in Historical Perspective

  4 February 2024 , ,
This project in two parts is a brief history of city planning in Jersey City
and a building-level interactive map of the entire city in 1873, 1919, and today.

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Read / download book as PDF

Download opens in new window

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Jersey City: Urban Planning in Historical Perspective
A booklet about the history of the master plan

Over its four-century history, the evolution of Jersey City mirrors the larger history of the New York region. Each generation of Jersey City residents and political leaders have faced different urban challenges, from affordable housing, to clean water, to air pollution, and income inequality. Each generation has responded through the tools of city planning and the master plan.
Jersey City’s six master plans – dated 1912, 1920, 1951, 1966, 1982, and 2000 – capture the city at six historical moments. Reading these plans and comparing them to each other is a lens to understand urban history, and American history more broadly.

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Classroom Discussion Questions

1. How has the built environment of Jersey City evolved in the past century?
2. Who has the right to plan a city?
3. Who has the right to shape a city’s future?
4. Do you feel you have power over the plan of your city?

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Eastern State Penitentiary Construction Sequence

  31 October 2023 , , ,
“The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue and happiness, allot a portion of the virgin soil as a cemetery, and another portion as the site of a prison.”
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, 1850

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In 1823, Philadelphia city leaders began a unique project, to build what was allegedly the largest and most expensive building ever built in the young nation: Eastern State Penitentiary. It was to be a new kind of prison, a structure where hundreds were confined in complete and uninterrupted solitary confinement for years on end. As we reflect on Philadelphia as birthplace of American Democracy, “City of Brotherly Love,” city of the American Revolution, the architecture of Eastern State Penitentiary reminds us: Forced labor and confinement are as old as the American nation state.
This time-lapse animation with audio narration uses the tools of virtual reality to reconstruct the appearance of Eastern State Penitentiary during each year of its 148 years of operation from 1823 to 1971. This reconstruction is based on original plans and primary sources about the jail’s architecture. It uses film to reveal how the building’s envelope was expanded and modified each decade in response to evolving design philosophies, public attitudes towards incarceration, and the ever-expanding size of today’s carceral state.

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Based on:
– Historic architectural plans (1837 report in French, pp. 124-38)
– Primary sources (1830 description)
– Reports on the historic preservation of this prison (1994 Historic Structures Report, Volume II)
Music by Philip Glass from the 1982 film Koyaanisqatsi, starting at minute 37:30
Link to text of audio narration

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Computer Model

Shows prison as it appeared in the period 1836 to 1877 before later construction obstructed the original buildings.

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Built on a Billion-Dollar Bed of Corporate Tax Breaks

  6 October 2023 , ,

What kinds of tax breaks are we giving to redevelop Downtown Newark?
Who is getting them?

An investigative report on public funds for private profit.

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“Free enterprise is a term that refers, in practice, to a system of public subsidy and private profit, with massive government intervention in the economy to maintain a welfare state for the rich.”
– Noam Chomsky

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Contents

[1] Who owns the land around Mulberry Commons?

[2] If past predicts future, what kind of past tax breaks have we given?

[3] The problem is not tax breaks. The problem is: Who gets them?

[4] How can we ensure equitable economic development in Newark?
Five policy recommendations.

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Artist’s rendering of Newark Penn Station expansion

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Introduction: A Case Study in Edison Parking

The City of Newark borrowed $110 million to pay for a pedestrian bridge over Route 21. This new link between Mulberry Commons and Penn Station will allow travelers, event goers, and sports fans to walk directly from the trains to the games at the arena. Newark City Hall and the media are describing this as Newark’s equivalent and response to New York City’s High Line. This project follows on the already $10 million spent on building Mulberry Commons.
As part of misguided car-centered 20th-century urban planning, thousands of highways were built in our nation through low-income communities of color, to divide the less privileged in hundreds of places like Newark. Through the tools of public investment in public space, now is a moment to make wrong historical injustices like Route 21, Route 22, Interstate 78, and Interstate 280. Now is a historic opportunity for the urban form as tool of reparations.
However, what parts of the public – divided across lines of race, income, and home address – will benefit the most from this project? Will the benefits of this investment disproportionately go to a few people or institutions, such as Prudential Center patrons and Edison Parking tenants?

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