The Digital Image of the City Digital & Computational Studies Bowdoin College September 8, 2014 Professor Gieseking Lecture Slides "An Introduction to The Digital Image of the City"

1. An Introduction
to The Digital
Image of the
City
The Digital Image of the City
Digital& Computational Studies Initiative
Bowdoin College
Jack Gieseking

2. How can we see the future from the past?
!!
!
1960

3. The Image of the
City

4. How can we see the future in the present?
!!
!
2014

5. Songdo
smartmagit.it
2014

6. Operation Center
Rio de Janeiro
museumofthecity.com
2011

7. Smart City
citylab.com
2013
!
Apps

8. New York
City
aljazeera.com
2014
!

9. Portland,
Maine
?

10. DIOTC
At this moment in the technological revolution
and intensified urbanization, you will learn the
core concepts of urbanization and cutting-edge
approaches to smart urbanism in order to think
critically and act as educated citizens to
produce cities for the common good.

11. A smart city though, like a class, is made up of people.
Who are these educated citizens?
i.e.,
time for introductions

13. Syllabus Review:
!
Learning Outcomes
!
Structure of the Course

14. Syllabus Review:
!
Assignments /
Social Science Research 101

15. DIOTC Research
Question
What are the best ways forward for Portland,
Maine, to join the smart city revolution while
developing as a city for the common good?
Research Groups
!
•Housing - gentrification, public housing, smart buildings
•Infrastructure - ICT, public wifi, transportation
•Public Space - access, design, use

16. DIOTC Literature
Debacle
Smart cities are so new that there is little literature on them.
!
Instead, how can we see the future of the cities
nearby from the leading cities at a distance?
! !
!
Comparative urbanisms: NYC & Portland

17. Literature &
Research Sites

18. 1. Café ethnography
2. Collect 4 mental maps from Portland residents
3. Conduct a transect walk with a peer while focusing
on your research topic
DIOTC Research
Model
4. Geocode & use this data and other datasets to
create maps using GIS

19. What is your mental map of Portland?
!
Take five minutes and draw one.

20. Research
Example

21. DIOTC Research
Contributions
•Ideas for smart urbanist next steps around issues of housing,
infrastructure, and public space
•Creation of new datasets for the City of Portland and for other
students to build upon
•Develop the literature on Portland, Maine
•Extend smart city thinking on small cities
•Collect data from the public to shape the future of a city
•Further relationship between the City and the College

23. Reading and video for Wednesday:
Hayden, Townsend
!
!
Assignments:
Blog Post #1 due Friday, Sept. 12th
(day before field trip)
DIOTC
FORTHCOMING