Transdisciplinary Perspectives: AI for the Study of the Built Environment in the Past

A transdisciplinary research group composed of landscape archaeologists, engineers, cognitive studies experts and scholars in Latin literature is exploring the application of digital technologies and AI to study the relationship between the Forma Urbis (i.e. the volumetric configuration of urban space) and the forma mentis (i.e. the mentality or – better – the mindset of the people populating it) in the past. The cross-disciplinary study of the relationship between human behaviour and the physical environment is performed by applying methodologies from architecture, urban planning, and social, historical, and cognitive sciences (sensorimotor simulation, behavioural studies). The main goal is to go beyond the mere application of computational methods and 3D modelling to study (urban) space use and perception (e.g. the digital exploration of space quality using techniques such as Space Syntax (infra) to assess how movement through space determines patterns of encounter and avoidance and hence shapes social relations: Paliou & Corsi, 2013), and develop models: 1) to achieve AI inferences about urban layouts (Forma Urbis) detected by means of remote sensing and on-site surveys; 2) to understand: a. the relationships between the town’s layout and the peculiar ‘atmosphere’ of the urban environment and its zoning; b. people's mindsets (Forma Mentis) as influenced by the ‘emotional qualities of and within the city’ (Haug, 2021: 39).