Cities, Networks, Frictions

As part of the Barcelona Design Week, I participated to the Mobile Design Conference organized by dotopen.

In my talk I discussed the notion of *frictions* that are inherent to the mundane life in the networked city. Frictions are all the *resistances* that people experience when using network infrastructures. Frictions are also the vigorous *rubbing* that sparkle data that we are not always aware off. Based on Lift Lab experience and investigation on the I argue that knowledge about frictions is a powerful, relevant and original resource to innovate in the networked cities. Here are the slides with my notes:

Cities, Networks, Frictions (pdf)

The networked city: Tyre, Lebanon.

Thanks to Rudy, Steffen and Carles for the inviations. It was a pure pleasure to share the stage with Kevin Slavin, Hugo Zaragoza and Matt Jones.

Speaking at the Mobile Design Conference & Workshop

Next week I will be speaking at the Mobile Design Conference & Workshop around the theme of the “Networked City”. Particularly, I plan to share my experiences and methodologies to apprehend the hybridization of the physical and the digital in both contemporary urban environments and people practices.

Program organized by BCD in collaboration with dotopen. On October 21, 2010 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Barcelona (MACBA) during the Barcelona Design Week.

Morning Conference: Designing for the Networked City with keynotes from:

Kevin Slavin – Co-Founder and Chairman of AREA/CODE Entertainment
Matt Jones – Director of Design at BERG
Usham Haque – Director of HAQUE Design + Research Ltd
Fabien Girardin – Co-Founder of Lift Lab

Afternoon Workshop – MDC Lab: Co-Creating for the Networked City

This years’ Mobile Design Conference is proud to present the MDC Lab: a co-creation workshop lead by Liz Sanders with expert participation of the Mobile Design Conference speakers Kevin Slavin, Matt Jones, Usham Haque, Fabien Girardin. This workshop is aimed at professionals interested in the outlook and potential of Mobile Technologies and Urban Living.

Registration here

Why do I blog this: This talk provides an opportunity to clarify the communication around the Lab’s investigations and methodologies at the crossroads of the physical and the digital.