Open Urbanism

The transition from physical to virtual spaces means that there is less opportunity to physically interact in public spaces. Historically public spaces were used for celebration, today they are used for anonymous mobile calls. We would like to explore the ways in which the tangible aspect of physical space might be re-introduced into our virtual interactions through an exploration and discussion of - among other things - responsive architecture. The people in the panel above are Mouna Andraos, Francesca Birks, Joshua Kauffman, and Molly Wright. Side note about the amount of women.

Mouna Andraos worked on the Public Farm Installation Work AC did for PS1 last year. She is a designer and artist working on interactive objects and installations as well as in web, electronics and video. Recently she was a R&D fellow at Eyebeam's OpenLab where she researched the possibilities of open source and sustainable design.(wink) She's also been researching the intersection of established crafts and emerging technologies as a means to generate innovation. Lo tech Hi tech if you will. I appreciate the analogue digestions of technology.

Francesca Birks is an Analyst within London’s Foresight, Innovation & Incubation (FII) group at Arup, where she leads demographics research. This group identifies and researches emerging global trends which will have an impact on the built environment. She is also a researcher for Arup’s Drivers of Change initiative. She doesn't look at just the numbers but the stories of the demographic research behind the situations and the environments. She's pretty much studying the future.

By living in cities we have an operating system already inlaid. How do we hack the city? Is graffiti a hack?