Information Design: Berlin as Data

(3 Credits)

What can we learn about a city, and what stories can we tell from the data it makes public? Berlin is one of Europe's most data-rich cities—its history, migration, infrastructure, and urban transformation are extensively documented. Using the living city as subject and inspiration, this course immerses students in transforming data into clear, compelling visual narratives. Class sessions cover visualization principles, geospatial mapping, and narrative structure using AI tools and industry-standard software. Daily warm-up exercises draw on Berlin, EU and global open datasets—building visual fluency and judgment. Students move between datasets and lived urban form, learning how data becomes legible—and how it can reveal, obscure, simplify, or distort reality. The final project is an original data-driven narrative about Berlin's neighborhoods, histories, economic or social trends. Ultimately, the course trains students to treat data as raw material and craft sound, targeted data-driven narratives. This is an away course in Berlin.