City Gist

Iacopo Neri

In 2024, collaborating closely with Darío Negueruela and the DVS team, Iacopo Neri continued to play a pivotal role in advancing research at the intersection of artificial intelligence, machine learning, urban studies, and architectural history. His work involved developing computational pipelines, participating in international conferences, and contributing to significant projects that explore the evolving relationship between technology and urban environments.
CLiP and The City Project: Under the supervision of Darío Negueruela, Neri advanced the “CLiP and The City” project by scaling it to a global urban context using a synthetic image dataset. This expansion allowed for the analysis of urban environments worldwide through multimodal foundation models. The project’s findings were presented at the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) conference in London, highlighting the potential of AI in understanding and interpreting complex urban phenomena on a global scale.
Machinic Mimesis Project: Collaborating with Darío Negueruela and Pepe Ballesteros, Neri updated the project on Machinic Mimesis, focusing on stacked multimodal machine learning models performing recursive translation loops between image and text. The team presented their enhanced computational and qualitative assessments at xCoAx 2024, with their work published in the conference proceedings. This project shed light on advancements in machinic agency and aesthetics, discussing the implications of AI-generated mimicry in art and communication.
VORD Project Participation: As a main collaborator in the VORD project, Neri was responsible for the interface design and implementation. His expertise ensured that complex data visualizations were both accessible and informative, significantly contributing to the project's success in interpreting vast datasets.
Digital Residency at the Museum of Modern Art of Bogotá (MAMBO): Neri also played a crucial role in the project for the Digital Residency at MAMBO, where DVS is extending methods developed for the “Newly Formed City.” His involvement focused on adapting computational pipelines and interface designs to explore urban narratives within the context of Bogotá's modern art scene, thereby continuing the exploration of AI's role in cultural and historical interpretation.
At the DataThink 2024 Winter School, “AI & Cities: Sampling the Past, Interpreting the Present in Future Tense,” Neri was a key contributor. This event delved into emerging intersections of AI, machine learning, urban landscapes, and architectural history, and tackled how algorithmic techniques like deep learning and com-puter vision challenge or complement existing methods in fields like architecture and urban studies.