Real-Time Cities: an Introduction to Urban Cybernetics Harvard Design School: SCI 0646900

Johnny Hazboun Exercise #3: Case Studies in Informationally Driven Actuation Real-Time Cities: an Introduction to Urban Cybernetics Harvard Design School: SCI 0646900 Spring 2014

1 | Smart Street Lights Project Video: http://youtu.be/HhHuOkN-2A4

1 | Smart Street Lights Which of the 10 possible categories of scenarios the Project belongs to? Solicits people’s needs Which sensing technology/ types of sensors are deployed to impliment spatial gaze? Movement sensors How the performance of the piece/instalation is conditioned? Conditioned the light to go on if there is car or pedestrian movement and go off if none.

1 | Smart Street Lights Which actuation technology is used to provide for dynamism of the piece? An electrical relay to turn the light on What connectivity technology is used to connect different parts of the informatically driven system at question? Movement sensor to electronic switch Is the system operates based on a memory of the past and/or anticipation of the future through recognition of past patterns? There is no memory involved in this system

1 | Smart Street Lights What is the extreme vision of the scenario? To spread the entire city with smart lights Why is the project significant? Saves energy Reduces light noise What do you identify as a poetic aspect to the logic of operation of the system at question? Consideration to the environment

1 | Smart Street Lights What challenges are inherent in deployment of the project or maintaining the integrity or level of operation of the system in the long run? The lifetime of the light technology could be shortened Movements of birds or other animals may provide false positives What is your evaluation of the design of the physical manifestation of the system in terms of its esthetics? The technology takes into consideration light noise in the city. Depending on the area however, it may be distracting to the neighbors. How can the system scale up or down to fit a different context of operation? How can its logic of operation or technology be re-appropriated for the different context? The project appears to be scalable as each light operates independently of the other. IN a high traffic area, the light may constantly stay on which defeats the purpose of the system.

1 | Smart Street Lights How the system will deal with nodal or total failure in operation? Since the project operates on a node basis, it could only face a modular failure What is the system’s logic of operation and information flow/architecture? If there’s a movement, then the light turns on. Recognition of a what is moving requires more technology so it is limited to movement sensors. What is the nature of actuation explored by the system? Does it explore generation of change that is registred through other senses beyond vision? It only utilized motion sensors

2| Park - Here Project Video: http://tinyurl.com/owz9c2r

2| Park – Here

2| Park - Here Which of the 10 possible categories of scenarios the Project belongs to? X. Adapting to new environmental conditions Which sensing technology/ types of sensors are deployed to impliment spatial gaze? Simple tension on a cord How the performance of the piece/instalation is conditioned? A car puts tension on the cord brings the balloon down to the ground rendering that parking spot occupied

1 | Sensing the City Which actuation technology is used to provide for dynamism of the piece? Balloon filled with Helium What connectivity technology is used to connect different parts of the informatically driven system at question? A cord Is the system operates based on a memory of the past and/or anticipation of the future through recognition of past patterns? Does not apply

2| Park - Here What is the extreme vision of the scenario? To add this balloon to every parking spot in the city Why is the project significant? Saves time in looking for a spot Saves gas Gets cars parked faster, reducing traffice What do you identify as a poetic aspect to the logic of operation of the system at question? Solving a big environment problem without the use of any digital, electronic and hardware technologies

2| Park - Here What challenges are inherent in deployment of the project or maintaining the integrity or level of operation of the system in the long run? The effect of Helium diminishes with time which makes maintenance not practical What is your evaluation of the design of the physical manifestation of the system in terms of its esthetics? Applicable to parking lots, but not sure it is to a city How can the system scale up or down to fit a different context of operation? How can its logic of operation or technology be re-appropriated for the different context? Scaling it could make maintenance costly

2| Park - Here How the system will deal with nodal or total failure in operation? If a balloon fails, drivers may not be able to see a vacant parking spot What is the system’s logic of operation and information flow/architecture? If the balloon is visible to the drivers in the parking lot, that means the parking spot is vacant What is the nature of actuation explored by the system? Does it explore generation of change that is registred through other senses beyond vision? Actuation is only done through the physical push on a rope. It does not go beyond vision

3| Musical Stairs http://youtu.be/ivg56TX9kWI

3| Musical Stairs Project Video: http://youtu.be/HhHuOkN-2A4

3| Musical Stairs Which of the 10 possible categories of scenarios the Project belongs to? The stairs communicate the designer’s concept and the audience engages with it Which sensing technology/ types of sensors are deployed to impliment spatial gaze? Pressure sensors How the performance of the piece/instalation is conditioned? If there is pressure on the step, to actuates the relevant musical note

3| Musical Stairs Which actuation technology is used to provide for dynamism of the piece? Electronic relay that translates the pressure on the step into having the sounds of the note relevant to that note emit the sound What connectivity technology is used to connect different parts of the informatically driven system at question? Electric connectivity Is the system operates based on a memory of the past and/or anticipation of the future through recognition of past patterns? No memory involved in this project.

3| Musical Stairs What is the extreme vision of the scenario? Regardless of the number of pedestrians, the sound to make a coherent song, by playing the next not in a particular song. Why is the project significant? Gets people to use the stairs rather than the escalator What do you identify as a poetic aspect to the logic of operation of the system at question? A reminder to play and stay active through music

1 | Sensing the City What challenges are inherent in deployment of the project or maintaining the integrity or level of operation of the system in the long run? Could turn too noisy to the neighborhood as there is no coherence to the steps. What is your evaluation of the design of the physical manifestation of the system in terms of its esthetics? Playful, engaging and useful How can the system scale up or down to fit a different context of operation? How can its logic of operation or technology be re-appropriated for the different context? Its conceptual I believe, not necessarily replicable. Only demonstrates the possibility of making simple stairs into an interactive object.

3| Musical Stairs How the system will deal with nodal or total failure in operation? Since pedestrians are not expecting the stairs to emit any sounds, a failure may not lead to complains. However, it may lead to the feeling of abandonment What is the system’s logic of operation and information flow/architecture? If there is someone stepping on a specific step, the sound of a not come out in an interval similar to a piano What is the nature of actuation explored by the system? Does it explore generation of change that is registred through other senses beyond vision? Answer… …

4| No Left Turn http://tinyurl.com/ofps3k9

4 | No Left Turn

4| No Left Turn Which of the 10 possible categories of scenarios the Project belongs to? Inter-subjective relation between trucks that encounter traffic and are rerouted to a a more optimized route Which sensing technology/ types of sensors are deployed to impliment spatial gaze? Data driven How the performance of the piece/instalation is conditioned? Accumulating traffic, emission, length of time and geo-location data of each drop off location, the trucks are given an optimized route.

4| No Left Turn Which actuation technology is used to provide for dynamism of the piece? Data is delivered to GPS devices on trucks What connectivity technology is used to connect different parts of the informatically driven system at question? Wireless technologies – cellular Is the system operates based on a memory of the past and/or anticipation of the future through recognition of past patterns? Yes, fully based on patterns of time of day and where is a package being delivered to.

4| No Left Turn What is the extreme vision of the scenario? That all delivery trucks to following the same optimization mechanism Why is the project significant? It saved UPS 20 Million miles so far, reducing time and energy spent to deliver each package What do you identify as a poetic aspect to the logic of operation of the system at question? People easily relate to the simplicity of the project as we all know that it takes more time to make a left. Also puts UPS in a positive “green friendly” company.

4| No Left Turn What challenges are inherent in deployment of the project or maintaining the integrity or level of operation of the system in the long run? The system is dynamic enough to optimize the route. So if a left is feasible, then the truck would take that route. What is your evaluation of the design of the physical manifestation of the system in terms of its esthetics? Simplicity of the application could reduce traffic in the city How can the system scale up or down to fit a different context of operation? How can its logic of operation or technology be re-appropriated for the different context? Commercial delivery businesses could benefit from this system including the post office.

1 | Sensing the City How the system will deal with nodal or total failure in operation? A car may be routed to the wrong destination, but because its nodal, that may not impact 95000 other vehicles of UPS What is the system’s logic of operation and information flow/architecture? The shortest amount of time to a destination determines the route of the truck What is the nature of actuation explored by the system? Does it explore generation of change that is registred through other senses beyond vision? Data translating into a driven route

5| Filter Bubbles http://tinyurl.com/4xkj8hm

5 | Filter Bubbles

5| Filter Bubbles Which of the 10 possible categories of scenarios the Project belongs to? Collective amazement Which sensing technology/ types of sensors are deployed to impliment spatial gaze? Web Traffic How the performance of the piece/instalation is conditioned? Tracking what data is being filtered though algorithmic gatekeepers

5| Filter Bubbles Which actuation technology is used to provide for dynamism of the piece? Web traffic What connectivity technology is used to connect different parts of the informatically driven system at question? The internet Is the system operates based on a memory of the past and/or anticipation of the future through recognition of past patterns? Memory is a big component that enables us to recognize the patterns of web behavior and how localized it is becoming

5| Filter Bubbles What is the extreme vision of the scenario? Back to local web traffic Why is the project significant? The World Wide Web has gone local What do you identify as a poetic aspect to the logic of operation of the system at question? Human nature prevails over a global system

5| Filter Bubbles What challenges are inherent in deployment of the project or maintaining the integrity or level of operation of the system in the long run? Access to data What is your evaluation of the design of the physical manifestation of the system in terms of its esthetics? Very useful to evolve the digital gatekeepers of what we get for our search instead of what we need to see. How can the system scale up or down to fit a different context of operation? How can its logic of operation or technology be re-appropriated for the different context? Easily scalable if the access to the data is provided.

5| Filter Bubbles How the system will deal with nodal or total failure in operation? Nodal failure and consistent with internet failures. One goes down, others don’t What is the system’s logic of operation and information flow/architecture? Based on Internet architecture What is the nature of actuation explored by the system? Does it explore generation of change that is registred through other senses beyond vision? Web traffice

Real-Time Cities: an Introduction to Urban Cybernetics Harvard Design School: SCI 0646900