Speaker
Description
Space and thus cities are dynamic organisms which tend to evolve according to their surroundings. With the incredible advancements of technology for the last half century, the perception of space has changed and gained importance in terms of digitalization. As public space is one of the most crucial parts of any type of settlement, it plays a big part in this shift of perception. Since urban public space is no longer limited to its physical dimensions and can be experienced in a hybrid way, there is a need of reconceptualizing public space, taking into consideration of the digital age. With public spaces, social life, leisure time activities and where these are experienced, should also be included in this consideration. Through this shift, there are possible “phygital” spaces that can act as both digital and physical within urban environment blurring certain boundaries and disadvantages of each other.
The aim of the thesis is to investigate and understand how public space changes with contemporary technological developments, the potential and power of phygital spaces may have in redefining and transforming public spaces by overcoming conventional limitations such as size, capacity, and location and their function for leisure activities while questioning how the inclusion of phygitality into urban spaces could bring additional values to underused public areas and add value to the vitality of the urban environment by emphasizing user experience. This study intends to help rethink public spaces in the digital age by investigating the interaction between digital and physical layers and providing insights into their changing function to reveal some of the opportunities and challenges related to the design of phygital public space.
The methodology is a descriptive and thematic analysis based on various experts’ opinions about the issue. Phygital spaces have a potential that can help contribute to a new perception of public space with today’s needs while creating solutions with a novel perspective to some of the problems of extreme growth in cities and ensuring a new and more interactive way to enjoy both leisure time and public space.
| Keywords | Spatial Digitalization; Phygital Space; Digital Transformation; Public Space; Underused Spaces |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
