URBAN BROWSING : ACTIVE AND PASSIVE PARTICIPATION IN A DIGITALLY AUGMENTED URBAN SPACE

Abstract

ICT, information communication and technology, has progressed immensely during the past decade, and as the digital network is advancing promisingly, it is also shifting to mobile and pervasive computing, invading the streets of the city. As this phenomenon is affecting the urban lifestyle and demands for new mobile technologies, it is also calling for a new vision of urban social networking with a digital layer. Today’s urban space provides limited flexibility in dynamism that allows for this type of networking as compared to digital inter-communication hubs which is created for freedom of expression, freedom of social-network agglomeration, and online participation within the network. High speed information networking coupled with pervasive computer, mobile and situated technology and architecture have the ability to provide such flexibility of activities and social gatherings which can easily and quickly change and adapt to contextual elements. This type of framework can lead to a flexible urban browsing using both physical context as the ground and digital mapping as the means that can be a potential for a creative, informative, and participative way to explore and experience the city with much more possibilities of interaction.