Augmented Reality and Public Space in the 21 st century city Hannah Green
Augmented Reality and Public Space in the 21st century city in support of studio project
Hannah Green Masters of European Design (MEDes) The Glasgow School of Art 2017 Thesis Supervisor: Frances Robertson Studio Supervisor: Mil Stricevic Word Count: 9,964
Synopsis / Augmented Reality and Public Space in the 21st century city
New York City
Glasgow
London
Cologne
Paris
Fig.1 My Degree Journey 2011-2017
Chiba & Tokyo
Synopsis This thesis aims to explore the potential role of augmented reality in civic participation in cities via public space. The motivation for this area of research comes from recent observations of the users of the augmented reality game, Pokemon Go, and a continuing interest in cities and urban life. Within this context I chose teenagers as the focus of my user-centred design research, due to their isolation from other parts of society (Derr, 2015) in their right to use public spaces and their digitally immersed upbringing. The rationale and methodology of the workshops that I designed and conducted are expanded upon in the appendix User-Centred Design Research with Teenagers. My research begins by unravelling the urban social qualities that make a city ‘delighful’ (Gehl, 2010) and habitable, through the contemporary writings of Deyan Sudjic (2016), Director of the Design Museum and Jan Gehl, Architect, as well as the activism of Jane Jacobs (2016) against Robert Moses in the 1960s. These qualities are unpredictability, spontaneity and chance encounter. In my argument, I draw parallels between the contemporary issues of the privatisation of urban public spaces (NĂŠmeth, 2009) and the increasingly efficient algorithms of social media (Pariser, 2016), which eradicate this essence of the city. Despite the warnings laid out by augmented reality lawyer Brian Wassom (2014), the thesis attempts to understand if these issues could be overcome by the use of augmented reality, in converging the physical and digital realms, and thus creating a new form of public space. I argue that this is viable by highlighting studies of previous mobile technologies that have contributed to shaping the perception and use of urban spaces (Humphreys, 2005, 2010, 2017). The insights gained from the workshops I ran, led me to believe that it is teenagers, trapped by the paradox of exclusion from urban spaces (Child in the City, 2015) and the harassment over their screen usage, who need and could shape the solution to these problems, through augmented reality. They harbour none of the adult anxieties of change and technological progression (Pearson, 1994; Sennett, 2008) which makes them ideal in contributing to the development of augmented reality and public space. The thesis concludes that whilst the present state of the application of augmented reality is limited, it has the potential to foster civic ambitions and requires further exploration from a user-centred design perspective.
Introduction /
The Public Realm /
Teenagers & Public Space /
Reinterpreting Public Space through Mobile Technology /
Conclusion /
Appendix /
Experiencing Urban Public Space
1-4
Urban Spaces and Mobile Technologies
5-7
The City & the Internet as Public Space
9 - 13
The Fragmentation of Public Space
13 - 20
A User Centred Approach
23 - 24
The Teenage Paradox
25 - 29
Social Networks & Parochialisation
31 - 32
Augmented Reality as Public Art
32 - 33
Augmented Reality as Triangulation
33 - 35
Reclaiming Public Space through Augmented Reality
37 - 39
Image References
41 - 46
Bibliography
47 - 58
User-Centred Design Research with Teenagers
Introduction / Experiencing Urban Public Space Urban Spaces and Mobile Technologies
Introduction / Experiencing Urban Public Space
1. Pokemon Go players, San Francisco.
2. A Pokemon Go family outing, New South Wales, Australia.
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One after the other strangers emerge; stopping, staring, intent on an invisible goal. The origin of this thesis emerged from my curious observations of and miscommunication with Pokemon Go players (1), at the height of the augmented reality (AR) game’s popularity in July and August of 2016. The muddled interaction of the players with their phones and the urban space around them, as well as the relations between players and the public was captivating, leading me to research and experience this re-emerging technology. This thesis serves as a timely response to the augmented reality application, reflecting my longstanding fascination with cities. It originates in my upbringing that encompassed different boroughs of London, a summer in New York City and developed further through the travel that the Masters of European Design (MEDes) program enabled. The defining characteristic of the program, the migration from one country and culture to another, has facilitated the evolution of a keen eye for the city. For this reason, I will situate several themes of the thesis in my personal experience of key public spaces in Cologne, Paris and London. My design and user research however, is based in Glasgow. Experiencing Urban Public Space I first became aware of the notion of social public space upon arriving in Cologne. I found myself in the midst of a few hundred people sitting and standing, drinking beer and chatting to one another alongside other activities in the church square of Brüsseler Platz (3). There was a great sense of community as we ambled through, acknowledging those that my host knew, introductions to their friends and their extended social circle. Activist Jane Jacobs in her seminal work The Life and Death 3. Brüsseler Platz, quiet in the daytime. of Great American Cities (2016, p.73) analysed the feeling that I had experienced as ‘The trust of a city street is formed over time from many, many little public sidewalk contacts... Most of it is ostensibly trivial but the sum is not trivial at all.’ The idea of walking out into the city to simply see who was around and that you would know someone in the gathering in the square, was an alien concept to me. The laid-back and convivial interactions between the public contribute heavily to the identity of Cologne. However, this notion should not be so unusual, as Architect Jan Gehl points out in Cities for People, ‘watching people and watching what is happening. This modest, unpretentious form of contact is the most widespread social city activity anywhere’. (Gehl, 2010, p.22). One of the reasons that this was so unusual to me stems from
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Introduction / Experiencing Urban Public Space
4. Zülpicher Platz during the annual carnival.
5. Büdchen 66, a popular kiosk where people meet in the evenings.
two points; first are the technological advances that mean we are no longer reliant on other people as a source of news and conversation, the second is the loss of the notion of the ‘promenade’ in British culture, which is social in its definition. To see others and to be seen is what distinguishes it from a walk. It is walking without an end destination, to be a part of the life and social fabric that makes up the city. It could be argued that our contemporary version of this is Facebook, where our profiles and the ability to browse others mimics this human behaviour, yet it lacks the same sincerity. Jacobs (2007, p.38) explains ‘after it is lost, gradually even the memory of what was lost is lost.’ This explains why the experience was unique to me, as a millennial, whereas for other generations this principal is perceived as a memory of their youth. The engagement of the people of Cologne with their city can be seen across a variety of public spaces (4,6), but the invitation to stay in the city space (Gehl, J. 2010) is present in the small details of city life. Bottle openers hang from the walls of the kiosks (5), inviting you to drink in the street. This, coupled by the wide pavements and the ability to park your bicycle anywhere, encourages groups to form and familiarity with one’s neighbours to build. It is the facilitation of these ‘staying activities’ that make Cologne such a habitable and ‘delightful’ city (Gehl, J. 2010).
Cologne is a contemporary example of what I imagine Jane Jacobs was writing about in reference to her city 6. Jack-in-the-Box, an area used for flea of New York when she wrote ‘Intricate minglings of markets, street food and other events. different uses in cities are not a form of chaos. On the contrary, they represent a complex and highly developed form of order.’ (Jacobs, 2016, p.290). In contrast to the high level of social interaction and leisure in the city of Cologne, my awareness of the importance of socially sustainable public space grew intensely upon moving to Paris. Whilst the following example has moments of real chaos, the multiple uses of public space are exemplified here too.
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Twice daily, I passed through la Place de la République, the largest public square and pedestrian space in the city, that acted as the ‘beating heart of Paris’ (Patel, R. 2015) during the events of 2015/2016. In this space, the public came together to mourn the lives lost from the terror attacks. It also embodied the fear, panic and suspicion deep rooted in the city, as days later a stampede broke out. It then became a memorial (7) and a peaceful protest of climate change (8), followed swiftly by a makeshift refugee camp (9). At regular intervals, a soup kitchen is held for the homeless. Not long after the police had cleared the camp did the square give birth to the Nuit Debout movement (10) which symbolised a far greater resistance to the status quo and an ambition to change. It was in this space that I was highly involved in public and political life everyday. It was impossible to ignore yet did not invite you to stay. As the police began to search the people’s bags, it no longer felt ‘public’ anymore and only encouraged further resentment of 7. After the 13/09/2015 terrorist attacks. the police and a desire to reclaim the space (11).
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10. Nuit Debout, a speaker addresses the crowd.
8. Protest during the Paris Climate Summit.
11. Youth unrest after Nuit Debout.
9. After the refugee camp demolition.
Introduction / Urban Spaces and Mobile Technologies
As a Product Designer, urban public space is important as it is the context in which many of the digital experiences that we design sit. We consume media, utilise services and connect to others without physical limitations. Within design we observe the user but often not the built environment. By attempting to understand public space, we can look to enrich digital products by facilitating a closer relationship with the context in which they are being used. Urban Spaces and Mobile Technologies This thesis attempts to understand the key qualities that make a city favourable to the wellbeing of its citizens, focusing on urban public spaces as a microcosm of the Public Realm. My understanding of both cities and public spaces has been informed by amongst other authors, the aforementioned Jan Gehl, whose work spans a wider philosophical context as well as precise measurements and principles that make a city, and the Director of the Design Museum, Dejan Sudjic’s (2016) recent publication, The Language of Cities. In contrast to Gehl, Sudjic’s work offers a comprehensive global review of cities that aims to answer fundamental questions, starting from the abstract, ‘How to make a city?’, before giving site specific examples. He highlights the need for further research in this domain: ‘When most of the world is characterised as urban, more than ever we must explore those characteristics of urbanism that offer us the chance to reinforce the essential qualities of a city.’ (p.219) As urban public spaces and mobile technology are often experienced simultaneously, the question is whether augmented reality could enable these qualities. The principles from William H. Whyte’s influential study The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces (1980) remain pertinent in today’s cities. New York City’s former planning commissioner, Amanda Burden, who we will return to later, began her career as a researcher on this project. Therefore, this thesis will explore whether some of these principles of urbanism and public space can be re-interpreted and realised through augmented reality. The researcher Ronald T. Azuma (1997), a pioneer in the field, defines augmented reality as ‘a technology that mixes the real environment with the virtual, is registered in three-dimensions, real-time and interactive.’ (12) However, from my attendance at industry conferences, it seems that AR developers are intensely focused on the virtual, with little consideration to the context in which it sits and the people within
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said ‘real environment’. This is reinforced by de Souza e Silva, A. (2006), a Professor of Communication at North Carolina State University, in her review of augmented reality definitions, who challenges Milgram and Colquhoun that: ‘Their concepts of mixed and augmented realities take into consideration only the technology used to construct digital spaces but do not consider social and communication issues.’ This thesis will explore the application of augmented reality from a socio-cultural and political perspective, paying particular attention to the urban public spaces in which it can be used. This thesis seeks to address the potential of the use of this technology to aid in converging the digital with the physical realm, and strengthen our relationship with the city and the ‘other’ (Lofland, 2000). Lee Humphreys, Professor of Communication at Cornell University, has conducted a number of studies (20052017) which explores this convergence in the context of mobile technology and the parochialisation of space. She refers to Sheller (2004) in expressing that, ‘there is great value in exploring the complexity and messiness of the interconnections between physical space, mobile communication and people.’ My thesis aims to analyse the fragmentation of the Public through the built environments in which we inhabit, commute and pass through, as well as the design of our digital realms, in relation to augmented reality as an emergent technology.
12. Augmented Reality App Pokemon Go, Drowzee, layered over the physical environment in real time, is about to be ‘caught’ by the user.
It will also introduce the reasons for the chosen user group of the studio project, Parrot in relation to the fragmentation of public space and the role of digital 13. Workshop at Castlemilk Youth Complex. technology in reconstituting it. danah boyd (sic), Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research, has researched extensively and written on teenagers in her book It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens. My research with teenagers (13) and their role in the user centred design process is further explored in the appendix, which aims to illustrate and analyse the workshops
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Introduction / Urban Spaces and Mobile Technologies
undertaken and explore the differences between how existing research perceives co-design with teenagers and the reality which we experienced. As the lawyer Brian Wassom states in Augmented Reality Law, Privacy and Ethics, the first book to be published on this subject matter: ‘augmented reality is a simply a medium; what a society chooses to publish in that medium will be a reflection of the messages that society wishes to convey.’ Based on this, it is then imperative to analyse the state of present society in considering the application of this technology. This thesis will seek to answer the question of whether the application of augmented reality, as a digital technology, could be used as a tool to reconstitute public space and thus enhance social cohesion in the city.
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The Public Realm / The City & the Internet as Public Space The Fragmentation of Public Space 8
The Public Realm / The City & the Internet as Public Space
The City & the Internet as Public Space
14. St David’s, the smallest city in the UK with a population of 1,841. It’s city status comes from the cathedral of the same name.
15. Milton Keynes, designated a new town in 1967 with a population of 229,941. It does not have city status as the UK requires a Cathedral and decree by royal charter for a town to declare itself a city.
16. Glasgow, twice the European City of Culture, with a population of 598,830.
At first glance, there is a unanimous understanding of what a city is, whether it be at home or abroad. It is a large, densely populated urban area. It is often distinctive and has iconic features that makes it recognisable on a national and global scale. New York is not America, in the same way that Paris is not France. It is the distinctive identity that these cities have, that separates them from the surrounding countryside and towns. Therefore, whilst people make the city (Sudjic, Gehl) the sheer number of them does not constitute, in the UK, as enough to define a city (15). Therefore, when I talk of the city in this thesis, I am referring to the qualities and characteristics of a densely populated urban area. What makes it feel ‘alive’, and the ‘buzz’ of city life, is to me what makes a city - a city and a town more associated with the ‘humdrum of daily life’. It is the feeling that something new, unknown or exciting is always around the corner, which goes far beyond the classic definition. My first foray into attempting to understand what makes a city enjoyable starts with Sudjic (2016) who begins to unravel how we might define a city through the people that inhabit it, who give it a ‘distinctive identity that makes it much more than an agglomeration of buildings’. The physical and psychological effects of buildings and the spaces between buildings has been an ongoing pursuit by architects for centuries (Green, 2017) and is one that is inexhaustible. It is this intangible essence of the city that excites me most, brought to life through a ‘complex set of attributes that build up over time and serve to define [the identity of the city].’ Sudjic (2016) Whilst this set of attributes may vary from city to city, Gehl (2010, p.23) sums up the core characteristics as ‘Unpredictability and spontaneity’, in a positive and constructive way that
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gives citizens the feeling of ‘delight’. This is expanded upon by Gary Hustwitt, independent filmmaker in his 2014 documentary Urbanized: ‘The thing that attracts us to the city is the chance encounter. It’s the knowledge that you’ll be able to start here and up there and go back there, but there’s something unexpected will happen along the way, that you’ll make a discovery.’ Therefore it is these three things, unpredictability, spontaneity and chance encounter that are fundamental to the enjoyment and life of the city. Upon combining these with the characteristics of the social fabric of the city, which includes the crowd (Massey, 2005), strangers (Lofland, 1973), anonymity (17) and community, and neighbourhoods that form, we can start to build a greater understanding of what it means to be in the city. The concept of civil inattention (18) (Goffman, Relations in Public, 1972), is the social norm which allows the public to interact with one another without actively paying attention to one another (Humphreys, 2005). In order to maintain appropriate distance (19), we are constantly renegotiating our sense of space and social relations with others (Humphreys, 2005). Sudjic (2016, p.75) goes on to define a successful city as:
17. Intimate moments amongst the crowd, Times Square, New York, 2011.
18. Displays of civil inattention on the Tokyo Metro, September 2015.
‘a place in which its is possible to feel a sense of shared community, but also a place in which it is entirely possible to flourish without feeling part of anything. That is the essence of a city, to choose from it what you need, and to politely ignore the rest.’ It is from this analysis and of the city as a process (Sennett, 2008) that we can start to draw parallels with 19. The biggest crossing in the world, yet the internet, which from it’s early days was referred to no one bumps into each other. Shibuya as ‘cyber space’ (Gibson, Burning Chrome, 1982). From Crossing, Tokyo, September 2015. early writings, the online domain is a place in itself, despite it being ‘fundamentally and profoundly anti spatial’ (Mitchell, 1995). Yet we
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The Public Realm / The City & the Internet as Public Space
can interpret ‘place’ in a new way as our lives become less separate as the digital realm integrates with the city. Online, you can successfully do all of these things both with, and without social media. The majority of us frequent a habitual portion of the internet, deciding who and what we want to take from it and returning Much like the city, the users decide what they want the internet to be. We can take this metaphor one step further in Gehl’s (2010,p.29) analysis of city life: ‘Life in city space is all-encompassing; from momentary glances to minor events to the largest collective manifestations. Walking through the common city space can be a goal in itself - but also a beginning.’ This notion of the city dweller and their relationship to the city, starts in 1860 with the ‘flâneur', coined by Charles Baudelaire and subsequently reinterpreted by Walter Benjamin, before emerging in a different context of the 20. Dakota Pipeline Protests ‘dérive’, explored by Guy Debord and the Situationist International. A parallel idea, although emerging from a militaristic background, continued into contemporary society in the form of Parkour, pioneered in the 1980s by David Belle and reaching mainstream popularity in the early 2000s. I would argue that Gehl’s experience can be said for life online, as Wertheim, 1999 stated in her essay, The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace, ‘Just because something is not material does not mean it is unreal … I am there - whatever this statement may ultimately turn out to mean.’ The case of the Dakota 21. Total number of virtual protesters Pipeline protests (20), where thousands of people across the world in 2016 ‘checked-in’ on Facebook (21) hoping to divert the police from identifying and arresting the activists physically present at the protests is one of the most interesting manifestations that traverses time and space. Marcos Novak, self determined ‘transarchitect’, wrote Liquid Architectures in Cyberspace which explored the concept which is exemplified in manifestations such as the Dakota Pipeline Protests: ‘The notions of city, square … are permanently extended. The city, traditionally the continuous city of physical proximity becomes the discontinuous city of cultural
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and intellectual community. Architecture…shifts to the structure of relationships, connections and associations that are webbed over and around the simple world of appearances and accommodations of commonplace functions.’ (Novak, 1991). The internet seen from this perspective, is perhaps less the ‘doppelgänger’ of the city and more of an alternative. The public domain online neither has a fixed identity or is limited by ‘physical proximity’; its issues can be local, but its reach is inherently global. As we have moved from the soapbox (22), every person can claim their own ‘Speaker’s corner’ in the form of social media and blogs. The public domain has expanded dramatically, with organisations such as Avaaz aiming to ‘organise citizens of all nations to close the gap between the world we have and the world most people everywhere want’. This, is only possible through utilising and motivating its members world wide who embody the notion of which Novak speaks.
22. Speaker’s Corner, Hyde Park, London UK
To continue in trying to understand what makes a city, particularly in the digital age, my focus is drawn to Amanda Burden’s TED Talk How Public Spaces make Cities work, where she states: 23. Public Space: Trafalgar Square, London
‘Cities are fundamentally about people, and where people go and where people meet are at the core of what makes a city work. So even more important than buildings in a city are the public spaces in between them.’ (Burden, 2014) Oldenburg (1991) defines these public spaces (23) as ‘third places’ which ‘are places where people can gather for casual but important sociality without excessive social or personal obligations’ (Humphreys, 2010). ‘Public places afford casual encounters in the course of daily life that can bring people together and give their lives meaning and power.’ (Carr, 1992, p.45). This resonates with both the digital realm, the internet, and physical places in our cities. However, what differs from public spaces from the digital realm is that ‘They are sites of social interaction… educating the city-dweller about the ‘other’ and teaching true urbanity’ (Németh, 2008). The interaction with the ‘other’ is something that is diminishing through the
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The Public Realm / The Fragmentation of Public Space
growing strength of social networks; an area that will be explored later on in this thesis. Saskia Sassen (2015), Sociologist and Professor at Columbia University, writes in Who owns our cities – and why this urban takeover should concern us all: ‘A large, mixed city is a frontier zone where actors from different worlds can have an encounter for which there are no established rules of engagement, and where the powerless and the powerful can actually meet.’ Although this is predominantly in reference to the buying of land and buildings in urban areas by corporations, this notion sums up the spirit of what made la Place de la République (pre-crackdown by the police) such an integral part of the city. Though the digital realm has similar qualities, the word ‘frontier’ is extremely important in that it emphasises that the ‘encounter’ is a visible, undeniable manifestation of the feelings and attitudes of the time. This is unlike the digital realm where it is easier not to ‘see’, things you don’t want to. The Fragmentation of Public Space The public domain online has grown significantly
24. The atrium of the Trump Tower is technically public space.
25. Man sits on the ground due to ‘defensive architecture’, the spiked uninviting bench, New York, July 2011.
and affords many positive attributes, but its physical counterpart, public space in the city has declined. Through urban planning for cars and prioritising individual buildings, ‘The traditional function of city space as a meeting place and social forum for city dwellers has been reduced, threatened or phased out.’ (Gehl, 2010, p.3). One significant contributor that has gone beyond ‘threatened’ and successfully eliminated the public domain, is the privatisation of public space. Privately Owned Public Spaces (also known as POPS) (24) are owned and operated by private developers and management firms (Németh, 2009). By privatising areas of the city, the public no longer has the universal right to be there and are under control of the private company that manages the area.
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In the USA, these POPS are commonly known as ‘bonus’ spaces and are legally required to invite public access but they are designed, implemented and managed by the developers (or third party). They are created in exchange for transgressing the zoning code or constructing buildings that exceed maximum height. Banerjee (2001) highlights one of the major trends that has contributed to this, as the development of ‘cities as sites of investment, not social interaction’. This manifests itself in the rise of ‘defensive architecture’ (Andreou, 2015) visible predominantly to the homeless (and the public who simply wish to sit or rest) who are the subject of this ‘hostile’ architecture (25). Banerjee goes onto state that these POPS ‘profoundly altered the character of social relations and redefined traditional conceptions of place and location’ (p.10, 2001). An 26. A man rests on a well proportioned example of this can be found in London’s Canary Wharf ledge on the corner of a park, New York, (28). I am particularly interested in this area as it where 2011. I have lived. I have a heightened interest and awareness of ‘mixed use development’ and witness first hand the epitome of Privately Owned Public Space (POPS). Despite pedestrianisation, it is uninviting, sterile and vapid. The open plazas which Burden describes sums this up well: ‘plinths for their creations. They might tolerate a sculpture or two, but that’s about it. And for developers, they are ideal. There’s nothing to water, nothing to maintain, and no undesirable people to worry about.’ (2014) It is situated in Tower Hamlets, an area with a high level of homelessness, the highest child poverty and wage inequality in London. However, due to the private nature of this area, it is up to the management to decide who’s in and who’s out. The corporate identity of this area thus very clearly reveals ‘who belongs and who does not’ (Sudjic, 2016, p.66) Whilst Németh writes predominantly about New York, his study is applicable to the majority of POPS, in that these spaces:
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27. A man rests in Union Square Park, an inviting public space New York, 2011.
28. Jubilee Place at Canary Wharf, London
The Public Realm / The Fragmentation of Public Space
‘Severely limit the ability to have an inclusive and diverse public realm, as the institutional arrangements governing these spaces enable owners and mangers to filter and order users based on fiscally drive priorities and mandates’ (Németh, 2009)
29. Paternoster Square, open-aired private space that looks public, 2011.
This ‘out of sight, out of mind’ approach may be preferable for the management, offices and workers, but prevents a physical public domain. As Deyan Sudjic states, the area is: ‘the result of clearly preprogrammed decisions … The rights that come with ownership allow them to prevent a political demonstration, stop strikers picketing and bar charities from collecting.’ (Sudjic, 2016, p.92)
By limiting the activities (29,30) and people that can be in the space, the whole notion of public space is crushed. Patrick Schumacher, the Director of Zaha Hadid Architects, gave a provocative speech at the 30. Prevention of entry and protest in World Architecture Festival in 2016 calling to ‘privatise Paternoster Square, 2011. all streets, squares, public spaces and parks, possibly whole urban districts’. There is no guarantee that the management would allow citizens to gather, whether it be solidarity in a time of loss or for more politically charged action. The need for real expression and communication from the city to the government, outside of elections and online petitions, is only possible through public places. In order to enforce this and protect from the growing threat of terrorism, the area is patrolled by security, monitored with cameras and bomb disposal is permanently at hand. Although this may be necessary, ‘these measures can also contribute to…increasing distrust among users’ (Ellin, 1996) Therefore, by limiting who and what can be done in the area, it does not contribute to social cohesion with the surrounding neighbourhoods. By limiting diversity, you begin to lose the characteristics of a functioning city. Kio Stark, author and professor at NYU, has a self-professed obsession with talking to strangers. Her TED talk Why you should talk to strangers (2016) highlights the risks of not being connected to those around you:
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‘We see male, female…It’s quick, it’s easy and it’s a road to bias. And it means we’re not thinking about people as individuals.’ By segregating different groups of the public and working against the diversity of the city, it reinforces our bias and fear of others which does not contribute to a cohesive social dynamic. In preventing the sociality, POPS are effectively denying what values a city holds. Humphreys (2010), states that ‘Since realms are socially defined, there is nothing inherent in the physical (or virtual) spaces that makes them public or parochial.’ This is something I would disagree with as often the architectural design leads the inhabitants in the space to act in a certain way which contributes to the sociality that occurs in the space. By setting rules over the use of a space, it narrows down the freedom of the people to use it socially as they see fit and transforms it into a private realm.
31. A resident chess player challenges a young girl, Union Street Park, New York, 2011.
In recent years, it seems that the management have tried to foster this feeling of ‘free-range’ (Sudjic, 2016, p.92) to create life in the space. As Gehl states ‘If there is life and activity in city space, there are also many social exchanges. If city space is desolate and empty, 32. Heavily regulated and controlled ‘market’ nothing happens.’ (Gehl, 2010, p.22) They have done this by bringing in Kerb, a street food market (32) who brand themselves as ‘curated’. Whilst they have succeeded, the word ‘curated’ goes against the three key things that make a city ‘delightful’ (Gehl, 2010); unpredictability, spontaneity and chance encounters. It feels like the management is ‘placemaking’ which by definition, should be ‘a collaborative process by which we can shape our public realm in order to maximise shared value’ (Project for Public Spaces, 2009). Therefore, in this context it is ‘planners and developers who use it as a “brand” to imply authenticity and quality’ (Project for Public Spaces, 2009) which is an oxymoron. Whilst ‘posttruth’ is often referred to in the context of social media and politics, here we see the manifestation of post-truth in the physical spaces in our city. With the rise of fake news (Armstrong, 2017), it is even more terrifying that our built environment is contributing to this phenomenon through tighter control and private decision making.
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The Public Realm / The Fragmentation of Public Space
My observation is that Canary Wharf can be seen as a microcosm and case study for the wider growing problem of the fragmentation of the public. The fragmentation of the public online has been widely reported about in the news, through the emergence of the alt-right, the polarisation of what the political ‘truth’ is and the results of elections. Eli Pariser, author of The Filter Bubble introduces the overlooked but obvious concept, ‘If you only see posts from folks who are like you, you’re going to be surprised when someone very unlike you wins the presidency,’ (Pariser, 2017). Our digital fragmentation has arisen in a voluntary fashion, by personalising services and demanding algorithms that increasingly give us what we are looking for and what we want. We are losing the key values of the city that is also echoed in the dawn of the internet; spontaneity, unpredictability and chance encounter. Mostafa M. El-Bermawy, writing for Wired (2016) describes the phenomenon as ‘The global village that was once the internet was has been replaced by digital islands of isolation that are drifting further apart each day.’ This goes far beyond what newspaper you choose to read, as Facebook’s algorithms reiterate the messages you want to hear. These algorithms contributes to ‘groupthink’ which is defined as ‘the reinforcement of our pre-existing opinions and the filtering out of anything that is inconsistent with those opinions’ (Wassom, 2014, p.283). The wider problem manifests itself in the rise of the internet as our source for news and social interaction as ‘we become less dependent on interpersonal interactions outside of the home.’ (Humphreys, 2005). By utilising digital technology so heavily, it creates a space in which you do not have to face others with opposing views and the risks of these are great. As we: ‘accord even more personal significance to the people with whom we interact digitally, and less to those in our physical proximity… may include a fraying of the already-worn bonds and social contract that holds us together as a society.’ (Wassom, 2014, p.283) This risk is exasperated by the mimicry in our physical surroundings. If those in our ‘physical proximity’ are being ‘filtered’ out by commercial decision makers, whilst online we are isolated further, this leaves nowhere to easily come into contact with ‘the other’, unless actively looking for it. As our city becomes increasingly privatised we then lose the ability for ‘chance encounter’ with others around us. Our sense of public is then limited both in the online and physical realm and our association with others is then controlled by algorithms and the decisions of whichever management is in charge.
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Wassom explores these issues in relation to augmented reality, highlighting the risk that this technology will ‘inevitable carry the potential to further exacerbate these negative social developments.’ (2014, p.277) This is due to the fact that the reach of digital media will therefore become a part of our lives that did not previously exist online; activities such as walking down the street. However, whilst he emphasises the risks of augmented reality to ‘magnify our exposure to digitally reiterated social messages.’ (Wassom, 2014, p.286) he does not consider that some of the problem lies already in our built environment. In highlighting these risks and potential negatives he states: ‘augmented experiences will have a far more powerful effect on our habits and thought patterns, precisely because AR is designed to perceive exactly as experience actual, physical reality’ (Wassom, 2014), p.305) However, this statement does not necessarily have to be a negative statement. It gives us the opportunity to create our own reality through this experience. The role of the public in defining their built environment and physical reality has been fairly limited. ‘Ever since Jane Jacobs (33) started her successful campaign to stop Robert Moses, it has been through activism and campaigning on individual issues … that citizens have their most immediate part in shaping their cities.’ (Sudjic, 2016, p.163) yet this role could be expanded through augmented reality. What if citizens could shape their city through this technology to create the reality that they so desire? If ‘Space is the opportunity; place is the understood reality’ (Harrison & Dourish, 1969), then there could be the potential to utilise these public spaces (or otherwise) to create the place that we, as citizens, require and wish to be a part of our city. As Humphreys (2007) points out, ‘Lofland (1998) argues that one’s experience of a space is based upon one’s social relations within it.’ Therefore, if the focus is on the social relations, this can be designed for but not controlled by urban planning and architecture, and so we can facilitate it by other means, such as augmented reality.
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33. Jane Jacobs, journalist turned activist, is still as relevant today as she was in the 1960s. April 2017 saw the release of her biopic, Citizen Jane: Battle for the City, as her work continues to influence both the public and those in the field.
34. Washington Square Park, NYC 1963
The Public Realm / The Fragmentation of Public Space
Jane Jacobs (2016, p.67) emphasises the value of social relations and repeated contact by providing an example of what this looks like, ‘We nod; we each glance quickly up and down the street, then look back at each other and smile. We have done this many a morning for more than ten years, and we both know what it means: all is well.’ However, the culture surrounding work and housing has changed. Women are fully integrated into the work place, meaning there are few stay at home mothers, therefore less ‘eyes on the street’ (Jacobs, 2016, p.71). The majority of people in cities are renters, which can often be too temporary to build these kinds of relationships. This being said, with the capabilities of the internet and mobile technology we can create new types of social relations altogether. Scott, author of The Four Dimensional Human: Ways of Being in the Digital World (2015) describes this as ‘We allow each other to race back and forth from elsewhere within the stretch of a conversation, moving in and out of physical bodies before each other’s eyes’. This ability, which transcends our physical environment and even time zones, is important to try to understand how we can harness this concept in order to create the social relations that create trust, mutual understanding and communal wellbeing as exemplified by Jacobs and her neighbour.
35. John Perry Barlow with Bill Gates, 1991
36. Second Life game footage
During the early days of the world wide web, John Perry Barlow (1996) wrote A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace (35) in which he states independence from the Government in ‘the new home of the mind’, declaring a new world that is free from the control, prejudices and class of the physical world. He states that we must ‘declare our virtual selves immune to your sovereignty, even as we continue to consent to your rule over our bodies’. Due to the increasing use of personal computing and digital services, this no longer exists. Our real world identity are, often, at one with who we are online. This concept of a ‘parallel life’ (Turkle, 1994) has been written about extensively, however, in 2017 with the re-emergence of augmented reality, this must be questioned. As we have rapidly integrated the digital world with our physical one, this technology will
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take it one step further. Sherry Turkle (1994), who has studied and written on the psychology of people’s relationships with technology, wrote about the game Second Life (36) where she describes a player has having ‘no concern that he, Peter, will be held accountable in ‘real life’ for his character’s actions’. Whilst we still see elements of this through online trolling, incognito browsing and anonymous accounts, our lives on social media and what we do on the internet no longer has this 37. SwapBots, an augmented reality separate behaviour and world due to mobile technology. experience designed for children where In fact, the notion of ‘going online’ or ‘surfing the the physical toy is as important as the internet’ is outdated and incomprehensible by younger augmentation. generations as we are connected, ubiquitously using the internet. As augmented reality, at a basic level, overlays digital information over our surroundings the disconnect between the digital and physical will decrease dramatically. However, it is up to us whether it is our physical surroundings or the digital overlay that will be the dominant partner in this emerging relationship. Augmented reality holds the potential to re-imagine some of the ideals of Barlow, as it seems to be a space fairly free from surveillance, control and ownership by corporations. There appears to be the possibility for individuals to shape the augmented landscape before corporations and the government take hold. Could this digital technology subvert our current reality of the increased private ownership of the city and create the type of city with an open public? So far, this thesis has discussed the city, public space and people in a generalised way. It has covered ‘what’ some of the issues are that we face in contemporary urban life. This next chapter will discuss ‘who’, my case study on teenagers, a specific section of society who are often overlooked and less tolerated in public spaces (Day and Wagner, 2010). I chose this demographic as their age means that they are navigating an increase independence but without the spending power and decision making that comes with adulthood. Often their lives are still controlled by the socioeconomic factors of their parents. They have also grown up as part of a generation who they do not remember dial-up internet or mobile phones pre-touchscreen. This makes them an interesting to me as a group to study with regards to augmented reality and public space. The final chapter will focus on ‘how’, discussing ways in which digital technology have contributed to a sense of place, parochialisation (Humphreys, 2010) and engagement with the physical environment and those in it.
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Teenagers & Public Space / A User Centred Approach The Teenage Paradox 22
Teenagers & Public Space / A User Centred Approach
The child’s role in the design process‌
user tester Reality of the user engagement
informant
Ambition of the user engagement
design partner
Fig 2. Based on Alison Druin’s illustration in The Role of Children in the Design of New Technology (2002)
User-Centred Approach I have undertaken design research with 28 teenagers and pre-teens ranging from ages 11 to 15, with those predominantly from Castlemilk (38, 39), a deprived suburb of Glasgow and with 3 teenagers from the West End of Glasgow, an educated and more privileged area. My design concepts were then tested with a different group of 7 teenagers in Partick (40), a diverse area which borders both the wealthy West End and the poorer area of Govan. This is documented and expanded upon in the appendix which aims to bridge this academic text with the studio work. It explains the chosen research approach and design of the engagement tools which is heavily influenced by the work of Allison Druin, Professor at the University of Maryland in Human-Computer Interaction (1999, 2002, 2013). She has researched extensively and written on the role of the child in the design of digital technology which I will question in the appendix based on my personal experience. The appendix provides a rationale of the workshops, tools and methods used, the outcome and the insights that stemmed from these interactions. It also aims to provide recommendations for involving teenagers in the design process, specifically in establishing a common language and tools that they feel comfortable working with.
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38. Engagement tool from the first workshop with 12-15yrs
39. Pre-users (11yrs) interview tool
40. User feedback with 11-14yrs
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Teenagers & Public Space / The Teenage Paradox
The Teenage Paradox Just as the public has become increasingly fragmented both online and off, teenagers face a similar but different problem. They have been demonised (Garner, 2009) by the media over the years, which sits into a wider phenomenon, raised by Geoffrey Pearson in his 1983 study Hooligan: A History of Respectable Fears. This brings to light the ‘recurrence of a form of cultural pessimism that regards youth crime as a threatening departure from the stable traditions of a “golden age”’ (Hobbs, 2013), which spans from the 1800s up until the time of writing. Teenagers and young people seem to have always suffered either in terms of being criminalised, whether it was the 1994 Criminal Justice Act which shut down free party (rave) culture, the introduction of ASBOs under Tony Blair, the pilot of ‘Good Behaviour Scheme’ for teenagers under Gordon Brown, or more recently, in terms of being undervalued, as youth services’ budgets have been cut dramatically under the Conservative party (Presser, 2016). This has extended into public space with the creation of Public Space Protection Orders, which have been lamented for a variety of reasons, including one council’s decision to ban teenagers gathering in more than groups of three (Garrett, 2015). Child in the City, inspired by the anarchist Colin Ward’s 1978 book by the same name, is an organisation that aims ‘to strengthen the position of children in cities, promote and protect their rights and give them space and opportunities to play and enjoy their own social and cultural lives.’ They highlight the risks of excluding teenagers from public spaces: ‘When we isolate teenagers from other age groups and parts of society, we increase teen alienation, indifference, dysfunction, and antagonism in the younger generation (Bronfenbrenner and Condry 1970). And it goes against what teens consistently request, which is a place for all ages.’ (Derr, 2015) Although contemporary society is less concerned with youth crime, there is a recurrence of this type of feeling which Pearson summarises as part of the BBC’s 1994 series Teenagers, The History of the Teenager, ‘we project onto young people our own anxieties about the changing world’. In recent years, this has manifested itself in issues to do with technology, screen time and social media. From my research with teenagers at Castlemilk Youth Complex, Glasgow, the knee jerk reaction from parents or ‘the most annoying thing my parents say is’ is to tell them to go outside. However, is it any wonder that they don’t go outside anymore after over a decade of political campaign and policing that aims to keep them off the streets? Research
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compiled by Child in the City (Derr, 2015) shows that: ‘Young people, in particular, are less tolerated in public spaces (Day and Wagner 2010) and can be marginalized in public processes for these spaces (Vivoni 2013). Teen girls, in particular, are isolated from public space (Loukaitou-Sideris and Sideris 2010).’ It is no longer socially acceptable for youth to just ‘hang out’ outside, and the distance that they are allowed to roam away from home ‘has shrunk by 90% since the ‘70s’ (Henley, 2010). In an increasingly urban world, often the street is the only place they can go in terms of ‘outside’. Too old for playgrounds, too young for the pub garden, lacking any significant spending power to justify being in restaurants or cafes regularly and dependent on their parents to fund/and or organise clubs, activities and hobbies; they are caught in limbo. The dependence on parents for what they do in their ‘free time’ can be seen in the 2016 results of an American survey by Common Sense Media which discovered that on average children of lower income families used screen based media (smartphones, tablets, gaming) for 2 hours 45 minutes per day more than a child from an average income family. In dana boyd’s 2006 paper ‘Identity Production in a Networked Culture: Why Youth Heart MySpace’ (41) which was a precursor for her 2014 book It’s Complicated she explains teenagers desire for social media and screen based media: ‘By going virtual, digital technologies allow youth to (re)create private and public youth space while physically in controlled spaces. IM serves as a private space while MySpace provide a public component. Online, youth can build the environments that support youth socialization.’ Although IM and MySpace are old fashioned and nonexistent digital services for this generation of teenagers, the principles remain the same when applied to Snapchat and Instagram. Richard Sennett (2008) in his essay The Public Realm acknowledges the development of digital public spaces commenting that
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41. MySpace profile from early 2000
42. Teenagers in East Durham, 2004-5
Teenagers & Public Space / The Teenage Paradox
‘in today’s cities, an internet cafe would be more likely to excite him [Jurgen Habermas] than Trafalgar Square’. Jurgen Habermas, philosopher and sociologist, has written extensively on public spaces, by which he means ‘any medium, occasion or event which prompts open communication between strangers’ (Sennett, 2008), therefore Instagram becomes as much of a public space as its physical counterparts, such as the town square.
43. John V Lindsay Park, a very different sort of ‘emptiness’ from the run down parks and urban spaces of Castlemilk. New York, 2011.
44. (Reluctant) Participation in group activities, heavy use of phones.
One of the key themes that arose from my research was that teenagers do not want to go outside and if they do, that they aren’t sure what they should even do there. In the 2014 documentary Urbanized, James Corner, the landscape architect responsible for New York’s Highline, states that ‘emptiness encourages a certain amount of appropriation and use by people, and so that’s one type of thing that I think we can learn from.’ However, with teenagers this approach does not seem to be appropriate. The youth club where I conducted my research was surrounded by woodlands and across the street, a large expanse of grassy unused land. These observations are backed up by JCB’s 2013 study as part of their Fresh Air Campaign which showed that ‘43 per cent say their children would rather watch television than go outside to play with friends, while another 42 per cent prefer to play computer games.’ In contrast to their lack of desire to go outside, from my research in extreme scenarios (45) they all prioritised human contact and non digital interactions over use of technology. This is backed up again by the Common Sense Media survey who found that: ‘children between the ages of 13 and 17 preferred face-to-face communication over all technological means of communication, because it was perceived to be more fun and because they could understand people better in person.’
45. ‘Would you Rather’ group interview tool.
Despite these claims, youth workers present during the
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the research scoffed at the teenagers’ answers, as their present behaviour counteracts what they claim want. Similarly, one third of parents interviewed as part of the Common Sense Media Survey struggled in controlling how much time their children spent with screens. Therefore, teenagers are trapped by two paradoxes; the first being their role in public space i.e. ‘outside’ and the second, the means through which they socialise and ‘play’ amongst one another. This is the opportunity that I aim to explore in my studio work, in which I am designing an application which aims to encourage teenagers to want to go outside and thus increase face to face communication. It will be delivered through a mobile application, to make it accessible and to take advantage of their preferred form of engagement, but the benefits of the application take place ‘off screen’. The implicit driver is the hope that the more they feel comfortable with being outside, it will create a positive relationship between them and their city environment. By bringing teenagers back into public space, giving them a use for it could be in a first step in increasing demand for public spaces. Although the studio work will not directly include designing for augmented reality, the assumption is that the key principles behind the design could extend into this new technology. My motivation is highlighted in Liao & Humphrey’s 2015 study ‘Layar-ed spaces’: ‘the content is embedded in and accessed in place. A person has to be there in order to experience the augmentation.’ By designing applications that are situated in, and takes into consideration the place in which they are experienced, it will lead to a greater convergence between the digital and physical realm. It also provides a motivation and justification for being in public space. The risk involved with designing in this way is that ‘a 46. Snapchat facial recognition and filters society in which augmented reality is a prevalent or predominate mode of communication is, at best, a gated community that can only be accessed using some sort of digital key.’ (Wassom, 2014, p.281) which could leader to greater isolation and alienation between teenagers and older generations. However, the reverse of this argument is that this is one of the most accessible ways to bring teenagers into public space as in 2010 85% of 14-17 year olds were found to have smartphones (Kaiser Family Foundation) with the expectation that this figure has now risen. In my research, 27 out of the 28 teenagers involved had smartphones. Out of the 10-11 year olds, who are from a low income demographic,
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all had smartphones. Additionally, though they may not be aware of what augmented reality is, they are already familiar with it through the playful but unreflective use of Snapchat’s filters (46) and geotags. It is a function that they now expect and as a designer, it would be foolish to ignore. As private conversations take place in public space, this has the potential to be the modern reinterpretation of parochialising a space. Sennett (2008) paraphrases John Seely Brown, ’every technological advance poses at the moment of its birth a threat of disruption and dysfunction to a larger system’ which mirrors the points that Pearson raises about society’s anxieties about teenagers. Therefore, whilst these teenagers may lack access in other areas in terms of finance, facilities, clubs and activities, utilising a technology that they already have could be beneficial. Despite criticisms of augmented reality, it is already present in daily life and thus it is unrealistic to perceive it as having inherently negative consequences. Instead, I propose that as designers we should embrace this medium in order to shape its application in a way that moves away from dystopia and brings genuine benefit and utility for its users.
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Reinterpreting Public Space through Mobile Technology / Social Networks & Parochialisation Augmented Reality as Public Art Augmented Reality as Triangulation
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Reinterpreting Public Space through Mobile Technology / Social Networks & Parochialisation
Social Networks and Parochialisation This chapter of the thesis will focus on ‘how’. ‘Mobile technologies raise new opportunities for the creation of place, allowing people to reencounter everyday space and understand the structure of those settings’ (Dourish, 2006). By looking at mobile technologies that have existed in the recent past, and phenomenon of Pokemon Go, we are able to further explore the possibility of using augmented reality to converge the physical and digital in a way that contributes to sustainability and benefits of public spaces. As the technology is not currently ubiquitous and with a limited selection of applications, it is worthwhile to consider other mobile technologies that apply the same principles. One of the main issues with augmented reality (AR) is that ‘much of the attention has been geared toward building AR technologies rather than analysing the uses and sociological implications of AR’ (Liao & Humphreys, 2015) which is why this chapter will look at mobile technologies as a whole.
47. Dodgeball interface in 2004.
48. Facebook’s check in function launched in 2010 after the closure of Dodgeball.
The first case study is of Dodgeball (47) where users would text the service their location, such as a bar, and the service would text all their contacts using the service to broadcast this. Humphreys studied and explored this in her 2010 paper ‘Mobile social networks and urban public space’ which dissects how a seemly simple application can contribute to a much wider phenomenon. She describes the send and receipt of locations as enabling the users to ‘parochialize the public realms in which they inhabit.’ A parochial realm is defined (Lofland, 1999) as ‘a sense of commonality among acquaintances and neighbours who are involved in interpersonal networks that are located within communities’. Therefore, in a large city like New York, the users of this service can create this ‘commonality’ that is not limited to a certain space surrounding their home or work. It is transient, forming wherever their group of friends and acquaintances are. Without any physical or visual changes to the space, Dodgeball was able to transform the city into a more local form, changing the meaning and association of place through these digital networks. The principle is
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similar to the use of BBM (Blackberry Messenger) at its peak in 2010-11 in the self-organisation of crowd activity such as energetic and fun flashmobs but also the English riots and looting in 2011 which followed the shooting of Mark Duggan. Whilst Dodgeball is a very specific, it is a good example how the design of mobile applications can influence how users might feel or perceive a city and contribute to building community. 49. Foursquare, which launched swiftly after This concept can also be found in Christian Licoppe’s, Google decided to close Dodgeball in 2009. Professor at Telecom Paristech, 2013 study ‘Merging mobile communication studies and urban research’ which analyses a variety of mobile applications including Grindr, Facebook (48) and Foursquare (49) in their contribution to interaction within public spaces. He states that ‘Part of their appeal [mobile applications] lies precisely in their serendipity and eventfulness…to turn the city into ‘urban playful spaces’. One could argue, based on the principles of Gehl and Sudjic, that a flourishing city already has these key qualities. However, as cities get larger, this form of mobile application can undeniably aid and contribute to overcoming the feelings of anonymity. He goes on to explain that these ‘new formats for mutually ‘discovering’ close spatial proximities, and thus significantly ‘augment’ the ‘trajectories of encounterability’ in urban settings.’ This is an example of how the design of these mobile applications can compliment, and potentially supersede the role of the architect in how city space is used by the public, by reconstituting how people meet and interact through the digital realm in physical space.
Augmented Reality as Public Art The pre-existing uses of augmented reality applications, tend to shape the user’s perception of public space in a way that is less interested in social interaction and more focused on the utilising the technology ‘to raise questions regarding who has authority over space and to reconstruct political and historical meaning in place’ (Liao & Humphreys, 2015)’. One clear example is the Occupy movement’s (50) use of augmented reality in order to, simply, occupy the public spaces that they had been banned from. By placing imagery and messages in and around those spaces, they were able to protest and
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50. Reign of Gold, Augmented Reality intervention for AR Occupy Wall Street. With police escort for traders entering the NY Stock Exchange, 2012.
Reinterpreting Public Space through Mobile Technology / Augmented Reality as Triangulation
make their statement in a way that had more emphasis than online, but was still attached to a specific place. Whilst this still had the effect of a ‘gated community’ (Wassom, 2014), the subversion that augmented reality allowed is undeniably exciting and has potential. Augmented Reality as Triangulation
51. A group of friends playing Pokemon Go
52. Individual players form crowds as they pursue the same goal, a strange sight for observers but compelling the users into a loose community.
The most widely adopted use of augmented reality has been through the game Pokemon Go (51) which inspired this thesis. Released in July 2016, users were able to user their mobile phones to ‘find’ and ‘catch’ Pokemon creatures in their surroundings, augmented through the camera of their smartphones onto the physical environment. Pokéstops and ‘gyms’, key features of the game, are situated near points of interest, stemming from features in Niantic’s original game, Ingress. A ‘gym’ is where you may fight another Pokemon to take control for your team and then defend it from other players. I am interested, not in the game, as such but the social dynamics that form around it. Although, there are many criticisms of Pokemon Go and the difficulties with alienating people around you through exhibiting behaviour that is incomprehensible to others (52), not involved with the game, there are some positives: ‘These experiences are giving players new reasons to get off their couches and intermingle, often forming genuine communities in the process. This is a tangible example of how AR can contribute to social cohesion.’ (Wassom, 2014, p.280)
Evidence of these communities can be found predominantly on Reddit which starkly contrasts the perception of players from an observers point of view. However, Humphreys wisely points out ‘These subtle and fleeting interactions, whether in response to something positive or negative, enrich the social fabric of public life.’ (Humphreys, 2017). Therefore in response to Pokemon Go, whether a player or not, the roll of an eye or smile in shared bemusement is of as much value and creation of social interaction between those involved in the game. Humphreys (2010) argues that
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‘Lofland (1998) suggests a subtle familiarity with others can change how we interact with them and with space.’ This means that through reoccurring encounters, facilitated through playing the game, the social dimension of the space is enriched. Through playing Pokemon Go, these players are often attracted to the same spaces in the city leading to ‘tacit interactions with other players, contributing to parochialization’ (Humphreys, 2017). It is widely known that ‘People with commonalities are easier to engage with than are people with whom one has nothing in common’ (Carr et al., 1992) which explains why friendship groups form around a shared interest or why smokers can easily strike up conversation with one another. If ‘The dog or the baby is a social conduit to the person’ (Stark, 2016) then the augmentation of Pokemon creatures is the same 53. Sittable space, Bryant Park, New York, 2011. principle. It allows two or more strangers to engage in a social interaction, ranging from simply breaking ‘civil inattention’ (Goffman) to conversation, into fully formed friendships. I would argue that using augmented reality in this way, most successfully done by Pokemon Go can be seen as a form of ‘Triangulation’. This is ‘the process by which some external stimulus provides a linkage between people and prompts strangers to talk to one another as if they knew each other.’ (Whyte, 2001, p.94). It is the augmented image of the Pokemon that the users interact with on screen, that enables social interaction to happen in real life. William H. Whyte conducted one of the first and most influential studies on small urban public spaces in the 1980s, where he intended to find out what made some spaces work, and others not. From this, he identified the following requirements: sittable space, (53, 54) close relationship to the street, sun, food, water, trees and triangulation. The first six are constrained to the decisions of the developers, urban planners
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54. An office worker re-appropriates a bench as a makeshift suit hanger, Tower Bridge, London, 2012.
55. Petanque, Bryant Park, New York, 2011.
Reinterpreting Public Space through Mobile Technology / Augmented Reality as Triangulation
56. Street performers as Triangulation.
and architects, but could be influenced by citizen involvement and activism. However, the last one ‘triangulation’ is the most interesting. Although the ‘external stimulus’ he is referring to are predominantly street performers or public artworks (55, 56, 57), there is no reason why this could not expand to digital technologies and augmented reality, as the role ‘provides [is] a form of connection’. It is in this moment albeit briefly, where strangers converse with one another ‘in a tone of voice usually reserved for close friends.’ (Whyte, 1988).
For a short period over the summer of 2016, Pokemon Go was able to encourage people to go out into the streets, parks and square and play in public space. Returning now to the beginning of the thesis in understanding what makes a city Sudjic offers this analysis ‘A street full of life suggest that a city is in good shape, that fear of actual or perceived threats is outweighed by the optimistic sense of potential that a city offers.’ (Sudjic, 57. Dubuffet’s Group of Four Trees, 2016, p.149) The game of Pokemon Go was therefore New York, one example of Triangulation highlighted by Whyte in the documentary. able to nudge people out of their homes and see what their city had to offer. As Sennett (2008) writes, ‘Time breeds that attachment to a place’ which is what Pokemon Go was able to do in reconnecting people to the city. Although, there have been no major studies on the influence of Pokemon Go on perception of place and engagement with the city, from smaller studies, anecdotal evidence and observation, it is clear that there is potential in attempting to converge the digital with our physical environment.
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Conclusion / Reclaiming Public Space through Augmented Reality 36
Conclusion / Reclaiming Public Space through Augmented Reality
Reclaiming Public Space through Augmented Reality Since researching and writing this thesis, it has emerged that Niantic, the creators of Pokemon Go, have followed a similar train of thought in attempting to ‘use technology to help people reclaim public space’ (Wilson, 2017). I have felt passionate about this notion since witnessing the sociality and use of the city that the phenomenon of the game facilitated. They have now partnered with the Knight Foundation, an organisation that aims to ‘foster civic engagement’ (2016), in order to do so. Their first event took place on the 7th May 2017 in North Carolina where a Pokemon trail was designed with and by the community as part of an OpenStreets event, where roads are temporarily closed off from traffic. However, the experience remains heavily about Pokemon which, despite being a global brand, does not appeal or engage with everyone. Therefore, whilst I agree with their ambition, I believe its 58. The physical mug waiting for it’s virtual limitations in only appealing to certain groups will never other half, in order to look less alone to the truly reclaim public space. ‘friends’ who will see this photo.
59. Utilising AR to make your date like you
60. Gamification of the supermarket in AR
In contrast, Facebook announced at their F8 conference that augmented reality would be their main focus in the coming years. However, it seems there is no such plan for Facebook to pursue a civic ambition, despite proclaiming that augmented reality would build community. ‘You can add a second coffee mug, so it looks like you’re not drinking — you know, you’re not having breakfast alone’ (Zuckerberg, 2017) (58). The superficiality of this application of the technology, which neither acknowledges or tackles our present state of society is a depressing thought. I am not sure how they made the leap between seemingly useless virtual objects and the delicate sociality that is needed to build communities, but it does not bode well for the development of this medium. For the sceptics of the augmented reality, it can only reinforce the fear of dystopia, illustrated in short films such as (59) Sight (May-raz & Lazo, 2012), Strange Beasts (Barbé, 2016), (60) Hyper-reality (Matsuda, 2016) and in the popular show Black Mirror (Brooker, 2011-2016).
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Despite this, I believe that augmented reality has a significant role in creating, enhancing and encouraging use of public space and consequently, the city. What Pokemon Go has succeeded in doing, although temporarily, shows real promise for future applications. I agree with the Knight Foundation’s VP Sam Gill who commented on their endeavour with Niantic as ‘a prototype to the future of cities’ (Wilson, 2017). It encourages resourcefulness, utilising the built environment that we already inhabit, as a platform for development. If the open city is a process, ‘with its imagery changing through use’ (Sennett, 2008) then it lends itself to the transient nature of augmented reality and its ability to facilitate multiple versions of reality within the same physical space Although this will not change the existing issues with the privatisation of public space and the increasing efficiency of social media’s algorithms, it does have the potential for users to subvert this by bringing people face-to-face. I believe that the design of augmented reality applications should focus, not just on adding virtual layers for the sake of it, but to re-imagine activities that we enjoy because of the qualities that make us human. The power of people utilising public space, albeit encouraged by virtual means, should not be underestimated, particularly given the current political landscape. As the technology gains ubiquity, the level of impact it could have on our cities will grow. In addressing the user group of my studio work, who are ensconced in a way of life that does not readily distinguish between online and ‘IRL’ (in real life) this technology is even more important. Augmented reality is not new, but accepted as a part of their daily life. Teenagers, who use social media very differently from previous generations, have a unique perspective on the world we live in, having grown up with digital and mobile technologies. They demand richer and augmented experiences (61). However, they are at odds between the world they choose that lives in their phones and their physical surroundings of which they have little control. Perhaps it is not a question of whether the use of augmented reality can reclaim public space, but whether teenagers will create a new form of public space
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61. Pre-teens playing with augmented reality book, Glasgow 2017.
Conclusion / Reclaiming Public Space through augmented reality
62. A woman re-appropriates a bollard to use as a seat, Tower Bridge Riverside, London 2012.
63. A girl clambers over the wall of Tower Bridge to get a better view, changing its function from a way over into a playground. London, 2012.
covering the physical and digital realms that reclaims the meaning of ‘public’ and fulfils the needs of the 21st century city. As Richard Sennett (2008) states ‘we have no clear imagination of an urban democratic space’ but by engaging young people with physical public space as well as their existing use of digital public spaces, there is the possibility that this generation could do so. I believe that through conducting further ethnographic and user centred design research with teenagers, including them in the decision making that they are traditionally excluded from, could offer up new meaningful solutions for public space and applications for augmented reality. To conclude, if places are ‘made by and through participation’ (Sennett, 2008) (62 , 63, 64) then I would argue that we should embrace a technology that requires physical presence, and thus participation in the space, in order to experience the digital, augmented layer. For augmented reality, in its capacity to transform public space into places that people value, use and enjoy, to become integral to the 21st century city, requires further exploration by designers, architects and other sociological disciplines in order to shape these new experiences.
64. Two men knock rhythmically on the wooden rail of Tower Bridge, changing its function from utility into music. London, 2012.
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Image References
1. Pokemon Go players, San Francisco. https://goo.gl/wF8Ih2
2. A Pokemon Go family outing, New South Wales, Australia. https://goo.gl/AqKc9W
3. Brüsseler Platz, quiet in the daytime. https://goo.gl/ieSPL4
4. Zülpicher Platz during the annual carnival. https://goo.gl/GhbCaz
5. Büdchen 66, a popular kiosk where people meet in the evenings.https://goo.gl/ MnQuz5
6. Jack-in-the-Box, an area used for flea markets, street food and other events. https://goo.gl/3yuTsw
7. After the 13/09/2015 terrorist attacks. https://goo.gl/e9NJnC
8. Protest during the Paris Climate Summit. https://goo.gl/gYclK4
9. After the refugee camp demolition. https://goo.gl/9N5l2z
10. Nuit Debout, a speaker addresses the crowd. https://goo.gl/nzD4mP
11. Youth unrest after Nuit Debout. https:// goo.gl/dBkIhM
12. Augmented Reality App Pokemon Go https://goo.gl/m2Wq8d
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13. Jade Richardson, Castlemilk Youth Complex 13/04/2017
14. St David’s, the smallest city in the UK with a population of 1,841. It’s city status comes from the cathedral of the same name. https://goo.gl/KAvIF7
15. Milton Keynes, designated a new town in 1967 with a population of 229,941. It does not have city status as the UK requires a Cathedral and decree by royal charter for a town to declare itself a city. https://goo.gl/xv6dJa
16. Glasgow, twice the European City of Culture, with a population of 598,830. https://goo.gl/Hm24Z9
17. Hannah Green, Intimate moments amongst the crowd, Times Square, New
18. Hannah Green, Displays of civil inattention on the Tokyo Metro, September 2015.
19. Hannah Green, The biggest crossing in the world, yet no one bumps into each other. Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo, September 2015.
20. Dakota Pipeline Protests https://goo. gl/YdNONR
21. Total number of virtual protesters Screenshot, Facebook, 07/05/2017
22. Speaker’s Corner, Hyde Park, London UK https://goo.gl/uaUMkI
23. Public Space: Trafalgar Square, London UK https://goo.gl/KmQCAj
24. The atrium of the Trump Tower is technically public space. https://goo.gl/ Y6VthH
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Image References
25. Hannah Green, Man sits on the ground due to ‘defensive architecture’, the spiked uninviting bench, New York, July 2011.
26. Hannah Green, A man rests on an inviting ledge on the corner of a park, New York, 2011.
27. Hannah Green, A man rests in Union Square Park, New York, 2011.
28. Jubilee Place at Canary Wharf, London https://goo.gl/fUi1Cd
29. Paternoster Square, open-aired private space that looks public, 2011. https://goo. gl/NqukeZ
30. Prevention of entry and protest in Paternoster Square, 2011.https://goo.gl/ NqukeZ
31. Hannah Green, A resident chess player challenges a young girl, Union Street Park, New York, 2011.
32. Heavily regulated and controlled ‘market’ https://goo.gl/90ESM5
33. Jane Jacobs, journalist turned activist https://goo.gl/sVFe3O
34. Washington Square Park, NYC 1963 https://goo.gl/fuSnXz
35. John Perry Barlow with Bill Gates, 1991 https://goo.gl/8M9EFQ
36. Second Life game footage https://goo. gl/JQdibe
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37. SwapBots, an augmented reality experience designed for children where the physical toy is as important as the augmentation. https://goo.gl/ X9EILm
38. Hannah Green, Engagement tool from the first workshop with 12-15yrs, Castlemilk Youth Complex, 10/04/2017
39. Hannah Green, Pre-users (11yrs) interview tool, Castlemilk Youth Complex, 13/04/2017
40. Hannah Green, User feedback with 1114yrs Studio Club 5678, 09/05/2017
41. MySpace profile from early 2000, https://goo.gl/dEoPpg
42. Teenagers in East Durham, 2004-5, https://goo.gl/6OGUGL
43. Hannah Green, John V Lindsay Park, a very different sort of ‘emptiness’ from the run down parks and urban spaces of Castlemilk. New York, 2011.
44. (Reluctant) Participation in group activities, heavy use of phones. Jade Richardson, Castlemilk Youth Complex, 13/04/2017
45. ‘Would you Rather’ group interview tool. Hannah Green, Castlemilk Youth Complex, 10/04/2017
46. Snapchat facial recognition and filters https://goo.gl/R1xBDV
47. Dodgeball interface https://goo.gl/ JwM6Zg
48. Facebook’s check in function Screenshot, Facebook, 07/05/2017
44
Image References
49. Foursquare Interface https://goo.gl/ aQQ6Ei
50. Reign of Gold, Augmented Reality intervention for AR Occupy Wall Street. With police escort for traders entering the NY Stock Exchange, 2012. https://goo.gl/AQIOE2
51. A group of friends playing Pokemon Go https://goo.gl/2G1l9v
52. Individual players form crowds as they pursue the same goal https://goo.gl/ RGMjHi
53. Hannah Green, Sittable space, Bryant Park, New York, 2011.
54. Hannah Green, An office worker reappropriates a bench as a makeshift suit hanger, Tower Bridge, London, 2012.
55. Hannah Green, Petanque, Bryant Park, New York, 2011.
56. Street performers as Triangulation. https://goo.gl/CcwKvi
57. Dubuffet’s Group of Four Trees, New York, one example of Triangulation highlighted by Whyte in the documentary. https://goo.gl/fZIUno
58. The mug waiting for it’s virtual other half https://goo.gl/ykdv6q
59. Utilising AR to make your date like you https://goo.gl/pj5IJ8
60. Gamification of the supermarket in AR https://goo.gl/MrGa9l
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61. Hannah Green, Pre-teens playing with AR book Castlemilk Youth Complex, 13/04/2017
64. Hannah Green, Two men knock rhythmically on the wooden rail of Tower Bridge, changing its function from utility into music. London, 2012.
46
62. Hannah Green, A woman reappropriates a bollard to use as a seat, Tower Bridge Riverside, London 2012.
63. Hannah Green, A girl clambers over the wall of Tower Bridge to get a better view, changing its function from a way over into a playground. London, 2012.
Bibliography
Interviews Anonymous, Three teenage girls (2017) On their use of mobile technology and attitudes to the city, Interviewed by Hannah Green (in person), Glasgow, 7th April. Anonymous, Independent Developer for Hololens (2017) On the elderly users of mixed reality and the role of design in developing augmented reality, Interviewed by Hannah Green (in person), Manchester, 23rd February. Allen, P. Senior Lecturer in New Media Design, Bradford University (2017) On the difference between augmented space and augmented reality, Interviewed by Hannah Green (in person), Manchester, 23rd February. Bergqvist, H. AR Book Producer, Books&Magic (2017) On augmented reality and children’s books, education and ‘analog’ media, Interviewed by Hannah Green (in person), London, 17th January. Castle, M. Founder of VRtize (2017) On media and space within virtual and augmented reality, Interviewed by Hannah Green (in person), London, 16th January. Gratton, D. CEO of Work at Play (2017) On augmented reality and the philosophy of interaction, focusing on Hololens, Interviewed by Hannah Green (in person), London, 16th January. Green, R. Architect (2017) On urban architecture and public space, Interviewed by Hannah Green (via email), 23rd March. Javornik, A. Research Associate at UCL and Rauschnabel, P Assistant Professor of Marketing at University of Michigan-Dearborn (2017) On marketing research in augmented reality and the role of design, Interviewed by Hannah Green (in person), Manchester, 23rd February. Reilly, J. Primary School Teacher (2017) On age appropriate research tools and activities for young people, Interviewed by Hannah Green (via email), 5th April. Stevens, J. Youth Worker (2017) On teen culture and behaviours, Interviewed by Hannah Green (in person and via email), Glasgow, 10 -13th April.
Workshops Castlemilk Youth Complex, IndiYouth Unit (2017) Part 1: Understanding attitudes and use of mobile technology and the city, Designed & Conducted by Hannah Green, Glasgow, 10th April 2017. Castlemilk Youth Complex, IndiYouth Unit (2017) Part 2: Co-Design a teen orientated space, Designed & Conducted by Hannah Green, Glasgow, 13th April 2017. Castlemilk Youth Complex, IndiYouth Unit (2017) Pre-Users: Understanding attitudes and use of mobile technology, transportation and level of independence, Designed & Conducted by Hannah Green, Glasgow, 13th April. Studio Club 5678, After School Club (2017) User Engagement & Concept Testing, Designed & Conducted by Hannah Green, Glasgow, 9th May.
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Conferences & Key Talks Allen, P. (2017) ‘Being In’: Exploring Augmented Space, the media layer and human engagement. [Lecture] International AR and VR Conference, 23rd February. Daukintis, P. & Taulty, M.(2017) HoloLens 101. [Lecture] VR Connects Conference, 16th January. Gillis, G. (2017) Immersive Technology – The Implication For Creating Engagement To Drive Marketing. [Lecture] VR Connects Conference, 16th January. Gratton, D. (2017) What Makes A Good App Choice Today For Mixed Reality. [Lecture] VR Connects Conference, 16th January. Hilton, A. (2017) Future Visions Session: What’s Next For Mixed Reality? [Lecture] VR Connects Conference, 17th January. Hoppe, D. (2017) Virtual Experience, Real Risks – Avoiding Liability In The New VR/AR World. [Lecture] VR Connects Conference, 16th January. Johnson, D. (2017) The What, Where, and Why of VR. [Lecture] VR Connects Conference, 16th January. Johnson, D. (2017) The Virtual Right Stuff: Pushing the Limits of Reality. [Lecture] International AR and VR Conference, 23rd February. Koeck, R. (2017) Inhabiting the Image of the City. [Lecture] International AR and VR Conference, 23rd February. Koterwas, T. (2017) Augmenting Reality in Museums through Interactive Virtual Models. [Lecture] International AR and VR Conference, 23rd February. Miller, E. (2017) Localisation Technology For Augmented Reality. [Lecture] VR Connects Conference, 16th January. Reich, W. (2017) How To Convince Mobile Gamers To Use Mobile VR. [Lecture] VR Connects Conference, 16th January. Stone, B. (2017) Blending the Best of the Real with the Best of the Virtual: Mixed Reality Case Studies in Healthcare and Defence. [Lecture] International AR and VR Conference, 23rd February. Windsor, S. (2017) VR – The Imagination Game. [Lecture] VR Connects Conference, 16th January.
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