Waterways—The Visualizing Izmir Workshop

As water management becomes increasingly critical for sustainable urban development, a new workshop in İzmir is exploring how data visualization can help communities better understand their relationship with this vital resource. "Water Ways - Visualizing İzmir" brings together design and technology to examine water's role in the city's landscape and future.

The four-day program, led by Marcello Costa, teaches participants to create interactive web-based projects that map and visualize water data across İzmir's territory. From historical water sources to contemporary distribution patterns, attendees learn to transform raw environmental data into accessible digital narratives.

Water infrastructure and access remain central to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, with cities worldwide seeking innovative approaches to water stewardship. The workshop addresses this challenge by demonstrating how visualization tools can make complex water data more comprehensible to diverse audiences—from urban planners to community advocates.

Designed for beginners with no coding experience required, the program covers essential web technologies including p5.js and interactive mapping tools. Participants progress through data acquisition, analysis, and visualization before publishing their findings as interactive web experiences.

The workshop reflects a growing recognition that effective environmental communication requires new digital literacy skills. By combining traditional design principles with modern web technologies, participants develop capabilities that are increasingly valuable for organizations working on sustainability challenges.

As cities face mounting pressure to optimize water resources, initiatives like this demonstrate how accessible technology can support more informed decision-making about one of our most essential resources.

Marcello Costa

Marcello Costa, Ph.D. in Industrial Design, Figurative and Applied Arts, with specializations in visual communication, interaction, user experience, and interface design, and front-end development. He is a researcher (RTDA) at the University of Palermo and an assistant professor in Foundations of Digital Design and Data Visualization.