Uploaded on 2017-01-25 by Sven Muller

Although I am from South Africa, I chose a picture from our trip to Italy, because the cities closest to me are not exactly safe. Visible information: 1- The buildings are relatively close to each other, which poses the problem of the lower floors not receiving adequate natural light during the day. 2- The "layout" of this area is circular in form, with long, straight streets leading in from the outskirts of the circle towards a central point, The Cathedral di Santa Maria del Fiore and Piazza del Duomo. 3- The ground floor windows have extra security measures while in other streets they do not. This could be explained by the nature of the street, small, relatively quiet and dark. 4- All the cars are facing in one direction, which indicates a series of "one-way" streets. Invisible information: 1- The lights on the lower floors of the buildings tend to be on for longer periods and more frequently. 2- More plants grow on upper balconies and planters than these on street level. How the invisible information can become knowledge: These buildings could have been more efficient, had the urban planning been different. The amount of natural light that the buildings receive poses an issue toward the sustainability of the buildings. The lower floor lights are on for longer periods and more frequently, because they do not receive as much natural light as the top floors during the day. This means that the energy/electricity consumption increases with every floor lower. If all the floors of the buildings receive adequate natural lighting, the energy/electricity consumption of the buildings would decrease, making them more efficient.