Networked City and Society

Federico Casalegno and Pelin Arslan

Rethinking urbanism in a sustainable way promotes social and economic inclusion as well as environmental consciousness with an aim of creating resilient cities. At the core of the idea of sustainable cities is the notion of solving urban problems from a holistic approach analyzing overlapping issues, understanding co-relations and foreseeing long lasting solution strategies through collaboration with various actors in the urban system.

Sustainable cities are also connected cities, employing ubiquitous, networked intelligence to ensure not only the efficient and responsible use of the scarce resources particularly energy and water that are required for a citys operation, together with the effective management of waste products that a city produces, such as carbon emissions to the atmosphere, but also the democratization of individuals participative ideas through media locative tools. The principal evolutionary eras here are:

Skeletons and skins. The earliest cities consisted of little more than skeleton and skin. They provided walls, floors, and roofs for shelter and protection, in combination with simple structural skeletons to hold them up. The intelligence needed to operate these cities resided in the heads of their inhabitants.

Mechanical metabolisms. In the industrial era, urban networks multiplied, differentiated, and grew in scale. Furthermore, they added mechanical metabolic systems and massive infrastructures to the skeletons and skins that they had traditionally provided. These systems then became major consumers of energy and producers of waste and pollution.

Electronic nervous systems. At the dawn of the electronic era, buildings and cities began to develop primitive nervous systems. Telegraph, telephone, and radio communication systems provided the first artificial nerves. These allowed architectural and urban systems to develop simple reflexes and feedback loops.

Internet era. In this era, the primitive nervous systems rapidly evolved into something approximating the advanced nervous systems of higher organisms. Ubiquitous digital networks supplanted the older analog networks and formed a new kind of urban infrastructure. Distributed systems of networked computers and server farms became the brains of cities. Pervasive sensing connected vast, new streams of data about urban activities to these brains. In future, the flows of resources into cities, the processing and distribution of materials, energy, and products, the coordination of the actions of individuals and organizations, and the eventual removal or recycling of waste can be increasingly informed, coordinated, and controlled by the new, rapidly growing, digital nervous systems.

Informed, responsible choices In our digitally networked, information-saturated era, ignorance of the consequences can be no excuse for ill-considered actions. It is increasingly possible to keep close track of our energy, water, and carbon footprints so that we can evaluate the sustainability consequences of our daily choices and actions. We have, at our fingertips, the tools and computation power to enable participation in sophisticated new fields, such as media, learning and wellbeing. Connected sustainable cities will encourage new forms of personal and group responsibility, and will establish powerful incentives to meet those responsibilities.

Like individuals, government institutions and businesses be they small or medium enterprises, or large corporations also have responsible choices to make. The success of a connected sustainable city depends on coordinated policy and action in the development and introduction of information and communication technologies. Governments at every level (federal, regional, municipal) need to adopt policies and regulations that promote such choices. Worldwide organizations also play a crucial role, and are especially important in fostering the development of connected sustainable cities and social sustainability.

The next generation of ICT tools New tools and applications are becoming available that make it less expensive, easier, and more effective than ever to coordinate collective action among people that can promote sustainable development and behavior. Often referred to as Web 2.0, these

technologies allow easier knowledge and information sharing, both crucial to the development of connected sustainable cities. Boyd (2009) and Shirky (2008) argue that the ease with which we can now connect, communicate, produce, share, replicate, locate and distribute information has had, and continues to have, a profound impact on our social, cultural and technological practices. On these emerging collaborative platforms, people can share and capitalize on lessons learned from best practices around the world. These types of tools can advance the rise of new bottom-up cultures of decision-making and promote civic engagement on topics of great importance, encouraging people to get involved and take action locally and on a global level.

As mobile devices with high-quality recording abilities proliferate, production of media content that is then uploaded, shared, and disseminated on social networks is becoming increasingly common. The intellectual and creative process inherent in media creation lends itself well towards engaging people within their communities to discover, explore, contribute and discuss issues around sustainability. This motivates participants to explore related topics in their local environment and consequently creates trust among government, people and cities.

Locast: Location-based Open Platform Locast platform explores new ways to implement information and communication technologies to cities and urban areas. Locast technology developed by the MIT Mobile Experience Lab allows a realization of this aim through different ways of achieving

sustainable urbanism: creating new cultural and social expressions, collaborative problem solving abilities, and civic engagement. Locast is an open locative-media platform, http://locast.mit.edu/, that combines web and mobile applications to allow geo-located media production and interaction. The Locast platform consists of three main components. Locast Web: the web-based interface, Locast core: the backend and API, and Locast Mobile: an Android-based mobile application. Locast technology is an integrated platform that combines mobile and web tools to enable users creating individual and collective narratives, disseminating content and creating community related conversations. People produce their own media elements through Locast mobile and web application and share their activities on a location-based map in real time. The Locast framework allows people to produce user generated content with geo-locative information and share their point of view on a participatory media platform. This social platform helps people, communities, and entities to explore new opportunities through social interaction in the Locast community and enable to exchange ideas with decision makers. The outcomes of Locast tool aims to improve connections between people, their social, cultural and physical spaces. This framework enables people to share their knowledge practices and collaborate in content generation to generate more democratic and collaborative environments. Locast technology has been used to address various issues and provide insights into current practice approaches in sustainable urbanism: civic engagement, capturing memories, and participatory learning. As an example in civic engagement as citizen

journalism practice, Locast Civic Media aims to engage citizenship in the process of collecting, reporting and disseminating news and information related to the urban environment. The platform incentivizes citizens proactive role through Locast open publishing tools, community self-regulation, social circulation of content, collaborative authoring as well as other production tools to improve the dynamics of an individuals works, conversations and collaborations.

The emphasis is on bringing together urban conversations with civic knowledge sharing practices for building information-based communities. Nelimarkka (2008) and Rheingold (2002) stated that mobile communication is becoming an effective instrument to strengthen civic bonds through the empowerment of individuals, the creation of ad-hoc networks and the proliferation of information. Locast mobile application enables the user to create street reports (casts) through video and audio content and decide whether to produce them individually or to involve peers in large scale reports on a specific topic and/or urban area projects. Casts and projects are created, collected and shared in real time on Locast websites where the entire members community can join the conversation with comments and further casts. The Locast Civic Media project has been deployed in Porto Alegre, Brasil with 25 media and communication students and 11 reporters. The participants were encouraged to freely use Locast to explore as many urban scenarios as possible according to personal interests and relations with the city spaces. The list of topics contained although were not limited to social and cultural aspects regarding city neighborhoods, local communities, ongoing

grassroots activities, subcultures, and popular events. Various types of media forms were also created from life capture, reports, interviews, breaking news to coverage, point of view narrations, investigations and sequential narrations. The participants had the opportunity to report news in their local area in real time and share problems with policy makers, and citizens. Another practiced approach to citizen as street smart mapper is the Locast Youth Mapping project which explores mobile and web tools to help youth in Rio de Janeiro to build impactful, communicative digital maps reporting problems in their community. MIT Mobile Experience Lab collaborated with UNICEFs Social and Civic Media section the Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science (PLOTS) to develop the mapping tools. The project uses traditional media combined with new technologies including social networking tools, SMS and digital mapping to empower the youth to play an active role in society. Through a mobile phone application, youth produce a real-time portrait of their community creating geo-located photos and videos, organized as thematic maps. As a result of deploying the project in Rio de Janeiro in a one week timeframe, the main issues to emerge were as following: 374 reports on walking hazards, accumulation of garbage, sewage problems, collapse risk, power line problems, faulty stairs. These outcomes are an example of participative actions resulting in requests for governmental action leading to community benefits.

The mapping exercise enabled young people to contribute to raising awareness about the vulnerabilities they face in their community and to preventative planning. . Participants played an active role in identifying and communicating risks to local officials, thereby taking ownership in the process. The project showed that youth-led digital mapping is a compelling tool to articulate adolescents concerns on social and environmental topics to local officials. The initiative generated positive outcomes that directly impact the lives of young people in favelas. It increased the advocacy capacity of community actors, drew visibility to existing challenges and created off-line community changes. In addition, it contributed to more inclusive, secure, and participatory actions aimed at reducing risks and disparities in the city.

Another approach to improve sustainability patterns in an urban environment is to enable learning and developing awareness on local issues. In collaboration with the Museum of Science in Trento- Italy, Locast H2flow illustrates how a locative participatory media platform has the potential to strengthen connections between people, places, and information on local and regional environmental issues. The project was designed around the circumstances and contexts of this region, which feature glaciers that are melting at an alarming rate. The area is rich in natural water resources as well as high-quality tap water; yet the consumption of bottled water is widespread in the area and the fabrication of the plastic bottles and their transport by road means that a great amount of fossil fuel is burned, a contributor to global warming.

Students used a mobile application to create geo-located video content. Investigating the prospect of using mobile devices for guided video production, this application moderates the learning process by providing tasks to complete and video templates that structure the individual video content. The tasks were designed to be experienced by a student sequentially, progressing through the content in a way that is meant to aid in their understanding of the overall topic of water use and sustainability in their community. In completing the task, a student is guided through video creation, and is given the opportunity to communicate their own interpretation and understanding of a topic, ultimately producing individual scenes of a larger narrative. The students cooperate in groups of four to five, and conduct interviews with the public. They additionally participate in role-playing scenarios, taking the role of reporters, environmental activists or private water company owners. Through this process, students study the topic from multiple perspectives using media generation templates: private versus public water, greenhouse gas emission, overall climate change, the melting glaciers, as well as the cultural value of water for their local community. The application could be extended into an educational curriculum in schools academic calendar.

Memories are yet another aspect of a resilient cities. A city without a memory is like a dry city without a soul. Expressing and discovering memories in the city reveals the spirit of the historical, cultural and social values as well as identity. Memories sprout throughout the city and reflect emotional attachments to places. The Memory Traces

Project in collaboration with the Italian Consulate of Boston allows storytellers to describe their experiences and memories in a narrative approach. The potential of storytelling through new interactive media combines the digital environment with the physical urban environment. The project is an interactive collection of stories of Italians immigrants who live in Boston. 150 episodes of experiences and memories have been captured in an open source platform where geo-located video stories overlaid on a map of the city can be filtered by person, time, period or theme on the projects website http://locast.mit.edu/memorytraces/.

Conclusion

Better cities will emerge through participation of people, facilitating sociotechnological change through the convergence of industry, government and community for more sustainable outcomes.

In this chapter, some examples have been given through application of user generated and practice- based applications directed towards developing more resilient and sustainable cities. Here, new information and communication technologies and their applications represent key ingredients for future change in major urban sectors as well as cities and their built environments. Innovation is achievable through collaborating, engaging, participating and creating synergies.

Cities have evolved in different forms throughout the years depending on social, cultural, economic and environmental factors. Culture, global economy, climate, social issues have changed the places we live from skeleton skins to physiological cities. It is true that cities now have a nerve system, so it is important to explore new strategies, approaches and tools to involve residents and encourage them to participate in the decision making process, developing awareness related to the environment in which they are living, acting, producing and consuming.

However, a more holistic approach, benefitting from innovative uses of ICT platforms, can embrace shared media production and consumption practices fostering social connections, sparking citizen participation and improving the sense of community belonging at a range of scales - from citywide to the local neighborhoods.

It should be possible in the 21st century for everyone to participate in the process of sustainability through learning, civic engagement, and participatory urbanism so that cities can be livable and environmentally sustainable, as well as competitive, productive, socially inclusive, and resilient.

References Boyd, D. (2009). Taken Out of Context: American Teen Sociality in Networked Publics(Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley). Retrieved from[insert any DOI] Mitchell, J.M., Caselegno, F. (2008). Connected Sustainable Cities, USA, Mobile Experience Lab Publishing. Cambridge. Nelimarkka, M. (2008). The use of ubiquitous media in politics: how ubiquitous life effects into political life today and what might happen in the future in MindTrek '08 Proceedings of the 12th international conference on Entertainment and media in the ubiquitous era. New York. ACM Press Rheingold, H. (2002). Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. Perseus Publishing. Shirky, C. (2008). Here comes everybody. Penguin Press. Federconsumatori. (2008). Acqua in bottiglia:laffare dellacqua 2008, Retrieved March 2011, http://www.federconsumatoripisa.it/29-09- 2008/acqua-bottiglia-laffare-dellacqua. IPCC, (2007). Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. World Wide Fund for Nature. Retrieved March 2011 http://assets.panda.org/downloads/glacierspaper.pdf

End Notes
1

Rio environmental mapping is part of The Social and Civic Media Sections global Digital Empowerment and Advocacy initiative (DEA). The local implementing partner Centro Desenvolvimento Apoio Programa Sade (CEDAPS) is a civil society organization that aims to develop the autonomy and capacity of impoverished communities by promoting equity, a better health and quality of life.