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To explain the process of how star architecture projects generate impact, one must first describe the outputs of such projects and then unpack the wide array of potential effects, which are generated by these outputs. This requires the application of multi-disciplinary research perspectives. Only then can one begin to systematically analyse the long-term impacts. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how the complexity of such multi-disciplinary research exercise can be managed through the application of a methodological strategy aided by a conceptual impact model.

A conceptual impact model is presented, which describes the process of the development of star architecture projects, the various outputs of these projects and the possible effects generated by these outputs. The effects of three case study star architecture projects are discussed.

Empirical research findings indicate that while the isolation of effects serves the operationalisation of research, the investigation of the impact of star architecture projects on their respective cities must draw on the intertwinement of the fields of urban economy, society and morphology. The paper concludes by arguing for the application of the described methodological strategy as the basis for understanding in which dimensions a star architecture project generates impacts.

The potential of the proposed impact model for urban analysis when considered as a field of intertwined relations is demonstrated in this article. It helps to reveal how particular local developments change the city significantly in socio-cultural and spatial terms.

The transformative impact of star architecture projects and the role of economic and other effects in this process has hardly been studied, particularly in small and medium-sized cities. This article presents a unique multi-disciplinary research project approached consecutively in the aforementioned fields.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to propose a methodology to empirically investigate the longitudinal development of social media content concerning buildings characterized by iconic architecture and second, to report on the application of this methodology.

We collected and analyzed empirical data of social media content shared via Instagram between 2011 and 2019 on 16 buildings that can be considered iconic architecture projects. Using an automated pipeline, we collected and processed 264,000 posts and 140,000 images from Instagram for the selected case studies. By studying the posting activity of Instagram users through time series analysis and conducting content analysis of the social media posts by means of both image classification and topic modeling, we report on the development of users’ capturing and reception of the selected case studies on Instagram over time.

First, we identify two distinct time patterns of social media content: instantly popular buildings whose popularity fades over time and buildings that gradually gain popularity over time. Second, we distinguish differences in the content of social media posts: some buildings are primarily covered for their architectural features and others for their cultural function and facilities.

Using empirical investigation of Instagram data on iconic architectural projects, we have identified a correlation: buildings primarily posted for their architecture are generally also the ones to gain instant online popularity that subsequently faded over time. In contrast, buildings primarily posted for their function and facilities slowly gained popularity on the social media platform over time.

This paper is concerned with materials developed to represent and communicate state-commissioned spatial experiments on social media. Our objective is to reveal what such materials can do, even before – or whether–the projects they represent are built. Such materials can constitute an intervention in the way political territory is created, shared and made sense of.

We use empirical research of The Line, a new city set to be built in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), to explore this contention. Our research data is the publicly available visual, textual and audio-visual materials commissioned by The Line’s delivery company to be disseminated on digital platforms. Our methodological approach to these materials is a qualitative content analysis.

The materials do not provide a clear sense of fundamental elements of what The Line as an architectural project actually is. Rather the materials foreground three main tropes that disrupt existing notions of nature, space and temporality. Such disruptions propagate KSA’s official story of transformation as drafted in its Vision 2030. They lead us to understand The Line as a radical experiment to rework the Saudi territory and therefore reflecting the power of the state.

Exploring critically the ways in which material projects are embedded in predominantly visual digital cultural forms that imply architecture – and are compounded by affordances of social media – can illuminate much about how designed environments can be mobilized vis-a-vis political imaginaries.