ConnectiCity, augmented perception of the city (1207.4291v1)

Abstract: As we move through cities in our daily lives, we are in a constant state of transformation of the spaces around us. The form and essence of urban space directly affects people's behavior, describing in their perception what is possible or impossible, allowed or prohibited, suggested or advised against. We are now able to fill and stratify space/time with digital information layers, completely wrapping cities in a membrane of information and of opportunities for interaction and communication. Mobile devices, smartphones, wearables, digital tags, near field communication devices, location based services and mixed/augmented reality have gone much further in this direction, turning the world into an essentially read/write, ubiquitous publishing surface. The usage of mobile devices and ubiquitous technologies alters the understanding of place. In this process, the definition of (urban) landscape powerfully shifts from a definition which is purely administrative (e.g.: the borders of the flower bed in the middle of a roundabout) to one that is multiplied according to all individuals which experience that location; as a lossless sum of their perceptions; as a stratification of interpretations and activities which forms our cognition of space and time. In our research we investigated the possibilities to use the scenario which sees urban spaces progressively filling with multiple layers of real-time, ubiquitous, digital information to conceptualize, design and implement a series of usage scenarios. It is possible to create multiple layers of narratives which traverse the city and which allow us to read them in different ways, according to the different strategies and methodologies enabling us to highlight how cities express points of view on the environment, culture, economy, transports, energy and politics.