Introducing Flora Roumpani
Hello world, I am Flora and part of from the AI and Arts Interest Group at the Turing and part of the editorial team of the AI and Arts Forum Publication. This blog has been in the works for a while, and we are delighted to finally launch it! The blog brings together scholars and professionals of the field from the AI and Arts interest group at the Alan Turing Institute, in a platform to share their amazing state-of-the-art research and knowledge of that is happening in some of the biggest universities in the UK, in large museum institutions and the Art world.
What’s your background?
A few words about myself, I am a scholar and multidisciplinary researcher currently serving as a lecturer in urban analytics at the University of Liverpool and a Visiting Lecturer in the Royal College of Arts in the United Kingdom. With a background in architecture, urban planning, and data science, I am working in the field of urban analytics, which combines spatial analysis, urban informatics, and computational modeling to inform urban planning and design.
My personal research revolves around the role of procedural cities in the future of planning. That is creating worlds we can visit from the mathematics of urban modelling. Prior to my current role, I worked as a research associate at the Research Engineering Group (REG) at the Alan Turing Institute where I learned the foundations of AI hands-on, and had the chance to collaborate in large-scale AI projects, such as the CROP digital twin platform.
In addition to my academic and research activities, I also worked on a number of creative technology projects and exhibitions, including the development of the Little Journey app, an interactive VR app designed to prepare children for day-case surgery, The evolution of London and tweet city which have been featured in several mainstream media, such as the Guardian, Fast Company, Urbanista and Archdaily.
What excites you about Arts, Data Science and AI?
Working in the intersection of design and engineering, I can verify that it takes a very different approach in methodology for each of these fields. While Design and art starts from vision, almost exclusively engineering starts from the data. This required swift in thinking, from top down to bottom up, is why it is very difficult to find individuals who excel in both fields. Some argue that the use of AI in art may diminish the role of human creativity and emotion, leading to a loss of authenticity in artistic expression, which I did experience first hand when lost in problem solving about why an algorithm is not executing as it should.
On the other hand, the provision of new mediums via new technologies, provide an unprecedented platform for boosting creativity and jumping to new ideas. The difficulty in the execution, hints that success in this field, may lay in the orchestrated collaboration between individuals with different skills, rather than one person doing everything. Similarly to creating a movie which encompasses different roles, such as the director, sound engineer, actors etc. , developing AI and arts may require a stream lined execution in order to make full use of its possibilities. These are some of the questions we are looking to understand by bringing in different specialisations in this open conversation and within the AI and Arts group at the Turing.
I particularly welcome members to reach out to me in the group’s Slack space about Architecture, Urban Analytics, Cities and VR/AR.
Further to this we may want to wonder what is the role of communities in this process. For example the Colouring London Project at the Turing, where it is seeking to engage the public around an engineering problem and use algorithms and people to answer questions about the buildings and cities we live in. In our paper the use of historical data for rule based modelling , we are seeking to create parametric visualisations of the Victorian house, and see how rule based design, can create 3d visual platforms that people can engage with and create scenarios.
At the moment we are working on digital twins and the how we can develop scenarios for the future of our living. In the Alan Turing Institute we begun looking into how we can start reading planning applications using AI to create a digital archive of how London evolved over time.
What’s a recent artwork (any discipline) that made an impression on you?
The last exhibit that made an impression was the Gentle’s Monster Giant , Exhibited at the Superfutures exhibition in Selfridges
Where can we find out more about you and your work?
Turing profile: https://www.turing.ac.uk/people/former-researchers/flora-roumpani
follow me at : https://twitter.com/en_topia?lang=en
If you are interested in the future of the Cities and how will AI and data shape our future living, then follow us in this space.
