After successful completion of the course, students are able to:
Design and create virtual prototypes of spatial elements that reflect the new realities of platform urbanism. We will then combine these elements and collectively work on a phantasmatic virtual environment with the working title ‘Cityverse – a speculative utopia under dataveillance’.
1. Creatively engage with the phenomenon of platform urbanism: discover the impact of data technologies on urban life; delve into how platform industries not only reshape the digital landscape but also influence the physical design of urban spaces.2. Explore the potential of a visual language (in theory and practise) based on spatial patterns for public discussion of new urban morphologies. Propose an analysis of a chosen urban element and translate it into digital composition. 3. Learn to visualize your concept through 3d scanning, animation, sound composition, computer simulations or interactive programming.4. Basics of unity software will be explained. Depending on your project needs there will be further support in the 3d modeling (Blender), video cutting (premiere) or sound software (Ableton).5. Students will have a possibility to show their project outcomes in a self- organized exhibition setting.
@ Warner Bros Pictures - Barbieland
„every click, every move has the potential to count for something, for someone somewhere somehow.” (Gitelman 2013) We're currently experiencing a "Data Renaissance," where data is seen as a "gold mine" and referred to as "the new oil of the Internet and the new currency of the digital world," fueling our latest speculative bubble. (Gitelman 2013). Presenting the illusion of individualism, our urban spaces and daily lives are being shaped by highly standardized transactions and multiplied solutions. Google Maps navigates us through the complexity of geolocations, providing information on traffic congestion in return. Lime e-scooters accelerate our walking tempo, collecting private movement patterns in exchange, while vacuum cleaning robots perfect our living spaces for the cost of a floor plan. Mass-scale data exchange profoundly influences city planning, with companies like Google and Meta emerging as major players in a capitalist-driven urbanization. Yet, this influence operates on their terms and conditions. Do you consciously choose to live in a Truman Show or BarbieLand?
Platform urbanism
Urban living has been profoundly reshaped by data technologies and platform services, fundamentally altering our city experiences. Access to digital platforms is increasingly crucial for participation in key aspects of urban life, with a few platform companies monopolizing the benefits of this connectivity, exerting unprecedented control (Mörtenböck, Mooshammer 2021). This shift is contrasted with the thesis that the rise of platform industries not only impacts the organization of urban life (the software of cities) but also extends to the material design of urban spaces (the hardware of cities). Considering the central role of data collection and pattern recognition in these processes, a potential avenue for public discussion emerges- using a visual language rooted in spatial patterns to explore these new urban forms (Mörtenböck, Mooshammer 2021).
We invite you to embark on a (mid)journey through algorithms. Have a chat about the future of architecture with OpenAI. Explore urban utopias on platforms like Earth2, decentralized options, or spatial.io. Alternatively, immerse yourself in the physical world- lose yourself in the city in offline mode. Inspired by architectural pattern languages, we will develop a multi-scalar language of typological form. Reflect, criticize, or contribute to the development of new forms of urbanism through the lens of a game engine. With the assistance of Unity software, let's craft our own cityverse- a digital world as a critical response to dataism. What kind of world can you truly envision living in?
Timeplan:Introduction to the theme and theory, practical workshop in the unity, introduction to the metaverse: 4 sessions (Thursday 14:00- 17:00), 14 March, 21 March, 11 April, 25 April Element proposal, asset creation, collective experiment in unity/ cityverse: 3 sessions (Thursday 14:00-17:00), 2 May, 16 May, 23 May Preparation for the exhibition: 2 sessions (Thursday 14:00-17:00), 6 June, 13 June
Final exhibition : 27.6.2024
Literature:- Platform Urbanism and Its Discontents, Peter Mörtenböck, Helge Mooshammer - Data Feminism, Catherine D’Ignazio, Lauren F. Klein - Raw Data is an Oxymoron, Lisa Gitelman - Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming, Anthony Dunne, Fiona Raby - A Cyborg Manifesto, Donna Haraway
Active participation; project work; presentations as well as the final exhibition.