Interaction Design in the City

Dr. Gabriela Avram

Outlinep Technologies & cities p Urban informatics &Urban Interaction Design p Urban Technologies in Limerick p Smart Cities vs Smart Citizens p The role of the designer

Urban technologiesp How can digital technologies enhance and

augment life in a city? p How can they support active citizenship and

community involvement?

Amsterdam Hackable Metropole p 27 Sept 2013, Amsterdam, focusing on the

future of media and architecture p Martijn de Waal-3 ways by which new media can

influence the urban environment, or how buildings can become ‘interfaces’ ■ Media-architecture (such as urban screens and

media facades) can alter the ambience of an environment.

■ Urban sensing – used for either spatial planning or real-time interventions.

■ Media Interfaces http://www.themobilecity.nl/2013/10/17/amsterdam-hackable-metropolis-hot-100-workshop-report/

Media Architecturep Media façades and urban screens

Urban Sensing

Cycle Atlanta

Project of the Participatory Publics Lab at Georgia Tech

Media Interfaces

From AR to Hyperreality

Top Down Smart Citiesp Two different perspectives:

■ US – technology-centric (IBM, Cisco, Siemens) ■ Europe & Asia –led by governments and motivated

by an ambition to build green, sustainable cities

p Big Data – generating data at every step p Who uses it? Who has access to it?

Bottom up DIY urbanismp open code, do-it-yourself philosophy and citizen

participation p User-centric interfaces and controls p Examples:

■ Fix My Street (.com, .ie) ■ Smart Citizen (a kit containing sensors for measuring

environmental indicators and connecting via the online platform Cosm) –FabLab Barcelona

■ DataCitizenDrivenCity- MediaLab Prado ■ Tidy Street- Brighton Source: http://blogs.cccb.org/lab/en/article_intel·ligencia-ciutadana-a-la-metropoli-de-les-

dades/

Urban Interaction Designp “Interaction Design, in an urban context,

(UrbanIxD) is an increasingly important field of research. City populations are currently in a state of rapid flux. Conurbations are fast becoming a hybrid of the physical environment and the digital world. How we, as physical beings, will connect with, interpret and adapt this increasing dataflow residing in our cities is already becoming a significant research question.”

Source: http://urbanixd.eu/about/

Inspirational challenges…

Reader from the UrbanIxD project Summer School that took place in Split, Croatia in August 2013 http://urbanixd.eu/documents-publications/

Carlos J.Gomez de Llarena Venezuelan media architect http://med44.com http://cityinterface.com/

Urban Technologies in use in Limerick

p Traffic monitoring p Real time bus displays p Water supply monitoring p CCTV cameras p Urban screens p Websites dedicated to local matters p Newspaper & radio stations web presence p Social Media

Past Projects

Interactivos? – Medialab Prado

p a hybrid between a production workshop, a seminar and a showcase.

p July 2012 – Hack the City: Current and Future Needs – Science Gallery, Dublin

p 2014 – Participatory City -how urban media facades as a temporary field of interaction can become a catalyst for shared encounters and a platform for urban activism

Focusp What constitutes participation in community

settings and how is it supported/augmented through technology?

p A series of examples

Limerick Local Heroesp Group formed in Nov

2011 following a Twitter conversation

p Town Hall meeting – Jan 2012

p Ideas Summit – Thomond Park – Feb 2012

p 4th of July celebrations p Limerick Tidy Town p Waterways p Richard Harris festival p busking p Limerick Vibe- Holistic Health p Monorail city centre - UL

We love Plassey Riverbank (Limerick Riverpaths Volunteers)

p Group of volunteers initiated river & canal bank clean-up in January 2012;

p Later on, started to organise guided walks, harvest fests

p Supported by Limerick city&county council

Connected Limerick- 2010

Connected Limerickp 2011

■ Series of curated talks – Hunt Museum

p 2012 ■ Design Jam Limerick – Fab City ■ working with Limerick Local Heroes ■ development of app- In Search of Old Limerick ■ Development of Tweasure Hunt concept (collaboration

with Limerick’s Life)

p 2013 ■ Design Jam Limerick – Cultural Heritage ■ Urban Play (collaboration with Make-Faire-Do &IxDA)

Discover Limerick

p Android app p Proof-of-concept

developed by 3 students

p User evaluation in situ

Limerick’s Limericksp 12 points of

historical interest p Each featuring a

plaque with a limerick and a QR codes

p Webpage containing historical facts and the limerick

www.limerickslimericks.com

Urban games?p During Design Jam Limerick 2012, a

group came up with the idea of a Limerick-based game: the Limerick Domino Effect Hub

p Challenges ■ To create a civic culture for Limerick; ■ To help people become proud of our city; ■ To help people who are passionate about

stuff to connect to people who are interested in the same things.

Volunteering or

Crowdsourcing

Meitheal

Tidy Towns

Wikipedia

Open Street Map

Ushahidi

Urban Informatics Issuesp Technologies for homeless, refugees p Navigating the city at night – “HCI after dark” p Mapping resources like abandoned buildings,

spaces for guerilla gardening p Crowdsourcing bus timetables

What next?p Our role as designers – designing for a

better, sustainable future p The city as ? (platform, interface,

playground) p Communities and local government working

together p Open Government Partnership

Thank you!

gabriela.avram@ul.ie