How technology can change our urban environment

AR2222 FINAL ESSAY EVELIEN FLORIJN A0145263J

HOW TECHNOLOGY CAN CHANGE OUR URBAN ENVIRONMENT : CREATING INTERACTIVE URBAN LANDSCAPES The objective of this essay is to research how technology influences the use of urban spaces, by exploring current research and future possibilities and relating this back to Singapore. Urban space should be regarded as an outdoor room within a neighbourhood. It is a venue for a range of different activities from walking, sitting out and entertainment. These spaces work best when they establish a direct relationship between the space and the people who live and work around it (Thompson 2002, 61). In general, there are two kinds of urban spaces, namely green spaces such as parks, and paved spaces which include squares, streets and shopping malls. The use of urban parks has been researched extensively over time. Survey of urban park use indicates that the majority of users want to come by foot, and will only do so on a regular basis if the park is within 3-5 minute walk of their home or workplace (Thompson 2002, 61).

However, it seems that some cultures prefer pathways, such as streets, as there are many more opportunities to engage with other people and with the environment (shops, cafes, shady boulevards) in streets than in parks or plazas (Corraliza 2000). In this research Corraliza (2000) also wonders whether urban public parks are becoming places for special categories of people e.g. children, old people etc. and that the street is the truly representative public open space. Within Europe it is the Mediterranean countries that have a long tradition of promenading in the street, whereas in Britain, and perhaps in other more northern countries, the promenade has conventionally taken place in the Royal or public park (Thompson 2002, 63). It seems that within Singapore there is a similar affiliation for the streets, and mostly malls as preferred recreational places.

Thompson (2002) describes three main factors as central drivers of change within urban landscape network: 1. Technical revolution; centred on information technology and global to local networks connecting people; 2. The ecological threat, with its implications for the importance of sustainable development; 3. Social transformation with life patterns reflecting increasing life expectancy and new lifestyle choices.

Essential here is the description “…global to local networks connecting people” for the technical revolution. Almost every person now has a ‘field of presence’ that spans beyond the physical realm. Technological innovation has resulted in a vast array of gadgets that people carry around such as phones, tables, smartwatches and laptops that ensure a 24/7 connection to relatives, friends, co-workers and anyone else who has our contact information. Contacting others was never this easy, and is just a click away. This constant connection becomes somewhat of an addiction, as people do not want to miss out on anything that happens. This is supported by the great popularity of different social media channels. But at times this continuous presence can become overwhelming and people long for a place to be private.

Historically, public parks have been described as places for the meeting of strangers, but in a busy urban context, the public park is the one place where people can actually be private, lost in the anonymity of the crowd (Thompson 2002, 66). Thompson (2002) also says the free world of the public park has always evoked a world of innocence and autonomy describing the symbolism of the park as refuge or paradise which is deeply embedded in our cultural histories and our psyche. Worpole (2000) supports this by saying that many people visit parks for privacy now often unavailable in the media-dominated home. Especially because within other urban spaces such as shopping malls there is an automatic assumption of guilt about anybody not engaged in purposeful (consumer) behaviour (Thompson 2002, 67). So being anonymous in a large crowd will still limit and influence the behaviour of people.

Throughout history there is a close interaction between the technological transformation of society and the evolution of its spatial forms (Castells 2010, 2738). A popular topic is the somewhat futuristic polycentric metropolis, sometimes regarded as the city of the future.

These cities have multiple centres that specialize in different types of activities. They arise from two intertwined processes: extended decentralisation from big cities to adjacent areas, and interconnection of pre-existing towns whose territories become integrated by the new communication capabilities (Castells 2010, 2738). Transport and digital communication structures form the nervous system of this polycentric metropolis and make these large scale cities possible. Singapore can be seen as a polycentric metropolis as it has different centres and an extensive transport and communication network.

Technological innovations do not only alter our behaviour, but also the demographic composition of society. This will be illustrated by looking at the case of (online) shopping, as shopping takes place in both the physical and virtual world. Research shows that in 2006 42.5% of Singaporeans were adaptors of online shopping which is higher than the 24.9% in

2000 (Thompson 2006, 498). Interestingly youths and young adults use internet more and in a greater variety of ways. However, the majority of online shoppers are older (40+), wealthier and mostly male (Thompson 2006, 499). A possible explanation for this could be purchasing power or access to credit cards needed for online purchases. This does change the demographics within shopping malls as these online shoppers make less use of them resulting in a relatively larger percentage of youths and young adults in these places. Other ‘non-adopters’ preferred physical shops because of privacy concerns. Before purchasing online, shoppers expect online stores to reassure security of transactions, allow consumers to opt out from mailing lists, seek permission before releasing personal information and keep information confidential (Thompson 2006, 503). Though this research is slightly outdated, the resulting effects are still relevant. In this research Thompson already describes Singapore as having a high internet penetration rate, and in 2014 82% of Singaporeans has access to internet, ranking Singapore as the 30th country in the world (The World Bank 2015, Internet Users). It is therefore likely that currently more people shop online, even though there still are privacy concerns.

A distinction can be made between personal technological devices and large scale uses within the urban environment. Because of innovations within the realm of personal technological devices, the world now literally is one click away. This has created an urban society where, perhaps, more people are living in relative proximity than ever before, but where the regular daily social contact that comes from sharing homes or living in culturally homogenous districts no longer applies, resulting in a close knit society of strangers (Thompson 2002, 68). So communities are increasingly virtual ones, not limited by geographical boundaries making it much easier to communicate with large numbers of contacts. Internet allows groups to plan and organise events and open space use much more readily than ever before, use open spaces with more confidence that we will find what we want there, meet whom we want, and be able to do what we choose (Thompson 2002, 68).

This alters the use and perception of space, as it now is used more intentional. Over the past few years there have been large scale groupings meeting in public areas that have been planned in the virtual realm. Examples include large flash mobs, but also demonstrations.

Our urban environments are already filled with technological innovations. Urban displays are publicly accessible interfaces that allow passers-by to observe and potentially interact with functional information ranging from bus-schedules to tourist information and ticketing (Valkanova 2015, 6). These intend to make life easier and more efficient. Another type of display consists of intelligent architectural surfaces and facades. Most often this is materialized in large media architecture installations that showcase commercially motivated

digital imagery (Valkanova 2015, 7). Screens as such are often found in large shopping streets and malls such as Orchard Road in Singapore.

Current research focuses on how information technology could be diffused into everyday objects and how this could lead to new ways of supporting and enhancing people’s life beyond the desktop. This research shows that augmenting the experience of an everyday public shared space with simple, and aesthetically pleasing interactive representations of passers-by presence and activity can improve the perception of a space and even motivate new behaviours in a sustained way (Valkanova 2015, 9). A drinking fountain can light up when someone passes by in order to attract their attention, resulting in a higher consumption of water. Also, using beautiful design and incorporating sounds can enhance the experience, raising the mood of the person drinking.

Valkanova (2015) describes the two main approaches within interactive computing: 1. “Calm computing” – those endeavours built on the assumption that the environment, the home and our possessions would be aware, adapt and respond automatically to our varying comfort needs, individual moods and information requirements. At the same time the computational and feedback process involved would be calm, unobtrusive and even invisible.

2. “Proactive computing” – an approach to determine how to program computers to take the initiative to act on people’s behalf, resulting in the domination of context awareness, ambient intelligence, and monitoring and tracking on the research agenda in the field.

Current focus of these is to improve efficiency and productivity of the city. For example through inferring air quality, automatically detecting abnormal events in a city, or finding smart driving directions for citizens (Valkanova 2015, 6). But these technologies have a much greater potential. The research by Valkanova (2015) already indicates that analysing space and displaying data can contribute to group exploration and reflection. A major limitation however is embarrassment, as people might be hesitant to openly submit personal data, which may ultimately lead to false data entries reducing the truthfulness of the displayed data (Valkanova 2014, 11). This actually is an issue concerning privacy. People might not be willing to share the information, or be afraid of judgement by others. Another important limitation for these displays is that there are tools needed like a mobile interface such as an iPad to facilitate participation or to acquire data (Valkanova 2015, 10). An option would be to get the data from mobile phone users and environmental sensors.

Smartphones are great tools for acquiring data. Already in 2003 a study showed that people with WAP-enabled phones are more likely to use the mobile phone for activities other than

communication (Thompson 2003, 283). Though this is a somewhat dated research, it is likely that this trend still holds today.

FIGURE 1 MOBILE CELLULAR SUBSCRIPTIONS IN SINGAPORE (THE WORLD BANK 2015, MOBILE CELLULAR SUBSCRIPTIONS)

If we look at mobile cellular subscriptions we see that in 2014 on average every person has 1.5 subscriptions (The World Bank 2015, Mobile Cellular Subscriptions). However it is important to note that this does not mean that all Singaporeans have a phone as the data shows an average. In general we can conclude that most Singaporeans have a mobile phone.

This has a great potential for large scale data collection within Singapore as typical modernday smartphones can sense their orientation, acceleration in three dimensions, and location, and they can record audio and video. These standard features enable researchers to access data streams that reflect the device owner’s habits, activities and routines (Lathia 2013, 67).

Nowadays, cellular data is already used to identify different ‘zones’ within a city, such as business, housing or nightlife area based on activity (Soto 2011, 5). Also, current research focuses on using this data for commercial purposes or to aid behaviour-change interventions (Lathia 2013, 66). A great advantage of using mobile phones, apart from that most people carry one, is that people tend to forget their presence, making the data analyses more

reliable than when there would be a researcher in place that unconsciously influences behaviour (Lathia 2013, 68). Also the ability to combine behavioural patterns with geographical data provides great opportunities for the creation of intelligent landscape designs.

Such intelligent landscapes will be responsive and perhaps in the future they will include opportunities for self-mending paving systems or for seating to open up, or disappear into the paving, as and when we need it and responsive screens or surfaces will help us navigate (Thompson 2002, 68). Unfortunately it will require more complicated data and computing to be able to create intelligent landscape designs. These new landscapes will completely alter our perception of space, as spaces will be ever changing according to our needs.

Currently there is an enormous gap between dream of comfortable, informed and effortless living and the current available technologies due to several limitations. Firstly models are based on rational and predictable behaviour, which is not how people actually behave (Valkanova 2015, 6). Secondly, tracking and monitoring humans is sensitive concerning privacy and ethics (Valkanova 2015, 6). New innovations usually receive harsh feedback that mostly concerns privacy issues. Not everyone is willing to share (all) their information, but for these innovations to work properly a lot of data is required. Especially if the environment is to adapt to specific individuals. In some countries the notion privacy is considered of the utmost importance, making data collection using mobile phones illegal. A third problem is that people don’t express behaviour in a uniform way (Lathia 2013, 71). This makes analysis and responsive design much more complex, if not almost impossible.

CONCLUSION Technological innovations greatly impact our urban environments through both urban interventions as well as the use of personal technological devices. Data indicates that Singaporeans adapt to new technological trends such as internet enabled phones and online shopping. Data also suggest that due to the high number of mobile cellular subscriptions Singapore has great potential to use cellular data to create intelligent landscape designs.

Though the implementation is currently limited to commercial media screens and architectural surfaces within commercial areas, and making (public) transport within the city more efficient, there are great prospects for future innovations.

Privacy concerns seem to be the greatest limitation. People are hesitant to share all their information. Perhaps this will change over time as people see the advantages of interactive landscape design and become willing to exchange part of their privacy for greater comfort.

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Lathia, Neal and Veljko Pejovic. 2013. “Smartphones for Large-Scale Behavior Change Interventions.” In Pervasive Computing. 66-73.

Soto, Victor, Frias-Martinez. 2011. “Robust Land Use Characterization of Urban Landscapes Using Cell Phone Data.” In Proceesings of the 1st Workshop on Pervasive Urban Applications, in Conjunction with 9th Int. Conf. Pervasive Computing. 1-8.

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