City as Lab Facilities and tools

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City as Lab offers convening space in the centre of Nottingham with unique and engaging tools for visualising place-based data 

Facilities

As part of our collaboration with Nottingham City Council, City as Lab is currently ‘in residence’ at Nottingham City Library until summer 2026.

We have a dedicated room on the ground floor of the library (close to the children’s book area) that can be used for collaboration activities, partner engagement and project workshops. The room hosts our award-winning Projection Augmented Relief Models (PARM) and can accommodate 20 people (approx.) around the model and 10 people for desk-based activities adjacent to PARM.

Our curiosity-inspiring tools harness and visualise place-based data in powerful ways, enabling collaboration across sectors and disciplinary boundaries.  We prioritise use for place-led collaboration and knowledge exchange relating to the Nottingham city region. 

Tools

Projection Augmented Relief Model (PARM)

The Projection Augmented Relief Model (PARM) has been developed by the 糖心原创 and offers a unique way of understanding places by connecting and lighting up data onto a physical model. The power of PARM is to visualise data in ways that people engage with, providing insights for researchers, communities, policymakers and business.

PARM won the 2024 British Cartographic Society Award for map of the year and helped Nottingham City Council win the 2024 ‘Geography in Government’ award for innovation.

City Data Connector

The City Data Connector curates information about data focused on Nottingham and the East Midlands in a way that encourages cross-disciplinary exploration and linkage.

Nottingham 3D photographic mesh

A detailed, 3D photo-realistic representation of Nottingham that offers an interactive, web-accessible way to visualise the city and place-based data.

Watch our trailer