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Urban infrastructures have always played an important role in the shaping of urban culture. The village pump, the market place or Haussmann's Boulevards didn't just have a utilitarian function, they also turned into places for communication and cultural exchange.Advances in digital media - the combination of sensors, 'smart' algorithms and individually tailored transactions - promise to make urban infrastructure more efficient. Yet what does the advance of new media in urban infrastructure mean for urban culture at large? According to some, we are heading towards a 'splintering urbanism' where the roll out of urban infrastructure is no longer aimed at connecting all citizens equally but rather at selling individual services to consumers. Does that mean the end of urban public space as we know it? Others however argue that new urban infrastructures - such as the internet of things - also create new opportunities for exchange and public action.
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Digital Infrastructures & the City: The Future(s) of Urban Public Space
Martijn de Waal
www.martijndewaal.nl
www.themobilecity.nl
After the Cultural City - Pécs 24 September 2010
Flickr.com/timdan2
Central Question
If our cities are becoming ‘hybrid cities’
and increasingly rely on digital infrastructure
What does that mean for Public Space?
Assumption
Public space piggybacks on urban infrastructures
Flickr.com/timdan2
1. Some notes on Urban Public Space
2. Infrastructure & Public Space -From the Village Pump to the BLVD
3. Digtial Infrastructure & Public Space: Dystopian Scenario: ‘Splintering Urbanism’
4. Digtial Infrastructure & Public Space: Optimist Scenario: ‘Micro Public Places’
Pecs Kossuth Street 1888 flickr.com/photos/gabboo/
What are the functions of Urban Public Space?
The City is a place full of strangers
Yet we do somehow have to relate to all those other (and often different) people
‘Public Space as meeting ground’
2. Infrastructure & Public Space -From the Village Pump to the BLVD
Pecs Kossuth Street 1888 flickr.com/photos/gabboo/
Infrastructure as Public Space
Water pump - Philippines ca 1900 -flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/
Infrastructure as Public Space
Paris BLVD network by Haussmann - http://www.bricoleurbanism.org/whimsicality/urban-fabric-form-comparison/
Paris BLVDs by Haussmann (1852-1870
Motives:Sanitation
Crowd Control(Canon shot boulevards)
Modernization
Optimizing Traffic
Infrastructure as Public Space
Pissaro Avenue de l’Opera (Musée des Beaux Art, Reims))
Paris BLVDs by Haussmann (1852-1870
Outcome:Flaneurs
Cafe Culture & Terraces
Meeting Ground
Mingling of Classes
UrbanismBLVD
Conclusion so far:
Public Space is the ‘interface’ of urban society
Public Space often ‘piggybacks’ on Infrastructure
but:
This all sounds very ‘Paris 1890.’
Does a BLVD-Urbanism still hold
now that
senseable.mit.edu)
the city is becoming
a ‘hybrid city’?
WIFI
GSM
CCTV
RFID
GPSUbicomp
Augmented Reality
IBM Smart Cities)
New Infrastructure paradigm:
Smart City
U-City
Sentient City
Real Time City
Smart / Sentient / Real Time Cities:
IBM Smart Cities)
Sense what’s going on
Aggregate, Store & Distribute these data
Operate and Actuate
Learn & Anticipate
What kind of ‘public sphere’is piggybacking on this infrastructure?
IBM Smart Cities)
3. Digtial Infrastructure & Public Space: Dystopian Scenario: ‘Splintering Urbanism’
Pecs Kossuth Street 1888 flickr.com/photos/gabboo/
Stephen Graham & Mike Crang: ‘Splintering Urbanism’ & ‘Sentient Cities’
‘Regimes of Access’
Dynamic Road Pricing
Stephen Graham & Mike Crang: ‘Splintering Urbanism’ & ‘Sentient Cities’
CCTV & Face Recognition
Stephen Graham & Mike Crang: ‘Splintering Urbanism’ & ‘Sentient Cities’
Stephen Graham & Mike Crang: ‘Splintering Urbanism’ & ‘Sentient Cities’
M-Commerce
Discovery & Recommendation
Sensenetworks.com
‘Regimes of Access’
From
Modernist idea of
Universal Access
To
Postfordist ideaof
Infrastructure as Service
Citizen
vs
Consumer
Stephen Graham & Mike Crang: ‘Splintering Urbanism’ & ‘Sentient Cities’
Towards a
Software-Sorted City
Pecs Kossuth Street 1888 flickr.com/photos/gabboo/
4. Digtial Infrastructure & Public Space: Optimist Scenario: ‘Micro Public Places’
Publics form around ‘Shared issues of concern’
Frei and Böhlen, Situated Technologies Pamphlet 6: Micropublicplaces
through and around
new media infrastructures
http://www.situatedtechnologies.net/?q=node/104
Sense what’s going on
Aggregate, Store & Distribute these data
Operate and Actuate
Learn & Anticipate
How can we use infrastructures that
Be appropiratedTo Organize Publics around
‘Issues of Concern’?
Using The Internet of Things
To bring out these‘issues of concern’
MIT Senseable City Lab Trash Trackhttp://senseable.mit.edu/trashtrack/
Challenge:
How to move beyond representation
And towards a sense of ‘ownership’ in the issue
http://senseable.mit.edu/trashtrack/
Bringing ‘Issues’ back in Public Space
In the Air (Medialab Prado)http://intheair.es/
Conclusions:
From Public Space to Public Spheres
From ‘Urban Mass’ to Issue Publics
Fragmentation or Integration?
www.themobilecity.nl
Think tank on digital technology & urban culture
The Mobile City
Events Blog - Research Network
flickr.com/photos/rawmusic/
Thank You!
