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Sustainable Brownfield Regeneration: CABERNET Network Report

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4Understanding <strong>Brownfield</strong>s:Conceptual Models4.1Conceptual ModelsConceptual Models and <strong>Brownfield</strong> <strong>Regeneration</strong><strong>Brownfield</strong> regeneration is a complex process. <strong>Brownfield</strong> regeneration can have farreaching effects on wider urban development so it is vital that efforts are made tofurther understand the dynamics of the process, in particular the barriers to successfulregeneration.Role of Conceptual Models in Problem FormulationConceptual models are useful tools in problem formulation. They provide visualrepresentation (with associated explanatory text) of a problem and as such they areable to hypothesise, or demonstrate, the relationship between different elements ofsystem that are often difficult to represent in an accessible way.Certain concepts and forms of data can be difficult to understand when presented ina fixed textual form²². Visualisation in the form of a conceptual model is one methodfor potentially enhancing the comprehension of the user. A visual representation isinherently more understandable than other methods of presenting information, as ittends to be a less abstract representation of information than textual equivalents. Avisual representation of a particular data set can show the changes in the state of thedata represented by changes in the state of the visual image²³.A visual display will be an abstract representation, either because what is beingrepresented is abstract, or because it would be impractical to have a realisticrepresentation of the data. However, the aim is that the conceptual model should bemore meaningful to the user than the original source data. The main benchmark forevaluating a conceptual model should therefore be its usefulness. The model shouldimprove the user’s understanding of the system in a way which other, more abstractrepresentations (such as text) do not. The user’s additional insight should be somethingarising from the change in perception, in particular the user is able to explicitly ‘see’concepts that were previously implicit. Even if it is only for one context or facet that aparticular conceptual model has any advantage over other representations, then it isstill deemed to be useful²⁴.²² ²³ ²⁴Aumen (1998) Conceptual Modeling Workshop, UC Davis, June 17-18, 199836

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