Inscribing a Square: Urban Data as Public Space

Dietmar Offenhuber, Katja Schechtner

Springer Vienna, Jun 12, 2012 - Architecture - 96 pages

The mental image of the city has become complex. Since mobile phones have become geo-social devices, location-based data is increasingly shaping the way we experience public space.

Until recently, the physical and the virtual spaces have been separate domains, now they are tightly packed together into what Malcolm McCullough calls the “Ambient Commons” – the collectively shared domain of environmental information.

Media art practices have played an important role in shaping this development.

This book investigates the potential of experimental and artistic forms of inquiry for helping us making sense of the city. The sections explore the sensory, structural and cultural aspects of new urban systems literacy – a re-examination of what constitutes public space in the real-time city.

About the author

Dietmar Offenhuber is Researcher in the Senseable City Lab at the Department for Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has backgrounds in architecture, urban studies and digital media and works on the spatial aspects of cognition, representation and behavior.

Katja Schechtner has a background in architecture, urban studies and technology assessment. She is the Head of Dynamic Transportation Systems at the AIT Mobility Department, while at the same time being a Visiting Scholar at MIT Media Lab.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Inscribing a Square: Urban Data as Public Space
• Editors: Dietmar Offenhuber, Katja Schechtner
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Springer Vienna, 2012
• ISBN: 370911053X, 9783709110539
• Length: 96 pages
• Subjects: Architecture / General