#digitalurbanism | active design
What does #digitalurbanism mean? .. under the name I summarized my teaching and interest in Urban Mobility (Velo) plus some parts of my digital skills and self developed techniques to bring a new perspective to the students of mine, to get them away from too classical answers to contemporary questions. Another important chain of thought was to give AR a meaning in mobility and in city planning, after all R stands for Reality in that acronym.
#digitalurbanism is also a short form for digital urban design, the application of information technology onto the urban with a spirit of do it yourself and k.i.s.s. (keep it simple stupid!).
Smart City
#digitalurbanism here is also meant to summarise the content of my teaching and lecturing (since 2012 in varying Universities in Germany and EU, Smart City Design in Berlin and City Planning at the HCU Hamburg). The content is built of 3 components: My dedication to cities, my interest in AR and my love for Bicycles and bicycling (speed with your own powers and abilities, instead of borrowed from the future (1.5° C)). .. And also my seminar was Smart City Design, I felt it reminded to much about Clever and Smart, and talks about Technology rather than people, so #digitalurbanism was born..
Some projects that have developed into much more..
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Mixity.app is using the latest release of Web XR to enable the public to project their vision of a better used parking space onto a dedicated place in Hamburg, Germany. For 2 weeks in sunny May, regular walks took place (being part of the Hamburger Architektur Sommer helped..) and the marked parking spot was used for displaying virtual parklets.
The Technology used is Web XR, the standard for XR that is supposed to provide access to a whole range of immersive media devices. At the same time it is supposed to deliver to a pretty simple smartphone with a respectable quality. The results we were able to put together were already much better than ARJS (as in previous NeueMobility.com at the HCU). The last missing piece in the puzzle was the release of Apple Vision Pro, the moment that Apple had been waiting for to join Web XR Standard with its Safari Browser. This happened simultaneously to the Mobility Conference Presentation (almost to the day!).
Mixity.app was also presented at the Urban Mobility Conference at HAW Hamburg in fall 2023 much to the delight of the Planning and Politics Core of Mobility of the Hanse City. The Life Demonstration took place on the yard in front of the Mobility Lab.
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PrioBike-HH
Bringing together the University HCU where I was teaching at the time with the Traffic Dept. of the Dresden University plus the officials from the Hamburg Government led to a joint Venture that shows the capabilities of Hamburg as a Mobility Player in Germany and beyond. PrioBike-HH was presented at the ITS 2021 in Hamburg, the Transportation Olympics, as one of the best examples for a changing Mobility. To demonstrate the advantages of a green light forecast for bicyclists a demo and documentation where finished in little time.. (Many things had to be improvised, even the weather was primarily FX!). Furthermore Development of the App is now going on, but the initial idea has made clear that Digital has the power to Change the use of Streets!
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https://pergolenviertel.hamburg/mobilport
Mobilport (Mobility Station in the Pergolenviertel Hamburg)
To design a Brand System for the Mobility Station that reflects the importance of a changing mobility and to present and explain this to new dwellers and the interested public was the aim of this project. Our Logo and Iconography are taken from a Transportation and Traffic Clarity oriented direction. The Location Symbol from digital maps symbolises the character of the special place.
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In Copenhagen with Copenhagenize, ADFC
Taking a trip to Copenhagen with the ADFC to witness the positive qualities of the infrastructure there, and to be shown around by the Planners of Copenhagenize was the trip I documented in a video (on bicycle). The special solutions of Copenhagen are highlighted with Infographics.
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Velohamburg.com
With Velohamburg.com a lot started.. I was giving a class in Motion Design at the BTK Hamburg, when a collegue teacher mentioned a gathering that was about Cycling in Hamburg later that day. This was how I met Günther Reimers for the fist time, nobody else showed up in the little cafe in Ottensen.
We discussed what to do to improve cycling in Hamburg, and made a plan to ask the city (with 10 000 votes online) for a statement to the Velorouten Hamburgs, a network of cycling ways through the city that got never finished for multiple decaces.
We made a Brand for the Velorouten, Street Signs, a website, and also gathered subscribers and made them sign a vote for better Velorouten in Hamburg, all on the Website Velohamburg.com (2015). The site is allowing to subscribe and vote and shows a public calender. All not very fancy now, but by that time some of the political elements were pretty new. Nevertheless, after half a year of campaigning, the Grünen moved back into the Senat of Hamburg on a call for (amongst others) better Velorouten, so we stalled our Campaign.
A couple of good things came out for me, first of all: Velohamburg.com was sold to a Berlin Company called Velokonzept that organises big Bicycle Fairs and more in Hamburg and Berlin. Ulrike Sade and I became friends! Second, I realised that still way to little was happening for New Mobility (Velo) in Hamburg and in the whole world, so it was a starting spark for the combination of my Design with my Belief of a better future with cycling (which has been the fuel for my work).
AlFresco (Corona System)
OstWest Move Demonstration with Color Coded Digital Umbrellas
This event (demonstration) gave the public an opportunity to show their preferred way of mobility on one of the main streets through Hamburg (Magistralen). By picking a coloured UMBRELLA for the walk, the choice of a better vehicle was manifested. Additionally, a claim could be connected to that Umbrella and displayed with Smart Phones and later studied online. With this method also an anonymous voting was held, the results speak a clear language! 🙂
Some of the Claims
.. And also these Seminars and Lectures paid into these
Seminars and Lectures
NeueMobility.com