Situated Technologies Design Experiments in Mapping Public Spaces

Digital technologies are increasingly distributed throughout the environments we inhabit, these technologies are often developed and deployed by companies and governments without an understanding of their impact on public space and society. Notwithstanding the substantial impact of these technologies, architects and urban designers seem to lack the tools to critically engage with them and integrate them in their spatial design practices. The aim of my interdisciplinary PhD project is to find a common ground and exchange design approaches and terminology between the disciplines of engineering technology and architecture. The research explores these knowledge gaps, uncovering the mutual lack of understanding in overlapping design contexts, and proposes collaboration with the aim to extend the architectural design tool-box and generate spatial qualities. Through discussing several case studies we want to focus on what role design can play in an interdisciplinary research project. In addition to describing their context, stakeholders and outcomes, the paper aims to high light how each case might contribute to developing a Design Driven Research methodology within the framework of the PhD.

The rapid development of communication technologies in the cities has led to the distribution of technological elements such as antennas, cables, cell towers and sensors within the urban landscape. Research in architecture and technology has been focused on ideas, such us smart cities and improvement of efficiency or computability of urban networks (Picon, 2015; Ratti, 2016). These infrastructures improve urban life but also deeply impact how we behave in and relate to environments and each other. The research on technology in urban contexts overlooks the critical discussions within the discipline of architecture, mostly resulting from lack of interest and available design tools. Improving these aspects would support a better understanding of the complexity and impact of technology on urban spaces. The need for a critical reaction to technological evolution in the cities seems much better established and common within art disciplines that allow for more freedom of expression and experimentation (Chilvers, 2009, p.222). Participation of architects, urban planners in workshops, research events and discussions around art practices might enrich approaches to represent the technological impact in the cities but also encourage architects to explore new ways of working, designing and engaging in constructive critique. As an example, we will discuss the project “Wires of Never(s)”, a collaborative mapping of cable infrastructure on streets of Nerves in France where mixed backgrounds of the authors informed each other’s techniques and approaches. Combining methods of drawing, lidar scanning, using audio visual programming languages, photography we created a mapping, critically exploring of cable infrastructures, how they are adapted to fit the environment, and how they change over time and are often neglected. The work reflects on the relations between the urban environments, the inhabitants' awareness of the entangled dense layer of cables hanging above their heads.

Activities in the public space in the cities and the public sphere of the internet overlap and complement each other functioning as a shared space for social activities. For instance, when people in public spaces use phone cameras to take a picture and then upload it on the "cloud" owned by tech companies, or directly posting it on social media platforms. Large datasets together with the communication technology infrastructure are in hands of private companies owning them which makes it impossible to map or investigate without opportunistic collaborations (Varnelis, 2008). These aspects will be discussed on the project which was following a work-session in Barcelona among landscape designers, architects, urban planners, disciplines using mapping and cartography as their method for communication and research. The project "On spot" focuses on places around buildings of Antonio Gaudi in Barcelona attracting mass tourism and crowd gathering near the iconic, "insta-worth" architectural masterpieces. Photogrammetry allowed for recognizing the most occupied spots for taking pictures around Casa di Balto. The resulting models urge us to rethink the use and meaning of public space in the context of mass tourism beyond the frame of one picture or visible physical qualities of space. The use of photogrammetry, gps location, scraping, social media for analysis and exploration of the impact of tourism in the public space and the public sphere have the potential to create a collective model of spatial occupation, a novel approach to research of the most visited and digitally represented architecture. However, platform dependency, privacy, limited data accessibility in conjunction with unclear data ownership and reliability of regulations depending on the country creates challenges that will be discussed on the example of the mapping project in Barcelona.

The assemblage of sensing digital technologies expand opportunities of material and analogue methods to monitor conditions of objects, their movement, appearance, relationships to the context from a distance. The origin of these technologies comes from military or surveillance contexts, such us GPS assistance in tracking vehicles, satellite imagery for surveillance or sensors to detect enemy forces (Kurgan, 2013; Mattern, 2021). With the development of digital urban infrastructure, they are entering public spaces in the form of CCTV cameras, wearables, traffic sensors, air quality trackers… One of the first remote sensing devices implemented in urban spaces were CCTV cameras, starting with the intention to deter crimes and control public safety (Kruegle, 2015; New York Civil Liberties Union, 2006), however, with emerging possibilities of identifying people using facial recognition algorithms they abused citizen’s feeling of freedom and safety. Zooming more to contexts and ways in which cameras are present in the streets of Brussels was a part of mapping project "Street Surveyors". It was inspired by cartography of Technopolice (2020) created with city walks where participants collectively tagged on the map points spotted CCTV cameras, antennas, and traffic sensors. "Street surveyors" as an extension of that project maps the surroundings of cameras and how they are integrated or not in the architecture of facades, where they "look" and how they are installed. It opens a discussion on ethical end rules of sensing technology in public space but also provokes a discussion on exploration of possible new scenarios for the use of digital technologies.

The three case studies are in this early stage of the PhD focused on mapping several examples and instances of the technological layer that is increasingly impacting urban environments. Throughout these mapping several tools were used an tested, from well-known architectural media such as sketches and drawings, to more specialized techniques of data scraping, lidar scanning, photogrammetry… While these mappings are not actively intervening in or designing public spaces they clearly reveal a number of challenges that come with Design Driven Research that addresses the ubiquitous distribution of digital technologies within urban environments: from the difficulties in exchanging approaches and techniques between disciplines, over the availability of open data in the privatized sphere of online space, to ethical concerns of the use of remote sensing in public space. The presentation and discussion on the conference will be beneficial for further developing design experiments and strengthen the Design Driven Research Methodology of the PhD project.