
Javier Argota, a Spanish architect and urban planner, recently completed his MS in Computational Design at CMU's School of Architecture with the support of the Fullbright Foundation. In his thesis "What You See Is What You Get" advised by Code Lab co-director Daniel Cardoso Llach, he developed key parts of an urban analysis toolkit that uses computer vision and machine learning techniques to collect and analyze anonymous data about the movement of people and vehicles in public spaces, with unprecedented accuracy. Currently, he is a visiting researcher at Code Lab leading the project ¡°Understanding Public Space Use in Market Square¡±. This project, funded by Metro21: CMU¡¯s Smart Cities Institute, and in collaboration with Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, the City of Pittsburgh and his startup Urban Data Eye that is developing this technology further, will be able to provide novel data about the use of the popular spot of Pittsburgh Downtown to inform future design and policy decisions.