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Frans
Vogelaar:
"In the early 1990s, I started to develop
a new field of study: hybrid space. This was twenty years ago the start
of analog and digital space. At that time, I was very interested in
networks, internet was still not yet public, but the concept of networks
– social networks, mobility networks, etc.- was of course already
known."
Greg
Lindsay: “The future
isn’t what it used to be. As the pace of social, technological,
and environmental change accelerates, organizations are struggling just
to make sense of the present, let alone spot threats and opportunities
looming just over the horizon. The ability to anticipate, understand,
plan for, and innovate around uncertainty has become a critical skill
for designers, innovators, and strategists everywhere. (...)”
Rod
Taylor, Global Director of the Forests Program:
Before joining WRI, Rod worked as the Forests Director
at WWF International. In earlier roles at WWF, he coordinated the World
Bank/WWF Forest Alliance and led WWF’s forest work in the Asia
Pacific region. Prior to his time with WWF, Rod worked as a forest policy
adviser in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
Lead Article
What is the
metaverse? 2 media and information experts explain
by Rabindra Ratan, Michigan State University and
Yiming Lei, Michigan State University
The metaverse is a network
of always-on virtual environments in which many people can interact
with one another and digital objects while operating virtual representations
– or avatars – of themselves. Think of a combination of immersive
virtual reality, a massively
multiplayer online role-playing game and the web.
The metaverse is a concept
from science fiction that many people in the technology industry envision
as the successor to today’s internet. It’s only a vision at this point,
but technology companies like Facebook are aiming to make it the setting
for many online activities, including work, play, studying and shopping.
Facebook is so sold on the concept that it is renaming
itself Meta to highlight its push to dominate the metaverse.
The best-selling
science fiction novel ‘Snow Crash’ gave the world the word ‘metaverse.’RA.AZ/Flickr,
CC
BY
Metaverse
is a portmanteau of meta, meaning transcendent, and verse, from universe.
Sci-fi novelist Neal Stephenson coined the term in his 1992 novel “Snow
Crash” to describe the virtual world in which the protagonist,
Hiro Protagonist, socializes, shops and vanquishes real-world enemies
through his avatar. The concept predates “Snow Crash” and was popularized
as “cyberspace” in William Gibson’s groundbreaking 1984 novel “Neuromancer.”
There are
three key aspects of the metaverse: presence, interoperability and standardization.
Presence is
the feeling of actually being in a virtual space, with virtual others.
Decades
of research have shown that this sense of embodiment improves
the quality of online interactions. This sense of presence is achieved
through virtual reality technologies such as head-mounted displays.
Interoperability
means being able to seamlessly travel between virtual spaces with the
same virtual assets, such as avatars and digital items. ReadyPlayerMe
allows people to create an avatar that they can use in hundreds of different
virtual worlds, including in Zoom meetings through apps like Animaze.
Meanwhile, blockchain
technologies such as cryptocurrencies
and nonfungible
tokens facilitate the transfer of digital goods across virtual
borders.
Standardization
is what enables interoperability of platforms and services across the
metaverse. As with all mass-media technologies – from the printing press
to texting – common technological standards are essential for widespread
adoption. International organizations such as the Open
Metaverse Interoperability Group define these standards.
Why the metaverse matters
If the metaverse
does become the successor to the internet, who builds it, and how, is
extremely important to the future of the economy and society as a whole.
Facebook is aiming to play a leading role in shaping the metaverse,
in part by investing
heavily in virtual reality. Facebook
CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained
in an interview his view that the metaverse
spans nonimmersive platforms like today’s social media as well as immersive
3D media technologies such as virtual reality, and that it will
be for work as well as play.
Hollywood has
embraced the metaverse in movies like ‘Ready Player One.’
The metaverse
might one day resemble the flashy fictional Oasis of Ernest Cline’s
'Ready
Player One,' but until then you can turn to games like Fortnite
and Roblox,
virtual reality social media platforms like VRChat
and AltspaceVR,
and virtual work environments like Immersed
for a taste of the immersive and connected metaverse experience. As
these siloed spaces converge and become increasingly interoperable,
watch for a truly singular metaverse to emerge.
This
article has been updated to include Facebook’s announcement on Oct.
28, 2021 that it is renaming itself Meta.
With Bitcoin City, El Salvador
plans to usher in a new era of digital education, sustainable energy
reserves, and green mining. When the city becomes a reality, it will
aim to achieve zero CO2 emissions and become a Bitcoin mining ecosystem
driven by geothermal energy.
By integrating the latest technologies into the physical world, BTC
City is turning into a genuine BITCOIN city which will be the first
of its kind in the world to provide its visitors, consumers and business
partners with an ecosystem that will develop and integrate advanced
technologies based on state-of-the-art.
El Salvador's “Bitcoin City” would be funded with the issuance
of a $1 billion Bitcoin Bond. The city will be located along the Gulf
of Fonseca near a volcano.
What happens to El Salvador if Bitcoin crashes?
If the price of bitcoin falls, businesses will have to hike their prices.
If it rises, then consumers lose buying power. El Salvador's government
seems to recognize the problem: It's still paying public workers' salaries
in dollars.
Source: Google
This Volcano-Powered
'Bitcoin City' is Coming to El Salvador by Tomorrow's Build / 1 Feb 2022
El Salvador
plans to use volcanic energy to create a Bitcoin city
by Al Jazeera / 28 Jan 2022
Elizabeth addresses the multifaceted notion of hybridity. With the contemporary
cultural shift and paradigm change - with the focus readjusting away
from divisions and boundaries to interconnections and networks, we are
experiencing today a proliferation of hybridizations in all dimensions
of contemporary life.
Hybrid (combined physical and digital) spaces for communicating and
living together are today rapidly developing. With hybrid space forming
the core competency and focus of Hybrid Space Lab's long-standing engagement,
the objective of our work is to filter out the best of both worlds,
the physical and the digital, and combine these dimensions intelligently
and effectively. The key here is to influence developments, by "inhabiting
technology, approaching technological developments from a cultural perspective
in order to transform technologies in such a way, that they correspond
to the way we want to live as a society.
Credits
Elizabeth Sikiaridi
Co-Founder & Partner
of Hybrid Space Lab
architect, urbanist, professor
Berlin, Germany
Frans Vogelaar
Co-Founder
& Partner
of Hybrid Space Lab
Professor for Hybrid Space @ Academy of Media Arts
Berlin, Germany
Hybrid Space Lab is a think tank and design lab focussing
on cultural innovation. "Hybrid" stands for interdisciplinarity,
"Space" for spatial expertise and "Lab" for an innovative
working method that favours a transdisciplinary design approach where
city, nature and the digital - the technological and the biological
- are thought and developed together. hybridspacelab.net
The digital
twin refers to the state of mutual symbiosis between digital entities
and physical entities. Digital twin technology is a technology that
integrates data, models, and physical entities. Digital twins refer
to the mapping collection of entities in the digital world.
Digital 3D models can help city leaders plan for the future, but their
value will depend on the data. This digital twin encompasses the current
landscape of buildings, transit, trees, daylight and shadows, and points
of interest.
New York City, Las Vegas and Chattanooga, Tenn., are among those using
the technology to map out their cities and make them more efficient.
Shanghai, China's largest city, can now boast its own virtual clone.
The digital twin covers almost 4,000 square kilometres and was created
using information accessed from the real world, including satellites,
drones and sensors. Beijing company, 51 World partnered with Unreal
Engine to create Shanghai's clone.
Virtual Singapore integrates various data sources including data from
government agencies, 3D models, information from the Internet, and real
time dynamic data from Internet of Things devices. The platform allows
different agencies to share and review the plans and designs of the
various projects in the same vicinity.
Source: Google
Special Report: Digital Twin
Cities
More than 500 cities around the world
are expected to use urban digital twins in the coming years in their
evolution toward digitally enabled growth. New digital platforms enable
engineers and planners to stitch together multiple digital pieces into
a whole, providing real-time physical and demographic information. Here
is what some cities already are doing.
Digital Twins:
Building Cities of the Future
The Pulse | Unreal Engine
How China Cloned Shanghai
The B1M
China has built a complete digital clone of its largest city covering
almost 4,000 square kilometres - and it's about to simulate events in
the future with astonishing accuracy. See how the team brought Shanghai's
clone to life with Unreal Engine.
The New European Bauhaus
initiative calls on all of us to imagine and build together a sustainable
and inclusive future that is beautiful for our eyes, minds, and souls.
Beautiful are the places, practices, and experiences that are:
Enriching, inspired
by art and culture, responding to needs beyond functionality. Sustainable, in harmony with nature, the environment, and our
planet. Inclusive, encouraging a dialogue across cultures, disciplines,
genders and ages.
Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth,
Mariya Gabriel, said: “The New European Bauhaus draws from Europe's
culture, education, science and innovation to turn the promise of the
European Green Deal into improvements for our daily lives. I look forward
to seeing the best of European creativity come to life in this year's
applications.”
Notpla is a revolutionary
material made from seaweed and plants. It biodegrades in weeks, naturally.
We have created unique machines and materials to package your products
in the most sustainable way.
Notpla is a sustainable
packaging start-up founded in 2014. A combination of designers, chemists,
engineers, and entrepreneurs. We create advanced packaging solutions
made from seaweed and other natural materials as an alternative to single-use
plastic.
Notpla, the material developed
by Skipping Rocks Lab has expanded beyond just Ooho, and in 2019 the
startup decided to give it a name and became Notpla.
A revolutionary alternative to single-use plastic sauce sachets has
arrived! Our Heinz ketchup sachet looks like a little tomato –
and naturally composts like one too.
They’re also super
cool and easy to use, just nip a corner and squeeze!
The sachet itself is 100%
natural, biodegradable, home-compostable and vegan. They can be disposed
of (like fruit peel) in a kitchen food waste bin or home-compost after
use and will disappear in as little as four to six weeks. You could
(if you wanted to) even eat it!
Urban
Spaces in a Digital Culture | Gernot Riether
With
Gernot Riether
Gernot has taught Architecture for about 20
years at several universities in the US and abroad, including Ball State
University, Kennesaw State University, Columbia University and Georgia
Tech and practiced in Architecture for 10 year in Europe and the US.
Information Technology is
changing the physical public space. The talk illustrates how mobile
devices and social media is changing the way we use public space and
speculates on how public space maybe designed for a digital culture.
Gernot Riether is the Director of the School of Architecture and Associate
Professor at the College of Architecture and Design at the New Jersey
Institute of Technology (NJIT). He previously taught at Kennesaw State
University, Ball State University, ENSA Paris La Villette, Georgia Tech,
the New York Institute of Technology and Barnard College at Columbia
University and is lecturing internationally.
Riether’s research explores the relationship between public urban
spaces and information technology. Projects that he and his students
designed and built in his Digital Design Build Studio won competitions
and are featured in many books on digital fabrication. Riether is the
author of over 40 refereed papers, articles and book chapters. His forthcoming
book, Urban Machines, co-authored with architect Marcella Del Signore,
explores the relationship between public urban spaces and information
technology.He serves on the Board of Directors of CSU (Consortium for
Sustainable Urbanization), a non-profit organization that is affiliated
with UN Habitat and U.N. ECOSOC and on the Board of Directors of ACADIA
(Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture). He is the editor
of the Journal of the Design Communication Association (DCA).
Urban Spaces in a Digital Culture | Gernot Riether
| TEDxNJIT
Whilst our outside world is
modifying into a more complex and hybrid networked world, our most intimate
dwelling, our home, is at risk of falling behind as for many it seems
to have remained the same as it has been for many decades. This book explores
what it means to have a home in such a networked world. It describes what
architecture can, or perhaps should, contribute to enable a more participatory
role for inhabitants. This forward-thinking book will try to answer the
question - What is the role and position of technology in our most intimate
locations both now and what could it be like in the future?
Summary:
This book is an attempt
to synchronize three topics that - to me - are fundamental, timeless,
as well as tightly connected; writing an adequate summary, thus, raises
the question where to start. Given these three lines of its content,
I will begin by referring to a most relevant statement: when, in 2014,
philosopher Luciano Floridi published his provocative book "The
Fourth Revolution," he argued in his "Ethics" chapter?
"We shall be in serious trouble, if we do not take seriously the
fact that we are constructing the new physical and intellectual environments
that will be inhabited by future generations." In the year before
the "Onlife Initiative" (OI) was presented, the result of
a multi-disciplinary fundamental research commissioned by the European
Commission (EC) and chaired by Floridi focused to rethink the digital
agenda with an emphasis on human values. This research was, to a large
extent, based on the works of Hannah Arendt; briefly, here, she emphasized
the timeless value of private space, necessary to act in public space.
During the discussions on the OI to discover its blind spots, I argued
that it is architecture that articulates space; it creates a physical
framing of public and private spaces, given its task of adapting space
to human needs. The ultimate consequence is that we are aware of those
needs and that we are capable of translating these needs into "physical
and intellectual environments."
The actual problems in
addressing both can be summarized as follows. First, the difference
between private space and public space is increasingly blurred; while,
in fact, most countries know a (legal) protection of private space,
this is threatened by ever more digital intrusive developments. Second,
in most countries, the issue of housing has become a system of commodities,
a market-oriented system that excludes the inhabitant instead of a system
of demand where the inhabitant has control over all aspects of his/her
built environment. Third, the rapid increase of digital developments
does not match the traditional and familiar aspects of "home,"
i.e., the need for a protective private space. As stated so adequately
by Kas Oosterhuis in his "Foreword": "The material householder
has the key to the front door, while the virtual home user has the password."
Fourth, our dwelling ? i.e., our being at peace at a certain place at
a certain time ? ultimately has no need for a physical entity first.
To dwell is a work in progress, not a passive act depending on a fixed
built environment.
Parallel issues: the current
method of building our housing is far from participatory, far from flexible
and adaptable, and far from sustainable. We build houses for inhabitants
we do not know, in a society that is in constant change and in need
of adequate answers to continuous developments that require awareness
and participation. Our housing is considered and described as a fundamental
right that provides it with an intrinsic value; the consequence is that
we, as inhabitants, have a maximum agency in this. An important issue
also concerns the topic of ownership, i.e., common and/or individual,
be it the grounds on which we build or the infrastructure we need. Providing
(future) inhabitants with maximum options to design and control their
artificial surroundings is best served by keeping basic structures common
and further infill individual. When basic (built) structure on common
grounds is created in a sustainable way, it facilitates individual agency
as well as controlled (common) infrastructure, allowing forms of co-creation
that can realize active participating communities.
More in general: an addition
to this is our attitude toward a society in change due to the awareness
of the role of work, spare time, and issues like consumerism, pollution,
and climate; in summary, the quality of life and environment. In 2003,
Michelangelo Pistoletto created his "Third Paradise" as a
"third phase of humanity, realized as a balanced connection between
artifice and nature"; now, the recently launched ECs New European
Bauhaus initiative seems an adequate sequel, building on Gropius 1919-statement
of incorporating all arts in realizing "the new structure of the
future." This also implies an emphasis on the more abstract since
our life is not primarily about the ratio and efficiency; the consequence
is a built environment that facilitates dwelling instead of providing
houses and provides the framework for civil participation, imagination,
and experience. It seems tempting to consider the housing situation
as a technological problem since we so often believe or trust that technology
will provide solutions, preventing us from thinking deeper. We can also
not separate this from the parallel economic and political issues involved.
Proceeding to action and practice: what is required now is the awareness
that our private space/place, given its intrinsic value in human life,
should not be subject to all anomalies of a volatile or disruptive market.
What is needed is the appreciation that besides the fact that housing
is a human right, it is the ground we build on that is/should be, in
fact, common property, providing every citizen the opportunity to build
within larger communities or individually. We need the opportunity,
the place, and means to create and build a real example, i.e., the option
to illustrate and prove that for innovative and participatory communities,
a flexible framework will do, creating the prerequisites for an enriched
life.
Martin Pot is researcher/interior-architect/writer/thinker.
After Technical School Rotterdam he finished the WdKA - Academy of Arts
in Rotterdam on Spatial Design; after a sidestep in digital cartography
he completed the Hora Est-program at Erasmus University Rotterdam as
preparation for a PhD on the subject of architecture, technology and
dwelling. He has initiated and organized the six IoT & Built Environment
conferences, later MeetUp's from 2011 to 2017 in Rotterdam. He writes
regularly for various media about (interior)architecture, human values
and technology.
Making
the 'City in Nature' a reality by
Future Cities Lab Global / Singapore-ETH Centre
To balance high-density and high-quality urban living, different perspectives
have emerged in Singapore in creating a resilient city, says Dr Srilalitha
Gopalakrishnan.
Designed by leading local
studio WOHA, Kampung Admiralty integrates housing for the elderly
with a wide range of social, healthcare, communal, commercial, and
retail facilities. Photography: Darren Soh
Singapore’s
aspirations to reinvent itself as a ‘City in Nature’ in line
with the Singapore
Green Plan 2030 gives a renewed focus to a system-based approach
to urban landscape design practice for future developments, says Dr
Srilalitha Gopalakrishnan.
In her recent interview
with Southeast Asia Building (SEAB) Magazine, Dr Srilalitha, postdoctoral
researcher and co-ordinator at FCL Global’s Dense
and Green Cities module, looks at the progress of sustainable
architecture in Singapore, and analyses areas for future improvement.
As president of the Singapore
Institute of Landscape Architects, Dr Srilalitha is well-placed to discuss
the changes in landscape architecture over the last five years. Not
only has landscape architecture in Singapore focused on the increased
value of pervasive greenery on buildings and intensifying urban greenery,
there is an increasing awareness of urban landscapes as ecological nodes.
All this bodes well for a whole-systems approach to landscape architecture
practice.
Looking at the future of
sustainable architecture in Singapore, projects such as the Tengah Township
and Jurong Lake District, offer interesting visions of sustainable urban
planning and living. As climate change and urbanisation continue to
impact Singapore, Dr Srilalitha hopes that a circular product and waste
cycle can be adopted by landscape product manufacturers. She also envisions
greater collaboration between the product industry, architectural firms,
educational institutes and research labs to bridge the gap between research
and practice.
Global Forest
Watch (GFW) is an online platform that provides data and tools for monitoring
forests. By harnessing cutting-edge technology, GFW allows anyone to
access near real-time information about where and how forests are changing
around the world.
Global Forest Watch | Monitoring Forests in Near Real Time
For the first time, Global Forest Watch unites satellite technology,
open data, and crowdsourcing to guarantee access to timely and reliable
information about forests.
Armed with the latest information
from Global Forest Watch, governments, businesses and communities can
halt forest loss.
Global Forest Watch was
created by the World Resources Institute with over 40 partners, including:
Google, ESRI, the University of Maryland, Imazon, Center for Global
Development, and the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP). Major funders
include the Norwegian Climate and Forests Initiative, U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID), U.K. Department for International
Development (DFID), Global Environment Facility (GEF), and the Tilia
Fund.
Stay atop the latest
forest research and news! The Global Forest Watch blog uses data
to illuminate the state of forests worldwide and tells the stories
of people dedicated to protecting them. Read about rainforests,
deforestation, fires, sustainable agriculture, forest management
and other topics critical to the future of forests.
Illegal logging on Pirititi
indigenous amazon lands. Felipe Werneck/Ibama
The Forest Watcher mobile
app brings the dynamic online forest monitoring and alert systems
of Global Forest Watch offline and into the field. Monitor areas of
interest, view deforestation and fires alerts, navigate to a point
to investigate, and collect information about what you find, regardless
of connectivity.
GFW Pro was designed with
leading companies and financial institutions to translate geospatial
data into actionable insights. Platform capabilities include:
Monitor conditions at farms, supply
sheds or jurisdictions and track changes over time
Demonstrate compliance with commitments
and policies
Share data and analyses with colleagues,
clients and customers through secure workflows
After more than a decade’s
experience writing about media, technology, travel, and design, my book
“Aerotropolis: The Way We’ll Live Next” (FSG, 2011) led
to a refined focus on the future of cities, mobility, work, and innovation.
Time magazine’s Pico Iyer called my book “dazzling,”
The New Yorker’s Nicholas Lemann found it “enthralling,”
and Bloomberg BusinessWeek pronounced it a “fascinating and important
work.”
I’ve since studied,
written and spoke at length about the intersection of cities and the
pandemic, remote work, innovation, immigration, climate change, demographics,
and transportation. Recent projects have explored how delivery-only
“ghost kitchens” and “dark stores” are disrupting
retail, real estate, and the vitality of street life; the “Millennial
dilemma” as a generation of Americans reaching middle age struggle
to raise families and own homes; how all-in-one “super apps”
are transforming banking, e-commerce, and transportation in Southeast
Asia and sub-Saharan Africa — and soon, the Global North; how previous
patterns of mixed-use real estate have been upended by pandemic-fueled
changes in lifestyle, work, and consumption; and how climate change
and migration will transform cities, regions, and nations.
Past speaking engagements
include 10 Downing St., the U.S. State Department, the United States
Military Academy, Sandia National Laboratories, the OECD, Harvard Business
School, the MIT Media Lab, and numerous public and private universities.
I’ve also advised such companies as Intel, Samsung, Starbucks,
IKEA, Audi, Chrysler, Tishman Speyer, British Land, Emaar, André
Balazs Properties, Expo 2020, along with numerous G20 government entities.
My work with Studio Gang
Architects on the future of suburbia was displayed in 2012 at New York’s
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and other works have been displayed at
the 15th, 16th, and 17th Venice Architecture Biennales, the International
Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, and Habitat III.
In 2019, I moved to Montréal
to become the director of applied research at NewCities,
along with director of strategy at its mobility-focused sister organization,
CoMotion.
I’ve since stepped back into a senior fellow role at the former
to broaden my scope of activities, including my work as a senior
fellow at MIT’s
Future Urban Collectives Lab and a non-resident senior fellow
at the Atlantic
Council’s Scowcroft Strategy Initiative.
The City of Tomorrow - Greg
Lindsay
Greg Lindsay on Planning Cities Around the
Known Unknown
