Adam Greenfield at MIT

As promised at last year’s Picnic, I have managed to have Adam Greenfield give an open lecture at MIT. There is no better moment to catch him before he completes his second book and he moves to Scandinavia for a long-term gig in the rubber business at Finnish Rubber Works. Adam kindly accepted to amtrak up to Boston and give an open lecture entitled “The City Is Here For You To Use“. It will take place on Monday, April 14, 5pm in Room 3-401.

In his presentation “The City Is Here For You To Use” Adam Greenfield takes everything explored in his book Everyware as a given, and a point of departure. He will assume that emergent technologies like RFID, mesh networking and shape-memory actuators will simply be part of how cities will be made from now on, and seeks to understand what impact they’re likely to have on metropolitan form and experience. Adam will make the case that these technologies can help us rediscover public space, and make suggestions how we might use them to reclaim that space as a common good and a resource for all. Anyone interested in understanding how the emergence of ubiquitous and ambient informatics will shape urban communities, physically and experientially, will find plenty to sink their teeth into.