Conditioned Environments
This project delves into the intricate interconnection of warfare, political violence, and environmental manipulation, exploring territories where human activities have significantly altered the natural environment to serve political objectives, with severe repercussions on both human health and ecosystems. This research focuses mainly on the region encompassing Lebanon, Syria, Israel, and Palestine, where deliberate alterations through various mediums such as atmosphere, water, or land often arise from organized actions, systemic failures, or large-scale infrastructural projects. Despite the apparent negative impacts, the precise boundaries and characteristics of these conditioned environments remain largely unexplored. The research aims to unveil the existence of conditioned environments by developing an interactive online platform. This platform, poweredby machine learning, will harness multiple data sources including onsite sensors, satellite imagery, and digital media data mining to validate the presence, medium, and extremities of conditioned environments. It is designed to provide real-time data updates and diverse visualization tools, serving as a real-time resource for researchers, environmentalists, and the public. The overarching goal of this project is to deepen the understanding of conditioned environments, exposing their existence, mapping their boundaries, defining characteristics, and elucidating potential health implications.
Promotor: Dr. ir. Marc Schoonderbeek
Co-promotor: Dr. ir. Aleksandar Staničić