In April 2016, CyberParks Project organised the mid-term research event ‘ICiTy – Enhancing Places through Technology’ in Valletta, Malta, focused on the opportunities and challenges to public spaces brought about by the advancement of ICTs. CyberParks Project, funded by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology Programme (COST TU1306) is a collaborative research platform for knowledge and experiences exchange on the role of and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to promote participatory urban design processes and the production of inclusive public open spaces. CyberParks is devoted to explore the contribution of ICTs to transform our cities into more social environments, rather than just being more high-tech.
The conference provided an excellent opportunity to synthesise the current ‘state of the art’, which is now reflected in this collection. It presents interdisciplinary perspectives, analysis of new methodologies, new and theoretical or conceptual models for the digital era, as well as preliminary studies of people’s use of, and engagement with, technology in public spaces. Following this conference a compendium of the presented papers have been published in collaboration with European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) and the Edições Universitárias Lusófonas.
Edited jointly by Dr Antoine Zammit – a lecturer in spatial planning, urban design and urban governance at the University of Malta – and Dr Theresa Kenna – a lecturer in urban geography at the University of Cork, Ireland – Enhancing Places through Technology, proceedings from the ICiTy Conference, Valletta, Malta, 18-19 April 2016 (Lisbon: Edições Universitárias Lusófonas) showcases the fostering knowledge about the relationship between and Communication Technologies and Public Spaces supported by strategies to improve their use.
The proceedings include twenty articles written by distinguished scholars in the field, divided into three general sections, the first centred on ‘Digital Methods and Social Practices in Public Space’, the penultimate section dealing with the ‘Ethnographic Challenges and the Creation of Digitally Mediated Urban Spaces’ while the final section is titled ‘Reflecting on the Relationships between People, Spaces and Technology.
Professor Alessandro Aurigi penned this publication’s guest foreword, while several authors including Alfonso Bahilo, Luis E. Diez, Bárbara Colinčnik Marušic, Damjan Marušic, Tiago Duarte, Diogo Mateus, Roberto Pierdiccca, Eva Savina Malinverni, Anna Kromova, Ernesto Marcheggiani, Philip Bonanno, Fernardo J. Álvares Franco, Alfonso Bahilla Martinez, Georgios Artopoulos, Jugoslav Joković, Tijana Dimitrijević, Aleksandar Atanasković, Nebojša Dončov, and Gabriela Maksymiuk, amongst others, submitted papers to these discussion panels.
The publication may be freely downloaded through the Action’s . [PDF]
