New Trajectories in Computational Urban Landscapes & Ecology (DLA 2024)

Ulrike Wissen Hayek (PhD) has been a Senior Researcher and Lecturer at the Institute for Spatial and Landscape Planning (IRL), Planning of Landscape and Urban Systems (PLUS), at the ETH Zurich, Switzerland, since 2008. She has been the director of the Large‐scale Virtualization and Modeling Laboratory (LVML) at ETH Zurich since 2023. Her research focuses on developing GIS‐based audiovisual 3D landscape simulations for collaborative planning processes as well as for laboratory experiments, including psychophysiological studies. She utilizes, 3D virtual reality environments, for example, to investigate people’s perceptions of landscapes through physiological and cognitive responses. In her teaching activities, she transfers visualization principles and approaches derived from research into the training program.

Pia Fricker is an associate professor and the vice head of the Department of Architecture at Aalto University, Finland, specializing in computational methodologies in Landscape Architecture and Urbanism. Her research merges landscape and urban design with cutting‐edge computational methods, emphasizing critical AI‐driven methodologies and adaptive strategies for environmental challenges. Fricker’s current projects explore immersive, data‐driven design methods for dynamic landscapes, particularly in the Arctic, and the effects of deglaciation and rising sea levels. She holds a PhD from ETH Zurich and collaborates internationally on environmental resilience. Her work has been exhibited globally, and she is active on several editorial boards and scientific committees.