It took no more than 15 minutes for Sergio Baeriswyl — the prominent urban planner, academic at Universidad del Bío-Bío and former president of the National Urban Development Council — to begin interacting with CityScope and assessing with his distinctive eye the workings of the interactive platform built entirely with local talent.
Developed to model future urban scenarios in a neighbourhood that Baeriswyl knows in detail, he and Marcela Martínez went point by point, indicator by indicator, through the functionalities of CityScope and the potential of this technology to realise the long-held aspiration of bringing the city closer to the Biobío River.
Reflecting on the visit, Marcela Martínez, director of City Lab Biobío, said: “Having a specialist like Sergio Baeriswyl interact with CityScope is a milestone for us, especially because the dynamic of his visit was one of constant feedback — both he and we learned about the history of the neighbourhood, what we can do with the technology and how to put it at the service of efforts to live in a better city.”
“CityScope is a tremendous tool for visualising the future of the city. It is a very interesting platform for strengthening urban public policy in the region. Seeing and using this technology, you feel the temptation to explore how a pedestrian integration between the city centre and the northern riverbank might work. City Lab Biobío has the opportunity to make a very important contribution to helping people connect with this territory,” said Sergio Baeriswyl at the close of his visit.
