2012.05.03
http://events.gsapp.org/event/x-cities-5-apps-that-engage
This was the fifth, and last, event in our spring X-Cities series, in which Fast Company’s Greg Lindsay and the Institute for the Future’s Anthony Townsend moderated a series of conversations that cast a much-needed critical eye on “smart city” hype.
While corporations code invisible new urban operating systems to automate energy and traffic networks, city governments and citizen-developers face the far more daunting task of designing engaging interfaces that connect citizens to government, each other, and the built environment.
Early efforts simply opened up a hodge podge of existing city databases to developers, as cities went on a fishing expedition for apps. The results were not impressive. Now, they are getting smarter and commissioning more targeted projects that address real citizen needs and support broader policy agendas.
Joining us to explore this rapidly expanding design space, as computing moves off the desktop and into the streets, was Hana Schank, Principal at Collective User Experience, and Jake Barton, founder of museum and public space design firm Local Projects. We discussed Schank’s recent critique of city-sponsored technology projects in New York, as well as Barton’s award-winning efforts to beef up the Big Apple’s citizen-centered capabilities.
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