Cyber-physical devices in urban design: towards the improvement of liveability in public space

Abstract

Cyber-physical devices are the backbone of a postdigital society in which social, virtual and real spaces are seamlessly integrated by ubiquitous computing and networking. Holistic approaches to urban dynamics cannot minimize the interplay between these spaces and the processes of such entanglement by interfacing augmented urban devices, and the societal pressing challenges of sustainability. The literature review and the production of an original case studies Atlas allowed to: (i) identify major trends on devices’ design and deployment strategies, which, alongside a workshop, fed the design guidelines of a multidisciplinary R&D Project ́s use case demonstrator; (ii) suggest the rising of new (or enhanced) types of urban devices that are the expression of sustainability concerns; and (iii) ascertain three main framing concepts (digital twin, interface and awareness) in light of what seems to be a necessary process of reviewing established urban design theories given a novel highly digitally mediated (virtual) reality.