The world of platform urbanism in seven chapters
The curators have invited more than 50 national and international experts to produce images and texts, short videos and podcasts for presentation in the Austrian pavilion and on the website. These contributions deal with questions of who participates in platform urbanism and in what way, and of the alternative paths (beyond online shopping, gig work and dating apps) we could take with digital platforms in order to make life in the city fairer.
Together with the invited experts the curators sketch the new world of platform urbanism in seven chapters. With Saskia Sassen, for example, they explore how technology firms are drastically changing life in global cities; with Edgar Pieterse, the director of the African Centre for Cities, they track the advance of digital platforms into African cities; with the urban researcher Vyjayanthi Rao they study the self-initiated public platforms that support social life in the undersupplied areas of Mumbai; with the architecture studio run by Teddy Cruz and Fonna Forman they try out educational platforms in the American-Mexican border region; and together with their many further guests they shed light on a wide range of facets of the convergence of platform technologies and urban development.
ACCESS: ACCESS IS THE NEW CAPITAL
The question of access is central to digital platforms: Who gains access to the possibilities offered by a platform and who is denied these services? Are we heading for a new class society in which differently equipped variants of urban space can be rented with different subscription packages?
SERVICE CITY: CITY ON DEMAND?
Thanks to their capacity to synchronise data across large networks and numerous devices, platform-steered cities promise their residents optimal services. But what wasteful service worlds have to be developed so that everything is available on demand?
SCALE: THE COLLAPSE OF SCALE
Platforms are increasingly replacing scale – a basic constant of architecture – with logistics, infrastructure and circulation. But can the finely tuned interplay of scaling, positioning and distribution in space really so easily be changed into a new form of living independent of social conventions, institutional frameworks and political traditions?
EMOTIONS: THE PLATFORM IS MY BOYFRIEND
Platforms seduce us with a promise of proximity, intimacy and community. Affective computing and the personification of tech gadgets motivate us to form close ties to intelligent objects and platform environments. All this turns platforms into personal companions that help to communicate, record and evaluate our emotions – while extracting considerable profits. Can we really trust likes, followers and smileys to the same degree that we can trust our loved ones?
CIRCULATION: MONUMENTS OF CIRCULATION – “I” IS EVERYWHERE
Platforms need clear signs of activity – tweets, comments, clicks and data traffic – in order to prove their success and their potential for investors and users. And in the urban space we see such activators, which seem like monuments to circulation: fleets of e-scooters at tourist sites, colourful slides in office environments, and DIY furniture in public space that are intended to promote activity. Doesn’t being permanently in motion also mean never arriving anywhere?
DATA: DATA IS A RELATION NOT A PROPERTY
The generation, recording and analysis of data are central to platform urbanism, and for this reason we have seen a rise of staged encounters that help to generate data – informal lounges in company environments, low-threshold meeting points in corridors and lobbies, relaxed roof terraces, free coffee bars. Who does the data belong to when it is generated by our relationships?
THE PUBLIC SPHERE: THE FUTURE IS PUBLIC
Platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram are means of mobilising and steering public communication. They stimulate our emotional and cognitive capacities in order to transform them into an informational commodity and use them privately. Can the city and its architecture withstand this attack on the public sphere? What is needed to make the quality of future living spaces a public matter again?