Positioning Locative Media: A Critical Urban Intervention

Abstract

Technologies of space, information and power are integral aspects of cartography that have serious implications for the legibility and accessibility of a city; thus the design of locative media is more than a technical problem. In this paper, i-metro, an interactive installation, is developed in four stages: first, a theoretical discussion of urban representation is linked to historical notions of the commons; second, research methodologies are described; third, the findings are summarized, exposing a critical information inequality; fourth, a public locative media intervention is proposed as a design response.