The city as an information system: Urban agency, experiential inputs and planning measures

Abstract

From the point of view of urban agents, the city can be seen as an information system. In this article, we focus on the city as an information structure insofar as it is an experiential context. Therefore, we will not deal with the “analytical information” about city X that is available while being elsewhere. We will instead deal with the “experiential information” which is accessible while being/acting in city X. A large part of urban experiential information reaches individuals without any specific conscious focal awareness. For the individuals operating in the city and using the city (residents, shopkeepers, entrepreneurs, developers, consumers, tourists, etc.), experiential information is crucial. At the personal level, experiential inputs help to positively regulate an individual's psycho-physical state. On an interpersonal level, experiential inputs help to structure and coordinate agency among human agents, and between them and physical elements of the environment. In discussing experiential information, the attention is not merely on human senses, but, first of all, on the vehicles that convey such information: images, sounds, smells, artifacts, behaviours. Taking experiential information seriously implies new ways to interpret the functioning of cities and modes of urban intervention (e.g. planning and urban design).