Journal: Back “Hyper-Reality: A New Vision of the Future” by Keiichi Matsuda
Production drawings by Keiichi Matsuda An uncharacteristically brief post just to point you at Keiichi Matsuda's Kickstarter campaign, launched today, for his ambitious new films about the modern city, set in Medellin, Colombia. Matsuda's previous work is quite brilliant—I've mentioned it before—and the premise of this new series is even more promising: "It will be […]
Journal: Notes on “Ambient Commons”, by Malcolm McCullough
Malcolm McCullough is one the key thinkers and writers about the intersection of the network, digital media, and the urban and architectural—hence his work being of particular interest here. So I was delighted to oblige when he asked me to provide a testimonial for the back of his latest book, "Ambient Commons; Attention in the […]
Sketchbook: Announcing Sandbox, a collaboration between BERG and Fabrica
You will have heard a lot about smart cities and the Internet of Things. What you won't have seen is that many genuine products, services and projects in those areas. You will, of course, as there is immense potential after all, but these ideas are clearly something we have a sense of, a hunch about, […]
Essay: On the smart city; Or, a ‘manifesto’ for smart citizens instead
Please note: This piece has moved over here, in the publication But What Was The Question? at Medium. Please read, and link to, that version instead. ———– Oh, the smart city. I have “previous” here, over about a decade of writing about the interplay between cities and technology. And particularly, having written about The Street As […]
Essay: 21st Century Gestures Clip Art Collection
A month or so ago, Nicolas Nova asked me to write an essay for a project he was doing. He said they'd been working on a catalogue of novel "gestures, postures and digital rituals" and could I write about that, please, as a kind of foreword. "Curious Rituals is a research project conducted at Art Center College […]
Journal: Of brains and cities; neuroscience and cultures of decision-making
From Emergence, by Steven Johnson A couple of weeks ago I was invited to take part in an event called the “North House Salon” (see previous entry: Passport Control to Pimlico). These salons are organised by Dr Sarah Caddick, neuroscience advisor to Lord David Sainsbury (ex-Minister for Science and Innovation in the UK government) and the […]
Sketchbook: Melbourne Smart City, for City of Melbourne/C40 Cities (incl. a note on why it’s easier to crowdsource a revolution than a light-rail system)
About a year ago, I helped design and run a workshop for the City of Melbourne, as part of Arup’s agreement to run a series of workshops for the C40 ‘climate leadership group’ of cities (the C40 is in partnership with the Clinton Climate Initiative, and is a consortium of what could be described as the […]
Sketchbook: ‘Next generation check-in’ experience from Qantas
Occasionally, I'll make a some quick notes about a new product or service designed elsewhere, unpacking what thoughts I have at the time, primarily as a reference and marker. The thing could be anticipated rather than experienced, as per the iPad, or quickly explored in order to make broader points, as with the redesign of The Guardian. […]
Journal: Shanghai Expo 2010: universal narratives vs. universal values in the corporate pavilions
Back in May, I visited the 2010 Shanghai Expo. I was in China to help lead a creative cities symposium in Hong Kong and then as a speaker (with Finland’s/Kone’s Anne Stenros, The Young Foundation’s Geoff Mulgan, Shanghai academic Wenhui Shan and others) on a 'social life of cities' panel at Cisco's Partnership for Urban […]
Journal: Contingent: recent films by BERG/Dentsu London and Keiichi Matsuda
Two (or three) recent films are worth watching for how they accurately depict the grain of the future. They are 'Making Future Magic' by BERG/Dentsu London: And 'Augmented City'/'Domestic Robocop' by Keiichi Matsuda: Both films – I'm counting Matsuda's as one film for the sake of argument – are interesting as they convey a sense […]