Who does the city work for?
Where do people play in cities?
What new inequalities are created in cities?
What are the emergent third places in cites?
What new technologies are built for cities?
How do future scenarios of cities seduce policy makers, planners, and designers?
This blog is where I track my interests in 1.) how people use cities, 2.) how cities use people, and 3.) the spatial production of knowledge that comes out of cities.
Urbanism refers to processes that drive people to live in cities. My idea of Digital Urbanisms refers to processes that drive people to online sociality. I am interested in how Digital Urbanism presents a new geography of constraints and mobilities where the materiality of living in cities and its digital infrastructures are becoming mutually constituted. Being urban is not an outcome, it is a process, and this process now takes place online just as much as it takes place offline.
I spoke about Digital Urbanism in China at SXSW, Sleeping in Internet Cafes: The Next 300 Million Chinese Users.
Digital Urbanism is also a term that architectural theorists use. While architects focus on the form of the city as a digital space, I employ digital urbanism to refer to the people that inhabit the city and are experiencing the shift where everyday urban life is increasingly mediated by digital tools.
I use Digital Urbanisms in the plural because I want to emphasize that there is more than one digital urban future. Also the url for singular Digital Urbanism wasn't available, so that is how I ended up with a domain name in Monstserrat (.ms), which conveniently makes Digital Urbanisms plural!
I write longer thought pieces on Cultural Bytes and Byes of China. I have like 20 other blogs where I put out more silly than thoughtful, you can find the full list on my website.
I curate a reading list on cities and technology that is continually being updated If you have any readings to add to this list that you or another person has written, please let me know!
email | twitter | website
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Mobile Design Conference: Designing and Co-Creating for the Networked City (Barcelona, Oct. 21, 2010)
[Here’s a conference that I wish I could attend! Esp because kevin is speaking at and esp because Barcelona is one of my fave cities in the world. The workshop on Co-Creating the Networked City seems awesome. -tricia[]
Barcelona Design Week - Mobile Design Conference and Workshop - At the beginning of a new decade, the technology paradigm of anytime, anywhere, anyhow has become a reality in our everyday lives. Location technology is now integrated into every mobile device, opening exciting and challenging paths for the discovery of new services around the user. Knowing that currently more then 80 % of Europeans live in cities urges us to better understand how these new mobile ecosystems work. Particularly navigating the complex relationships between mobile technologies, infrastructure, private and public stakeholders becomes increasingly important for any designer working in this space. For this second Mobile Design Conference, we’re inviting some of the most forward-thinking leaders in Mobile, Co-Creation, and Urban Design who will share their view on the role of design in an increasingly complex ecosystem and the challenges they see lying ahead: designing mobile services for a total mobile user city experience, respecting the needs of the user within her environment.
Speaker 1: Kevin Slavin - Co-Founder and Chairman of AREA/CODE Entertainment
Speaker 2: Matt Jones- Director of Design at BERG
Speaker 3: Usman Haque, Director of HAQUE Design + Research Ltd
Speaker 4: Fabien Girardin, Co-founder of LIFT LAB
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