The conversation series "Histories of Digitization" explores the cultural, historical, and material dimensions of contemporary digitization in architecture and urbanism. In the second event - "Decentring the Smart City" - Ignacio Farías (Humboldt Universität Berlin) and Martín Tironi (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile) will discuss ethnographic, science-technology studies, and critical design perspectives on digital urban infrastructure. The discussion goes beyond the simplistic affirmation of "Smart City" projects on the one hand and technology pessimism on the other. Thus, the conversation explores a "decentered" perspective on digital urban infrastructure through an engagement with socio-material aspects, urban context, and experimental prototyping strategies.
Date: 28.09.21 17:00
Histories of Digitization – „Decentring the Smart City“
https://tum-conf.zoom.us/j/69783529470
Password: 01000001
Ignacio Farías (https://www.euroethno.hu-berlin.de/de/institut/personen/farias) is an anthropologist and professor of European Ethnology/Urban Anthropology at the Department of European Ethnology of Humboldt University of Berlin. His publications include "Urban Assemblages. How Actor-Network Theory Changes Urban Studies" (2009), "Urban Cosmopolitics. Agencements, assemblies, atmospheres" (2016), and articles in journals such as Mobilities, Space and Culture, CITY, and EURE. In Munich, he followed the local Smart City initiative "Smarter Together" from an anthropological perspective. This research led to articles like "A Smart Equivocation" (with Claudia Mendes) and "Ordinary Smart Cities" (with Sarah Widmer).
Martín Tironi (https://diseno.uc.cl/wp/persona/martin-tironi/) is a sociologist and professor at the School of Design, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. His research areas are design anthropology, digital technologies and mobility, and urban infrastructures. He recently published ‘Unpacking a Citizen Self-tracking Device: Smartness and Idiocy in the Accumulation of Cycling Mobility Data’ (with M. Valderrama) in Environment and Planning D: Society and Space. He is currently developing a research project (Fondecyt, 2018-2021) titled Datafication of urban environments and individuals: analyzing the designs, practices and discourses.