Content Comparison

Lecturers

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Lecturers

Roman Kirschner
, Vinzenz Leutenegger

Collaboration

This year’s edition of Spatial Interaction takes place in collaboration with the organization of Labör. Labör is an experimental meeting space in a former coppersmith's workshop near Oerlikon station. It is located on the MFO site, a former machine factory whose conversion and further development is currently being promoted by the city of Zurich. In this development Labör puts an emphasis on circularity.

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Topic 2025: Circular Conversions in Public Space

Labör

circular conversions

formats for participation and interaction

exchanges of ideas, methods of circular conversion and upcycling, tools and spaces for encounters and interchanges

commons

stakeholders, participants in public space

Technology (which?), AI, human and non-human participants (important here?)

As artificial intelligence begins to infiltrate various aspects of public life, from surveillance systems to algorithmic decision-making, it brings opportunities and challenges for democratic societies. Amongst privacy, surveillance, bias, and authorship concerns, it becomes easy to imagine an expanse of dystopian futures. AI features prominently in speculation of Existential Risk (Bostrum, 2002), and the numerous dystopian depictions of societal collapse driven by AI in science fiction provides plenty of material for anxiety. Many of these speculative horror scenarios are entering the everyday parlance of technology: the Alignment Problem (Gabriel, 2020), AI arms race (Moore, 2016), Superintelligence (Bostrom, 1998) and The Singularity (Chalmers. 2016). Such concerns will always outnumber the list of positives: there are inherently more ways for any system to go wrong than to go right. But how do we increase the chance of our future with AI going in the right direction for the planet and for humanity instead of the infinite ways to go wrong? Many of the utopian scenarios being provided to us, however, come from people and organisations that stand the most to profit from the rapid and uncontrolled uptake of AI technology. For this reason, we must have an alternative source of visions beyond the solutionism (Morozov, 2013) of Silicon ValleyIn this year's edition of Spatial Interaction, we focus on interactions in public space that build on playful formats for circular exchange and extensions of use. In collaboration with Labör (see 'collaboration' above), we explore the new Zurich development area at the MFO site and search for available and non-privatised resources (material and social). We ask ourselves the question of the valorisation of resources, who can lay claim to them and to what extent, and how their actual use should be negotiated.

In addition to the production facilities at ZHdK, we can use Labör's new building as an on-site base. In groups, we develop ideas and concepts for involvement and participation in this area in transition. We implement the developed approaches in prototypes that expand the existing environment and its current use with new patterns of movement, forms of exchange and encounter, digital layers and technology-supported spatial experiences.

Deliverables and Documentation

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Upload your documentation files to: smb://fileredu.ad.zhdk.ch/DDE/BDE_VIAD/01_ABGABEN/25_FS/Sem4_Spatial_Interaction

Main Project Brief

Ultimately, the outcomes of the module will envision ways of living with AI that empower rather than diminish the agency of individuals and communitiesreconfiguring the potential of available resources, human interrelations and local knowledge at a specific publicly accessible location. We approach the topic with prototypes and design interventions that leverage our technical skills and designerly perspective, while avoiding the tendencies of technological solutionism. The actual format of the end results will be developed through in-class discussions and steering meetings.

Objectives:

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Reflect on AI's Impact: Investigate the current and potential implications of AI on democratic and political processes, considering issues such as privacy, bias, polarisation and social and behavioural manipulation.

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Prototype Experimental Futures: Create tangible prototypes and/or interventions that embody new ways of ‍‍‍living with AI in public spaces and in democratic processes. Record your results extensively with photos, video and audio.

Schedule

(Vinzenz Urlaub: 7.-13.April)

Phase 0: Kick-off, Inputs

Phase 1: Research, Idea Finding, First-tests, Group Building

Phase 2: Prototyping, Construction, Real-World-Application/Interventions, Iterations for Improvement

Literature

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Phase 3: Preparation of the final presentation/Exhibition

Phase 4: Feedback, Analysis, Documentation

Groups

• Noel, Joel, Meagan

• Nadja, Thinle, Leroy

• Nico, Elena, Pablo

• Lola, Tommaso, Guolong

• Anna, Lorena, Iris

Literature

1. Perec, George (1974) Träume von Räumen (Auszug dt.), Espèces d'espace (extrait fr.). (via email)

2. Meadows, Donella (1999) Leverage Points: Places to intervene in a System.

3. Boch, Ralph et al. (2021) Paths towards a circular society: The Potential of Social Design for Social Transformation. Social Design Lab.

4. Suurenbroek, Frank et al. (2019) Responsive public spaces: Exploring the use of interactive technology in the design of public spaces. Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Urban Technology.

5. Wall Kimmerer, Robin (2013) Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants.

6. Holmgren, David (2002) Permaculture: Principles and Pathways beyond Sustainability.

7. Bourdieu, Pierre (1989) Sozialer Raum, symbolischer Raum. In: Dünne J., Raumtheorie - Grundlagentexte aus Philosophie und Kulturwissenschaften, Suhrkamp 2006, 354-368. (via email)

8. AsenbaumReider, Hans Rebecca (2020) Spatial Theory of Democracy. Talk given at Participatory and Deliberative Democracy Webinar 5: “Democracy & Space” [min 06:10-18:08].

9. Voss, Jan Peter (2020) The McDonaldization of Democracy: Translocal Space-making by innovating “deliberative mini-publics”. Talk given at Participatory and Deliberative Democracy Webinar 5: “Democracy & Space” [min 18:45-35:33].

10. Mendel, Maria (2019) The spatial ways democracy works: On the pedagogy of common places. Why, why now? https://doi.org/10.1177/0034523719839

11. Sprenger, Ramona (2023) Do not feed the google.

12. Morozov, Evgeny (2014) PUBLIC SPACE // Shared Spaces with Evgeny Morozov.

13. Morozov, Evgeny (2014) The rise of data and the death of politics2009) Dreaming the Biosphere: The Theater of All Possibilities.

14. Nelson, Mark (2018) Pushing Our Limits: Insights from Biosphere 2.

Further Reading

1. O'Kelly, Morton E. (2014) Spatial Interaction.

2. Weaver, Duncan (2020) Spatiality and World Politics. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190846626.013.562

3. Baccini, et. al.(2012) Metabolism of the Anthroposphere: Analysis, Evaluation, Design, MIT Press

4. González de Molina, Manuel, et al. (2014) The Social Metabolism: A Socio-Ecological Theory of Historical Change, Springer

5. Massey, Doreen (2009) Concepts of space and power in theory and in political practice, Documents d'anàlisi geogràfica 55, 15-26

6. Mol, Arthur P. J., et al. (2018) Zur Umweltsoziologie der Netzwerke und Flows. In: Groß M. (ed) Handbuch Umweltsoziologie. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 140–153

7. Asenbaum, Hans (2020) Spatial Theory of Democracy. Talk given at Participatory and Deliberative Democracy Webinar 5: “Democracy & Space” [min 06:10-18:08].

8. Voss, Jan Peter (2020) The McDonaldization of Democracy: Translocal Space-making by innovating “deliberative mini-publics”. Talk given at Participatory and Deliberative Democracy Webinar 5: “Democracy & Space” [min 18:45-35:33].

9. Mendel, Maria (2019) The spatial ways democracy works: On the pedagogy of common places. Why, why now? https://doi.org/10.1177/0034523719839

10. Sprenger, Ramona (2023) Do not feed the google.

11. Morozov, Evgeny (2014) PUBLIC SPACE // Shared Spaces with Evgeny Morozov.

12. Morozov, Evgeny (2014) The rise of data and the death of politics.

Mentoring

We will prepare doodles for mentoring with time slots of different lengths depending on the progress of the overall project. Reserve your slot and try to be on time. Questions can be asked anytime – also via email.