Participate with Data
A data-driven participatory planning initiative led by FCL Global and Participate in Design.
Future Cities Laboratory Global2024
ur-scape
Project Name
ur-scape
Project Date
2023-present
Affiliation
Future Cities Laboratory Global
Team
Joshua VARGAS, Researcher, product manager
Stephen CAIRNS, Principal Investigator
David NEUDECKER, Design Leader
Evi SYARIFFUDIN, Module Coordinator
Niraly MANGAL, PhD Researcher
Denise LEE, Researcher
Joshua's Contribution
Software: product management, software architecture, code contributions, and fully self-developed companion utilities
Outreach: workshop facilitation, partnership building
GIS: QGIS plugin development
UX: user research, stakeholder engagement
- Geospatial Data
- Software Development
- Product Management
- Participatory Workshop
- Software
- Documentation
- Participatory Planning
- Decision-Support Tools
- Human-Centred Design
- Unity
- C#
- Python
- QGIS
- HTML/CSS/JS
ur-scape is an open-source planning support tool developed at Future Cities Laboratory Global. It aims to make geospatial data more accessible and interactive through an intuitive user interface. Users can import geospatial datasets of diverse formats and visualise them instantly, enabling collaborative workflows such as participatory workshops that foster conversations around complex urban challenges. ur-scape has been developed with the support of the Asian Development Bank and SECO since 2017. Joshua joined the ur-scape team in 2023, initially to contribute to a consulting project for three towns in Rajasthan, India. Since then, he has helped lead the development of ur-scape to meet stakeholder needs, including the development of a new website, the completion of the 0.9.97 bugfix release and the design of a roadmap for future development.
background
ur-scape is an open-source planning support tool specifically designed to assist towns, cities and regions experiencing rapid urbanisation. It addresses urgent and complex challenges that arise in such areas by harnessing the available geospatial data however diverse and varied in quality. By seamlessly combining different types, scales and sources of those data, ur-scape provides intuitive, interactive and reliable outputs that can be easily navigated and analysed in real-time.
ur-scape encourages city makers to tackle interconnected practical and strategic challenges of urbanising environments collaboratively. It empowers mayors, policy planners, developers, consultants or community leaders to collectively address the ‘stress points’ such as flooding, traffic congestion, poverty while enhancing the ‘sweet spots’ such as accessibility, equity, economical vibrancy. The tool helps integrate actions on the ground with broader urban systems, as well as national strategic plans and global development goals to foster sustainable and resilient living environments.
ur-scape demo video with a short walkthrough of core functionality and features.
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code + design + sound © 2026 joshua vargas