Pixels, bits and urban space: Observing the intersection of the space of information with urban space in augmented reality smartphone applications and peripheral vision displays

Abstract

Today the urban environment can be seen as a mix of technically mediated elements and actual physical locations -the city is techno-synthetically composed. The method of observing the production of space, as asserted by Lefebvre, must take into account physical and non-physical spaces, produced out of the coexistence of everyday life and activities with the space of information. This paper explores the merging of bits and bytes with the urban environment and uses augmented reality applications for the smartphone and peripheral vision displays as case studies to illustrate how the method of visually layering digital graphics on to the image of actual space produces a new kind of spatial commodification. ContentsIntroduction: The urban environment as techno-synthetically composed Section 1: Lefebvre's triad Section 2: Spatial theories, '90s and '00s Section 3: Locative media, history, maps and urban screens Section 4: Augmented reality applications Section 5. Peripheral vision displays Conclusion Introduction: The urban environment as techno-synthetically composedToday, the merging of physical space with the digital world of information creates a new urban environment that is techno-synthetically composed. The smartphone makes use of a combination of networks, radio frequencies, stationary data processors, fixed antennas, satellites and software. All these technologies combined allow the smartphone and its applications to deliver and transmit data. Therefore, the urban environment can be thought to coexist with digital data sent and received between people, devices and systems. The world of data and its technical infrastructures (physical and nonphysical) can be thought of as a space in which communication between devices and data takes place. Places are enriched with electronic information because data are now accessible at anytime and anywhere, given a portable data processing device. Furthermore, QR codes are placed in numerous places in the city creating 'hot spots' that offer information about specific locations. The urban environment is redefined -the urban environment is changing not only in its appearance but in the way it is used, accessed and lived by its inhabitants.During the '00s, and in literature of locative media and location-based games, Lefebvre's triad appears as a relevant theme in the discussion of spatial perception through the use of locative and wireless technologies [1]. Lefebvre's theory of the production of space becomes relevant during this time precisely because it sets out a method with which to investigate the production of space within the urban environment, as the use of the space of information increases and becomes part of the rhythms of everyday life. It offers the framework in which to investigate the newly found relationship between the urban environment and the space of electronic information, and thus investigate how space itself is changing. The space of information intersects with everyday rhythms and becomes an integral part of the lived experience. Just as Lefebvre asser...

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