Avoiding ecocidal smart cities: participatory design for more-than-human futures
Abstract
The turn to participation in smart cities was intended to increase the involvement of diverse, often marginalised, citizens in the design and use of networked sensing technologies. However, ideals of activism, citizen engagement and democratisation through the co-design of networked technologies and services have been largely based on an understanding of urban space as separate from nature, and for human inhabitants alone. In current conditions of climate change, pollution, and loss of biodiversity, a human-centred perspective of cities is increasingly problematic. This workshop focuses on an expanded more-than-human perspective for cities, informed by studies in the Anthropocene in fields such as STS, geography, planning and design. We will interrogate how more-than-human perspectives and their resultant ethical, legal, and methodological concerns can shape participatory design practices and policies towards cohabitation, and push forward a cultural change in the agenda of sustainable smart cities, urban informatics, IoT, and design.
