Big Data, Code and the Discrete City: Shaping Public Realms (1ed)

Computers are gradually changing the way in which the public space is designed by architects, managed by policy-makers, and experienced by individuals. The digital logics governing the complex processes that make our city working every day are superseding the traditional human experience that has characterised the making of the public space until today. How do computers see the public space? If algorithms, artificial intelligences, and automated processes are gradually becoming the standard mechanisms underpinning our daily lives, what happens to the nuances, ambiguities, and variables that have characterised public spaces until now?
The first part of this book examines the notion of discreetness in its origins and applications to computer sciences. The second section presents a dual perspective: on the one hand, it explores the ways in which the public space is constructed by the computer-driven logic and then translated into control mechanisms, design strategies, and software-aided design. On the other hand, this work describes the way in which individuals perceive this new public space, through its digital logic, and discrete mechanism (from WI-FI coverage to Self-Tracking). Finally, The Discrete City scrutinises the discrete logic with which computers operate, and how this is permeating into every aspect of the public life.
This book is valuable for anyone interested in urban studies and digital technologies, and more specifically in big data and public space.