Semi-public Space

This paper reports on an in-the-wild design experiment aim- ing to support participation and engagement in the semi- public space of a temporary art exhibition. Through inter- views with 19 visitors we analyze the collaborative produc- tion of text about artworks in the exhibition in the physical space of the gallery. Our design, deployed throughout the venue for one month, makes use of people’s personal mo- bile phones to interact with shared digital displays in the gallery. The findings help us understand and develop the notion of local participatory IT from actual use. We discuss people’s diverging perceptions of what one is participating in and why as well as the impact of previous experiences with mobile technology. This leads us to propose three strong concepts to support understanding and design of technologies that foster local participation: Local area net- working, hyperlocality, and global read/local write.

Development of the countryside consisting of rural settlements and landscapes stands for an integrated transdisciplinary issue. To make rural development efficient, it is important to encourage and support sustainability concerning both, economic and environmental aspects. Regarding environmental sustainability, an important role is played by landscape architecture. Within the urban area, the emphasis should be put especially on public and semi-public space design in order to enhance social interaction and community life. Besides economic productivity of the open agricultural land surrounding rural settlements, the social utilization of these areas should be also considered and improved. Relevant tools for restoration and further smart and sustainable development of rural spaces are provided by landscape architecture. They consist in improving the green infrastructure (GI) of rural spaces. In this paper, we will introduce the approach of GI improvement by the 3-level planning concept as a design tool.