This essay reports on a research project aiming at validation of a concept for an Al-driven speech interface for smart services in public spaces. The research team created a simple experience prototype that simulated the envisioned functionality and was used to experiment with subjects in dialogues. …

Introduction: A space’s atmosphere is an important factor in how that space is experienced. In fact, festival visitors consider the atmosphere as the most important factor in how they experience a festival (Van Vliet 2012). Atmosphere is also what distinguishes physical shops from online web shops (Van …

Deciding what kind of smart cities do we, as a society, want is not only a political question but also a matter of envisioning possible futures. The speculative narratives that designers produce to support their imagination are called "Design Fictions." We share SUBMERGED, a cross-platform project that …

Over the next 10 years, the City of Amsterdam plans to develop major housing schemes provide 90,000 new homes within the existing urban fabric. At the same time, an urban renewal program is being launched to revitalize the most deprived neighbourhoods. Together, these challenges call for more evidence …

Playfulness intertwined with city-related themes, such as participatory planning and civic media are becoming more popular. In the last ten years, game designers have taken up the theme of play in relation to the urban environment. In this paper, we present a conceptual mapping of “urban play,” through …

Background: Construction work, squares, busy sidewalks, road crossings and hasty cyclists - these are just a few of the many challenges visually impaired people (VI) encounter when navigating through urban environments. Especially unknown routes require so much concentration and energy, that VI often …

Background: Urban slums are characterised by unique challenging living conditions, which increase their inhabitants’ vulnerability to specific health conditions. The identification and prioritization of the key health issues occurring in these settings is essential for the development of programmes that …

Take a chance to help people living in poverty! In 2016 and 2017; I conducted two different research projects in Gitega, Kigali-Rwanda. Gitega is a neighborhood in Kigali-Rwanda where sanitation services, supply of clean water, reliable electricity, timely law enforcement, maintenance of housing, transportation, …

”Landscape as House” is about animating my families landscape through a new form of topographic living: a frag-mented house embedded into forests, meadows and the village. This house creates a life constituted of movement through landscape, on the scale of a farmers ground, with rooms inhabiting its …

Citizen participation is booming, especially the number of urban bottom-up initiatives where information and communication technologies (ICT) are deployed is increasing rapidly. This growth is good news for society as recent historical research shows that the more citizens actively and persistently interfere …