1,721,281 research outputs found
Embedding an ecology notion in the social production of urban space
No full textThis chapter defines, explores and exemplifies research at the intersection of people, place and technology in cities. First we theorise the notion of ecology in the social production of space to continue our response to the quest of making sense of an environment characterised by different stakeholders and actors as well as technical, social and discursive elements that operate across dynamic time and space constraints. Second we describe and rationalise our research approach which is designed to illuminate from three different perspectives the processes at play in the social production of space. We illustrate the application of our model in a discussion of a case study of community networking and community engagement in an Australian urban renewal site. Three specific interventions that are loosely positioned at the exchange of each perspective are then discussed in detail, namely: Sharing Stories; Social Patchwork and History Lines; and City Flocks
Digital design interventions for creating new presentations of self in public urban places
No full textDuring everyday urban life, people spend time in public urban places waiting for specific events to occur. During these times, people sometimes tend to engage with their information and communication technology (ICT) devices in a way that shuts off interactions with collocated people. These devices could also be used to better connect with the urban space and collocated people within. This chapter presents and discusses the impact of three design interventions on the urban user experience enabling collocated people to share lightweight, non-privacy-sensitive data in the urban space. We investigate and discuss the impact on the urban experience under the notions of people, place, and technology with an emphasis on how the sharing of non-privacy-sensitive data can positively transform anonymous public urban places in various ways through anonymous digital augmentations
Design patterns for urban gardening
No full textUrban agriculture is practiced in many forms within urban spaces, ranging from large organised community gardens to individuals with a backyard or balcony. We present the synthesis of findings from three studies exploring different types of urban agriculture: city farms, residential gardeners, and a grassroots group that supports local communities. Where the findings of individual studies are used to justify a design approach, there are often difficulties encountered because of different context of the original study. Through our understanding and synthesis of multiple studies, we propose a set of design patterns. The proposed patterns can be utilised concurrently depending on the scale and context of both the physical garden, and community. The relationships between the patterns and their concurrent use are discussed, and the resulting links provided the foundation for a pattern language. The eight initial patterns provide a foundation on which we would encourage other researchers to contribute, in order to develop a pattern language to holistically consider urban agriculture beyond the scope of our experiences in Brisbane, and to enrich the patterns with a variety of gardening practices
Street computing : towards an integrated open data Application Programming Interface (API) for cities
No full textThis special issue of the Journal of Urban Technology brings together five articles that are based on presentations given at the Street Computing Workshop held on 24 November 2009 in Melbourne in conjunction with the Australian Computer- Human Interaction conference (OZCHI 2009). Our own article introduces the Street Computing vision and explores the potential, challenges, and foundations of this research trajectory. In order to do so, we first look at the currently available sources of information and discuss their link to existing research efforts. Section 2 then introduces the notion of Street Computing and our research approach in more detail. Section 3 looks beyond the core concept itself and summarizes related work in this field of interest. We conclude by introducing the papers that have been contributed to this special issue
The role of digital screens in urban life: New opportunities for placemaking
No full textLarge digital screens are becoming prevalent across today’s cities dispersing into everyday urban spaces such as public squares and cultural precincts. Examples, such as Federation Square, demonstrate the opportunities for using digital screens to create a sense of place and to add long-term social, cultural and economic value for citizens, who live and work in those precincts. However, the challenge of implementing digital screens in new urban developments is to ensure they respond appropriately to the physical and sociocultural environment in which they are placed. Considering the increasing rate at which digital screens are being embedded into public spaces, it is surprising that the programs running on these screens still seem to be stuck in the cinematic model. The availability of advanced networking and interaction technologies offers opportunities for information access that goes beyond free-to-air television and advertising. This chapter revisits the history and current state of digital screens in urban life and discusses a series of research studies that involve digital screens as interface between citizens and the city. Instead of focusing on technological concerns, the chapter presents a holistic analysis of these studies, with the aim to move towards a more comprehensive understanding of the sociocultural potential of this new media platform, and how the digital content is linked with the spatial quality of the physical space, as well as the place and role of digital screens within the smart city movement
Dramatic character development personas to tailor apartment designs for different residential lifestyles
No full textThis chapter reports on research work that aims to overcome some limitations of conventional community engagement for urban planning. Adaptive and human-centred design approaches that are well established in human-computer interaction (such as personas and design scenarios) as well as creative writing and dramatic character development methods (such as the Stanislavsky System and the Meisner Technique) are yet largely unexplored in the rather conservative and long-term design context of urban planning. Based on these approaches, we have been trialling a set of performance based workshop activities to gain insights into participants’ desires and requirements that may inform the future design of apartments and apartment buildings in inner city Brisbane. The focus of these workshops is to analyse the behaviour and lifestyle of apartment dwellers and generate residential personas that become boundary objects in the cross-disciplinary discussions of urban design and planning teams. Dramatisation and embodied interaction of use cases form part of the strategies we employed to engage participants and elicit community feedback
Mixhaus: Dissolving boundaries with a community maker space
No full textThis chapter reports on a social living lab project that sought to foster digital participation in a regional community. Going beyond the conventional focus on digital literacy, the study explores a participatory action research (PAR) initiative led by the local community to create and operate a community space called ‘Mixhaus’ set up in a disused shipping container. The aim was to create a mobile hack/maker space to allow for the experimental exploration of physical and digital materials. The chapter uses the notion of ‘boundary objects’ as a conceptual framework for our data analysis. The findings reveal challenges and opportunities that community members experienced through their participation in the Mixhaus initiative. On a conceptual level, the findings reveal how Mixhaus became a well-received and concrete example of translating abstract policy imperatives around regional innovation through science and technology. It also demonstrated both context and process for dissolving community boundaries. This continuing PAR project supports participatory responses to socio-economic decline within a particular regional community. More broadly, it addresses regional urbanisation and some of the challenges it triggers, such as youth and general unemployment, brain drain, as well as training and reskilling requirements
EnergyWiz
No full textEnergyWiz is an Android smart phone application that was developed through a theory-driven design approach. Along with other features EnergyWiz provides users with three types of social comparison – normative, one-on-one and ranking
Networked communities: an answer to urban alienation?
No full textMarcus Foth considers whether communication technologies can reduce urban alienation
FixVegas
No full textFrom blocked drains to damaged street signs, rubbish or graffiti, FixVegas allows users to send fix-o-gram requests directly to Brisbane City Council. Users FixVegas snap a photo of the problem and the fix-o-gram is submitted to Council along with the location information of the issue that is being reported
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