Urban infrastructures have always played an important role in the shaping of urban culture. The village pump, the market place or Haussmann's Boulevards didn't just have a utilitarian function, they also turned into places for communication and cultural exchange. Advances in digital media - the combination of sensors, 'smart' algorithms and individually tailored transactions - promise to make urban infrastructure more efficient. Yet what does the advance of new media in urban infrastructure mean for urban culture at large? According to some, we are heading towards a 'splintering urbanism' where the roll out of urban infrastructure is no longer aimed at connecting all citizens equally but rather at selling individual services to consumers. Does that mean the end of urban public space as we know it? Others however argue that new urban infrastructures - such as the internet of things - also create new opportunities for exchange and public action.

1. Digital Infrastructures & the City:
The Future(s) of Urban Public Space
Martijn de Waal
www.martijndewaal.nl
www.themobilecity.nl
mw@dds.nl
After the Cultural City - Pécs 24 September 2010
Flickr.com/timdan2

2. Assumption
Public space piggybacks on urban infrastructures
Central Question
If our cities are becoming ‘hybrid cities’
and increasingly rely on digital infrastructure
What does that mean for Public Space?
Flickr.com/timdan2

3. 1. Some notes on Urban Public Space
2. Infrastructure & Public Space -
From the Village Pump to the BLVD
3. Digtial Infrastructure & Public Space:
Dystopian Scenario: ‘Splintering Urbanism’
4. Digtial Infrastructure & Public Space:
Optimist Scenario: ‘Micro Public Places’
Pecs Kossuth Street 1888 flickr.com/photos/gabboo/

4. What are the functions of
Urban Public Space?
The City is a place full of strangers
Yet we do somehow have to relate to all
those other (and often different) people
‘Public Space as meeting ground’

5. 2. Infrastructure & Public Space -
From the Village Pump to the BLVD
Pecs Kossuth Street 1888 flickr.com/photos/gabboo/

6. Infrastructure as Public Space
Water pump - Philippines ca 1900 -flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/

7. Infrastructure as Public Space
Paris BLVDs by Haussmann (1852-1870
Motives:
Sanitation
Modernization
Crowd Control
(Canon shot boulevards) Optimizing
Traffic
Paris BLVD network by Haussmann - http://www.bricoleurbanism.org/whimsicality/urban-fabric-form-comparison/

8. Infrastructure as Public Space
Paris BLVDs by Haussmann (1852-1870
Outcome:
Flaneurs
Meeting Ground
Cafe Culture & Terraces
Mingling of
Classes
Pissaro Avenue de l’Opera (Musée des Beaux Art, Reims)

9. BLVD
Conclusion so far:
Public Space is the ‘interface’ of urban society
Public Space often ‘piggybacks’ on
Infrastructure
Urbanism
but:
This all sounds very ‘Paris 1890.’

10. Does a BLVD-Urbanism still hold
now that
is becoming
the city a ‘hybrid city’?
WIFI
RFID
Ubicomp GSM
GPS Augmented
CCTV
Reality
senseable.mit.edu

11. New Infrastructure paradigm:
Smart City
U-City
Sentient City
Real Time City
IBM Smart Cities

12. Smart / Sentient / Real Time Cities:
Sense what’s going on
Aggregate, Store &
Distribute these data
Operate and Actuate
Learn & Anticipate
IBM Smart Cities

13. What kind of ‘public sphere’
is piggybacking on this infrastructure?
IBM Smart Cities

14. 3. Digtial Infrastructure & Public Space:
Dystopian Scenario: ‘Splintering Urbanism’
Pecs Kossuth Street 1888 flickr.com/photos/gabboo/

15. ‘Regimes of Access’
Stephen Graham & Mike Crang:
‘Splintering Urbanism’ & ‘Sentient Cities’

16. Dynamic Road Pricing
Stephen Graham & Mike Crang:
‘Splintering Urbanism’ & ‘Sentient Cities’

17. CCTV & Face Recognition
Stephen Graham & Mike Crang:
‘Splintering Urbanism’ & ‘Sentient Cities’

18. M-Commerce
Stephen Graham & Mike Crang:
‘Splintering Urbanism’ & ‘Sentient Cities’

19. Discovery &
Recommendation
Sensenetworks.com

20. ‘Regimes of Access’
From
Modernist idea
of Citizen
Universal Access
To vs
Postfordist idea
of
Consumer
Infrastructure as Service

21. Towards a
Software-Sorted City
Stephen Graham & Mike Crang:
‘Splintering Urbanism’ & ‘Sentient Cities’

22. 4. Digtial Infrastructure & Public Space:
Optimist Scenario: ‘Micro Public Places’
Pecs Kossuth Street 1888 flickr.com/photos/gabboo/

23. Publics form around
‘Shared issues of concern’
through and around
new media infrastructures
Frei and Böhlen, Situated Technologies
Pamphlet 6: Micropublicplaces http://www.situatedtechnologies.net/?q=node/104

24. How can we use infrastructures that
Sense what’s going on
Aggregate, Store &
Distribute these data
Operate and Actuate
Learn & Anticipate
Be appropirated
To Organize Publics around
‘Issues of Concern’?

25. Using
The Internet of Things
To bring out these
‘issues of concern’
MIT Senseable City Lab Trash Track
http://senseable.mit.edu/trashtrack/

26. Challenge:
How to move beyond
representation
And towards a sense of
‘ownership’ in the issue
http://senseable.mit.edu/trashtrack/

27. In the Air (Medialab Prado)
http://intheair.es/

28. Bringing ‘Issues’ back
in Public Space
In the Air (Medialab Prado)
http://intheair.es/

29. Conclusions:
From ‘Urban Mass’ to Issue Publics
From Public Space to Public Spheres
Fragmentation or Integration?

30. Thank You!
The Mobile City www.themobilecity.nl
Think tank on digital technology & urban culture
Events Blog - Research Network
martijn@themobilecity.nl
flickr.com/photos/rawmusic/