Designing a New Urban Internet

Lauren BurkeMaxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244. E-mail:lauren@alumni.northwestern.edu

Buildings should not be conceived as objects isolated fromtheir surroundings; they should contribute to the spatialdefinition of streets, parks, greens, yards, and other openspaces. (Bressi, 1993)

This statement is one of the central principles of NewUrbanism, a city planning movement concerned with re-sponsible and controlled growth of communities as well asdesign of a “total environment.” The movement seeks torevive many of the urban design practices lost during thepost-WWII suburban sprawl, a process many critics say hasspiraled out of control (Chen, 2000). For Information Ar-chitects, the phrase “total environment” often refers to anentire Web site or application structure. Not often do wethink in terms of all the ways in which the site we aredesigning interacts with and impacts other communicationchannels, spaces, networks, and devices.

The parallel between designing a Web site and the con-struction of a building is a familiar one, but how often do wethink of the Internet as having parks and streets? It would beabsurd to say that the Internet could ever take the place ofreal, livable communities; however, it is safe to say that thecontext for using the Internet is on a path of change. As theInternet evolves beyond a simple linkage of disparate Websites and applications, the challenge for Information Archi-tects is establishing a process by which to structure, orga-nize, and design networked environments.

The principles that guide New Urbanism can offer muchinsight into networked electronic environment design. Atthe core of every New Urbanism principle is the idea of“wholeness”—of making sure that neighborhoods and com-munities are knit together in a way that supports civicactivities, economic development, efficient ecosystems, aes-thetic beauty, and human interaction.

Architecture in Context

One contributing factor to the problems New Urbanismaims to solve is that building architects today have become

increasingly specialized—there are experts at building of-fice parks, shopping malls, houses, or grocery plazas. As aresult, many newer suburbs and “renovated” city sectionsappear disjointed and disparate. Like the great Internetspace, there is no sense of coherence in these places. Whatwe lack are architects that have the ability to see their workin the context of a larger setting—that have the vision anddesire to create work in conjunction with others.

Daniel Burnham is a prime example of an architect thatdid have that vision. Although he designed some of Chica-go’s first skyscrapers after the Chicago Fire of 1871, he wasnot content to simply be a skycraper specialist. He appre-ciated Chicago too much to let it become a hodgepodge ofincongruous buildings. By designing the “city” of the Chi-cago’s World Fair of 1893, he was able to demonstrate hisamazing city planning capabilities and later developed theChicago Plan of 1909. This plan is considered by many tobe his greatest achievement, setting in motion the firstdevelopment plan for an American city—a movement tocreate a city environment that was both functional andbeautiful (Chicago Public Library).

The story of Burnham is a relevant one, as our professionwill increasingly need to look to nonvirtual models for ideasand inspiration. Watching how real people connect, collab-orate, and build human communities will guide our designof intertwined communications networks.

Already we have many opportunities to practice ourinformation architecture skills in crossplatform, crossnet-work scenarios:

(1) Conglomerate corporation has a great number of brandsites with few commonalties and no shared organizationstructure/navigation.

(2) Enterprise has multiple, extremely different intranetsand interfaces for conducting business. When one de-partment needs to contact another department, it mustbe done off-line.

(3) Citizen views proposed legislation on-line, but cannotfind a way to contact their elected representative andexpress their views.

All of these problems involve a lack of looking “outside”individual sites for ways to create bonds, similarities, and

© 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. ● Published online 11 June 2002 in WileyInterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/asi.10093

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linkage across channels and networks. Information Archi-tects should be concerned not only with creating the struc-ture of a site, but with creating a usable framework forenterprise-wide and cross-sector communication networksto come together. In the example of the citizen viewinglegislation, a community network designed to provideseamless access to other applicable networks would allowthe citizen to perform multiple, related tasks from oneinterface (Fig. 1). As in a single site, these structures willalso have to display consistency and a feeling of wholenessto the user.

A Model for IA

We have witnessed the disastrous consequences of un-controlled sprawl and the inability to balance the needs ofan automobile society with the deep, innate need for a linkwith the rest of humanity. Although New Urbanism may notoffer the final solution to the sociological, economic, andecological problems posed by ineffective physical commu-nities, its principles provide Information Architects with amodel for conscientious, user-centered environment design.

The Congress for New Urbanism, a nongovernmentaladvocacy group formed in 1993 to advance the principles ofNew Urbanism, is a multidisciplinary coalition of profes-sionals, developers, government officials, and citizens. Theyhave developed a charter to guide public policy, develop-ment practices, and urban design. The principles in thecharter are organized according to the type of urban space itdescribes, from metropolis to building.

One principle states that “all buildings should providetheir inhabitants with a clear sense of location, weather, and

time.” Another states that “preservation and renewal ofhistoric buildings . . . affirm the continuity and evolution ofurban society” (Congress for the New Urbanism).

Both of these principles are excellent guides to the de-velopment of a livable city, but what process will inform ourorganization and planning of digital environments? Whatguiding principles and design charters will we utilize toensure that effective networks are created for users? Fol-lowing are just some of the concerns our profession willhave to address in designing multifaceted networks:

(1) Conveying clear purpose and continuity within a net-work

(2) Communicating location and context to users as theymove within and between networks

(3) Establishing trust and security within a network(4) Facilitating meaningful interaction and collaboration

with other network members(5) Ensuring the fluid accessibility of applications and min-

imizing task complexity(6) Maintaining consistency while still addressing different

user groups(7) Allowing for natural, organic growth of networks(8) Researching users’ changing and varied goals for using

electronic networks

Proposals for how to address these concerns will begin toconstitute a practical set of guidelines for user-centerednetwork design. Solving these challenges and identifyingstrong guiding principles will require a new framework forhow Information Architects approach their work. Followingare recommended components of that framework.

Multidisciplinary Task Forces

For long-term, big-picture planning to happen effec-tively, multiple professions must be involved from the start.The skills and talents of library scientists, usability engi-neers, computer scientists, database designers, customerrelationship managers, cognitive psychologists, network en-gineers, and sociologists are all needed to intelligently ad-dress how a system of networks can best be designed. Ofcourse, input from end users and stakeholders is also neededfrequently during design and development.

Changing Roles for Information Architects

Information Architects are currently expected to have amastery of many diverse skills and methods, from usabilitytesting to diagramming to the creation of taxonomies. Thisrarely allows the Information Architect to become an “ex-pert” in any one area. If networked experiences are plannedand codesigned by a multidisciplinary task force, Informa-tion Architects can use their strong organizational skills toserve as a “bridge” between different disciplines on the taskforce. Their skills will be valuable in ensuring that eachmember’s input is recognized, synthesizing multiplestreams of thought into a design framework, and forming a

FIG. 1. In this example, a consistent interface for the ABC communitynetwork provides seamless access to other applicable networds, providingthe user with greater access to tools and information.

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common vocabulary that can be used by all members of theteam.

Knowledge Access and Collaboration

A key component to managing the success of a multi-disciplinary task force will be ensuring ready access toproject knowledge and providing the means to collaboratevirtually. All members of the team should be able to quicklyand efficiently tap into the resources provided by anotherteam member and offer feedback. A knowledge managerwill be needed on each team to structure and monitor thisprocess.

Tool Development

Almost any design of a networked user experience willrequire that task forces also design new tools that help usersnavigate the wide array of resources available in a networkof networks. These tools are mentioned separately from thenetwork design because in some cases they may actually be“helper” applications that are launched alongside the user’smain application.

Modular Design

In designing networked user experiences, dynamic re-trieval and customization of user interfaces will be ex-tremely important. When planning a design, task forces willhave to think about what information “modules” will beretrieved from where, what rules will govern which modulesare presented, and how those modules will be presented tothe user in an interface.

For these task forces to actually come into being, alltypes of organizations (corporations, governments, nonprof-its) must give greater emphasis to interoperability bothwithin the organization itself and with other organizations intheir sector, industry, or community sphere. Once organi-zations realize the enormous benefits that can result fromlinking their networks—such as the creation of virtualworkgroups, extending and transforming community, andstreamlining business processes—they will likely be open tonew, truly multidisciplinary design approaches that canimplement networked environments effectively.

The ideas and recommendations formed by such multi-disciplinary teams should, in turn, be shared with an inter-national body that agrees to be responsible for formalizingthese recommendations into a set of guiding principles forthe global community. An organization such as the World

Wide Web Consortium or the Global Information Infra-structure Commission could then provide the synthesis oftask force initiatives around the world.

Envisioning the Future

Today it is unclear exactly how Web-based, multinet-work environments will unfold; the Global InformationInfrastructure (GII) Commission parallels the Congress forNew Urbanism as an independent initiative designed tofoster private–public sector cooperation in the developmentof global information networks. Like New Urbanism, theGII’s goals also embrace economic growth, quality of life,and cooperation among multiple facets of society.

The GII is already used as a tool for the creation andexpansion of international markets, as well as the opera-tional integration of multinational corporations (IBM Cor-poration). As the GII expands to incorporate other industriesand sectors of the global community, there will be anincreasing need for a set of concrete principles guiding thedesign of networked user experiences. Already, Microsoft islaunching its .Net strategy, where the boundaries that sep-arate applications and Web sites will become invisible to theuser (Erlanger, 2001). The company plans to connect theuser to a “constellation” of computers and services, allcombining and sharing data.

As the term “total environment” takes on new meaning,the user experience is also changing. Public discussion mustoccur both within our profession and outside for the evolu-tion of digital environments to be successful. We can learnfrom the mistakes of suburban sprawl in which technology(the automobile) began to dominate the design of publicspaces and led to a decline in human living environments.Similarly, we can also learn from the ongoing efforts to shiftthe focus of community design to one that supports andenriches human endeavors.

References

Bressi, T. (1993). Planning the American dream. The new urbanism,toward an architecture of community. New York: McGraw Hill.

Chen, D. (2000, December). The science of smart growth. ScientificAmerican, 283(6) 84–91.

Chicago Public Library. Chicago Timeline [online]. Available: http://www.chipublib.org/004chicago/chihist.html.

Congress for the New Urbanism. Charter of the New Urbanism [online].Available: http://www.cnu.org/charter.html.

IBM Corporation. Understanding the Global Information Infrastructure[online]. Available: http://www.ibm.com/ibm/publicaffairs/global/.

Erlanger, L. (2001). Dissecting .Net. Internet World, March 15, 2001.

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