And another one. Issue 2 of the Urbis Research Forum Review is now available to download from our website. “Science and the City” brings together the highlights of the Cyber City and Science of the City research forum sessions that were held in October 2009. The issue features articles by Prof. Greg Keeffe and Martin Dodge.
In his article “Synergetic Cities” Prof. Keeffe presents a ‘utopian vision of a Free Energy City set in Liverpool’ while Martin Dodge examines the prevalence of software codes in our everday urban lives.
January 29th, 2010
Panelists have been confirmed for the next session of the Urbis Research Forum. The Science of the City session is running in conjunction with the Manchester Science Festival and explores themes including architecture, mapping, communication and urban geography. The three panelists taking part are Greg Keeffe (Leeds Metropolitan University), Jon Porter (Technical Director, Countryscape) and Prof. Trevor Cox (University of Salford).
The panel dicsussion will take place on 26 October at 6.00pm. It is free of charge and there is no need to book.
September 23rd, 2009
Thanks to Inhabitat I’ve just come across this amazing idea for a hydroponic garden that doubles as a hatchery for freshwater fish. Grow your own fish supper with parsley dressing!
Interesting to read that the aquarium was exhibited at the Artists Space in NY from May to June. In the wake of Urban Gardening proving to be such a challenge I’d be really interested to know how their gallery stewards coped with looking after the fish and plants and how the idea worked in practice.
July 30th, 2008
The last time I came accross QRcodes I was studying Japanese culture and had just splashed out on a Sony C1 – a VHS sized laptop from Japan which came with QR reading software as sandard. It seemed like a cool feature but in Manchester there was never anything to scan with its built in webcam (how grandiose that seemed at the time)… but that could be changing.
Essentially QRcodes are a type of barcode developed for use in the car manufacturing industry and now frequently used throughout Japan. These seem to have rocketed back into the Nerdiverse thanks to the launch of the iPhone and its array of super cool software which includes an optional QRcode reader (not to mention the slick integration of the software used for downloading applications – do I hear the imminent clunk of yet another D&AD black pencil on Mr Jobs’ doormat?).
Using these weird looking jumbles of pixels you can physically attach a yourself and things around you to web pages and services. All you need is QR reading software loaded onto your smart phone (Nokia is also said to be pre-loading said software onto their new phones and stand alone readers are available for download). By pointing your phone’s camera at the code your browser will be directed to a webpage of the code owners choice. Essentially this allows you to hyperlink reality back to URLs without them being legible to the naked eye… but of course this is only useful if you have a mobile, user friendly device with you at all times and if the software is robust and reliable – currently a problem, even for iPhone owners (see comments on some of the examples).
Check out the projects pictured above for a few ideas of how they can be used and more info (hover over images for a brief description).
Already getting ideas about how I could use this in exhibitions and in an actual reality game around the city.
Note to self… if the Diesel Wall comes back to Urbis I have my entry…
July 28th, 2008