Field Trips in Public Space #6

The field trips are taking place again! This time, students of Architecture and Spatial Planning are embarking on a virtual journey around the world—to São Paulo, Tokyo, Tallinn, Copenhagen, Nicosia, Quito, and Singapore. At the same time, they are venturing into other realms of digital space—from constructing artistic interventions in virtual environments to moderating discussions on Clubhouse—(almost) anything is possible.

Our coexistence is currently undergoing a transformation in which two highly complex and open systems overlap: the city and the global digital information system. Codes are interwoven with material objects and the spaces of urban everyday life to produce hybrid forms of “code/spaces” (Kitchin & Dodge 2004). The entanglements between people, data, algorithms, digital platforms, big business, consumers, the state, society, the public, and the city’s public spaces form a multifaceted and tightly interwoven system.

The digital world is no longer merely a reflection of the physical one; rather, it amalgamates with it and continuously produces new forms of cyber-physical landscapes. What do these new landscapes look like? Who produces these spaces, and how do they transform our everyday experiences? Expeditions into these landscapes are literal journeys into the unknown. There are only a few maps of them—and these must be continuously redrawn.