HEART OF DRESDEN

by Florian Demmler, Jannes Rudnick and Sayandip Srimani

The motivation behind the "Heart of Dresden" project is to create a visually compelling and interactive way to experience the rhythm of a city. Dresden, like any urban environment, is a complex system—its daily life pulses with the movement and activity of its people. Our goal was to make this invisible rhythm visible, by showing a pulsating heart that reflects the ebb and flow of urban life.

The "heart" in this context is a dynamic cartogram: a map of Dresden whose districts expand and contract in real time, based on publicly available data about how busy each area is throughout the day. By leveraging this data, we aim to provide insight into the complex interplay of activity across the city, revealing patterns and hotspots that might otherwise go unnoticed. This approach not only highlights the vibrancy of Dresden but also demonstrates how data can be used to tell the story of a living, breathing city.