Exploring new digital affordances of city life

Abstract

Digital services are becoming an integral part of the city fabric and are increasingly central to the ways in which we collectively experience cities. In this work, we are particularly concerned with the infrastructural elements that cities may offer to enable a deeper connection with their inhabitants. Our research goal is to uncover emerging signs of new Urban Digital Affordances that are making their way into the city fabric and changing behaviours of citizens and visitors. Based on the results of a photo survey involving 4 European cities, we have identified 5 emerging concepts of physical-digital services in urban spaces: Locative, Anchors, Hybrids, False Hybrids and Digital Counterparts. Understanding the properties of these engagement concepts can help cities to be much more efficient in promoting creative uses of digital technologies in urban space. It may also help to develop new infrastructures that explore these same principles to accomplish new forms of citizen engagement and move beyond ephemeral high-profile installations or generic and basic infrastructures.