Smart Phones: Urban Life & Urban Design
¦as much impact on towns and cities as the motor car?
A highly interactive event for anyone who wants to learn more about this new and rapidly developing technology and how they can be employed in urban life and design - from technophobes who understand people and cities but not smartphones, to computer-geniuses keen to try out their ideas on others.
Speakers will focus on currently available technology and apps and examine their implications including public consultation, involvement and participative democracy; travel patterns and the potential for increased public transport use; plus the use of Smartphones as a tool for urban design.
Introduction from event Chair Ian Ralph (Alan Baxter Associates)
An overview of the world of smart phones and apps
o What are apps?
o Where can you find or buy them?
o Whats popular?
Surprises inside your Smartphone : A five minute tour - Robert Huxford (UDG Director)
o GPS - What it is? How does it work?
o Accelerometer - movement sensor
o Gyroscope - movement sensor
o Magnetometer - compass
o Camera (s) - light sensor
o Microphone - air pressure change sensor
o Barometer - air pressure sensor
o What all this means and why it matters!
Impact on Public Transport - Gareth Sumner (Transport for London)
Take the waiting and uncertainty out of using public transport - with a Smartphone you can now find bus stops and when buses are due, look up train timetables and much more. Gareth will share his unrivalled insight into the practicalities of how these apps actually function.
Impact of smart ICT on urban life -Anna Anastasiou (Dar Al-Handasah)
o The positives and negatives of ICT use
o What kinds of people use Smartphones and how do they use them?
o User engagement with the physical public space
o Urban case studies (projects that show a variety of urban spaces where ICT is considered and involved as a primary influence upon their design)
Smart Tags and the quality of place - Derby City Council
Derby City Council has incorporated smart tags in its way-finding system, encouraging people to interact with the surrounding built environment in different and novel ways. Now, two years after the implementation of the scheme, data suggests there is a clear link between the use of these tags and the quality of the places to which they relate.
Practical use of Smartphones: The London Trials -Andrew Stuck (Rethinking Cities)
For the past 4 months Andrew has been leading groups of people around the streets of London, trying out the various technology and apps available including;
o Basic navigation
o Finding shops and facilities
o Geo-tagging
o Augmented reality
o Fun & games
o Shopping
o Potential use in public consultations
o Networked Neighbourhood
o 'hyper-local journalism'
o 'citizen science
This is a major study which has revealed the capabilities of the apps currently available and how this matches peoples ability to use them. Andrew will share his insights on how things might develop in the future
