Technoculture(s)

A new challenge: connecting UL09 with UrbanLabs010

The concept of UrbanLabs originated from our perception that there was an opportunity to accelerate change in the city by gathering stakeholders in urban phenomena under the digital culture umbrella . We set ourselves to the goals of awakening the civic conscience of those with technological capability, bringing together urban managers and new digital urban designers and promoting  practical outcomes by letting them work on projects, not just listening to talks.

However, we didn't reject the traditional conference format. This time talks were more focused on the potentiality of the digital discourse about the city. Dave Harte, Juan Freire, Adam Greenfield, Ben Cerveny, Laura Forlano, Dana Spiegel and Antonina Simeti, each one in his or her own way and from their own perspectives and experiences, shared concepts, methods, projects and results. They helped us understand  how to drive the complexity of urban (re)design from the digital culture standpoint.


In comparison with UrbanLabs08, we attracted more professionals from architecture and city management who were responsive to the "call of the digital".

We also tested a first specialized workshop format, Fabien Girardin's LIFT workshop on urban computing.

The method of work we first tried in UrbanLabs08 was intensified thanks to the "broths" managed by Platoniq who also introduced some humor. In addition to creatives, technologists, architects and activists  I  saw plain citizens joining the project tables. Still, they were  a minority This is something  we must consider seriously  if we want UrbanLabs to generate projects of real interest to citizens.

We still have to work hard so that participants leave UrbanLabs with something more than an endorphine surge.

Fortunately, a very enthusiastic community is emerging around UrbanLabs. It can evolve into a good mix of all these types of people. The UrbanLabs Club or UrbanLabs Rebooted  may start in the form of a regular meeting format. Sure Chris, and  the Citilab entire staff will put all our best to make it successful and to improve continuity between one UrbanLabs and the next one.

Meanwhile, it is good to share criticisms, suggestions and new ideas for the the next UrbanLabs010 here.

Dusk after Breakout and a new beginning

(Sunset today from Cornella on my ride back to Citilab, when Breakout finished)

I was cycling back to Citilab after an exhilarating BreakOut Session at WTC Almeda Park and tried to draw some lessons from the whole set of views, experiences, feelings, questions and answers that were zig zagging in my mind as I avoided cars and pedestrians. On top of that I almost got too distracted by the setting sun, a perfect counterpart to this morning's sunrise. So, I stopped, shot and wrote down some notes for a while. Still in a big need for further elaboration here are some thoughts on today's experience.

The format(s)

We explored today two Breakout formats simultaneously :

- A Hackathon: Smalltalkers met developers of FluidDB to work out together doubts and details about how to proceed on towards their goal to create a connection for FluidDB in Smalltalk. They advanced enormously. In this format you start with a plan and use the Hackathon to go as fast as you can together.
- A Jelly, this is a "get together and see what we can learn from each other" format, so to speak. So, first thing in the morning was to put together on the spot a  To-Do list that participants tried to cover. However, the main goal is to (a) get to know each other and (b) find new partners and projects. 

 From what I could gather today both formats worked well and participants were happy with what they achieved. Scheduled five-minute "lightning talks" helped to catch up with the interests and projects of others.

A possible general lesson, for those still prisoners of the business networking frame of mind: "networking while doing" works faster and better than cocktails and business card exchange: you really get to know people!. And this is a lesson that can be used in other settings, not necessarily outdoors.

I liked one comment from one Smalltalker " I wonder why we haven't done this before"  (i.e., "why we haven't met before in this way"). Let's change meetings for "work-togethers".

The message

People got several ideas here: "coworking is important", "work can be done in better spaces than current offices", "open space is as good as any office to do work", "... and it is more fun", "technology and digital culture bring in new ways of working", "wireless in public spaces is really important", "urban spaces should be designed to accommodate new ways of working" , "meeting face to face is important", "we need other types of urban space", were some of the ones that I heard. There were many more. We will see what comes out of the survey that was prepared on the spot by our friends of the University of Barcelona

Interestingly enough, the media (plenty of them showed up) stressed the relation of what we were doing with the existence and access to an information infrastructure. It was this more than stressing the fact that we were showing that new ways of working were possible ... if the access was already there or that the ways of working that stem from digital culture can be used in many other settings and influence how urban public space or office space is designed. 

Some of them even interpreted the Breakout session just as an event to demand free open municipal wifi (which is great but was never expressed explicitly as our main goal) . Not all media, stressed our interesed in using the forms of collaboration of digital culture in public spaces, and, our goal to use the event to spark reflection and debate  in those concerned (from citizens to urban designers) and, yes, advocating the place of information infrastructure in the wider setting of the city  ... but we tried hard to convey other ideas also:

- Breakout is a research project as much as it is a mobilization initiative

- Breakout is an international collaboration

- The knowledge that comes out of it is useful for business, coworkers, urban designers and administration (City Councils) as well as the general citizen.

And, on the funny side, we have evidence that there is a lesson even for technology designers too!: sun was so bright today that the shade of trees was not enough, neither the tarpaulin that we used. So, some people proved themselves to be great tinkerers and solved the problem with what they had at hand ;-)

The people

It was enjoyable to see how people shared a common space on a sunny autumn day. I had to say that everyone was really enthusiastic and cooperative. Some people from the offices around WTC expressed their interest in joining on their way to or back from the coffee or lunch break. There were two types of companies: those that invited their employees to go down to the square... and those who resisted it or forbid it completely. So there were two types of employees´ reaction´s:  "great! Here I am!" and "If only my boss would allow ....". A lot to investigate here.

Backgrounds, professions and interests were diverse but dialogue was possible: architects, computer programmers, translators, web designers, community managers, sociologists, university professors, ...

It is not so difficult to get people working together then.

Citilab volunteers where great and enjoyed a lot the experience. 

The process

What probably interested me most was the kind of processes that the formats allowed. Mostly they boiled down to an acceleration of ongoing collaborations. We are trying to see what interventions can facilitate or  stop altogether this possibility. In due time we hope to evolve a "methodology" that can be exported to other settings and cooperation goals.

What has started here

Well, the next Breakout Session date will be decided tomorrow.

And there are a lot of new possibilities to explore at UrbanLabs09 around what we have learned today

Finally we also have in Breakout a reference, an experience that makes it easier to show what we try to do in and around Citilab: changing the city and the patterns that evolve on it by spreading the ways of digital technology practice. 

But this is just a fast account. More about it soon.All in all a beautiful day and not only for the simple reason that we could se the sun rise and set beautifully and in good company.