Monitoring People in Public

Recently RUPC Graduate Academy member Fiona Whitworth gave a public seminar on ‘Monitoring People in Public’.

Fiona considered how people-counting and tracking systems are increasingly being deployed to monitor visitation and movement through public spaces. Her seminar drew on a case study of Queen Victoria Market to provide an overview of the current tools available and the potential for this technology to provide insights into public culture.

Fiona asked: What data can people-tracking technologies generate? What potential value does this data have for research? And how could this data transform place-management practices?

Fiona Whitworth is Queen Victoria Market’s Head of Strategy. She has been involved in planning for Queen Victoria Market and Melbourne’s inner north since 2009, and since 2014 has worked to take advantage of today’s technologies to support decision-making.