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As artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are more and more integrated into everyday lives, both scholarly and popular discourses on AI's often revolve around charting the various risks that may be associated with them. The manner and magnitude of risk that various researchers identify and foresee varies; however, what is common between them is, undoubtedly, the concept of risk itself. This concept, we argue, has been largely taken for granted by the fields involved in the research on AI's; in other words, "risk" has been employed with an everyday sensibility without due critical examination. In this paper, we address risk as a concept directly, by examining interdisciplinary theories and literatures on risk to discuss examples of AI technologies. Through this work, we aim to begin a critical discussion of the importance of theorising risk within design research and practice, and within the development of emerging technologies.

Since 2014, a growing body of critical research has pointed out flaws in smart city development. It has been described as too technology-led and business-oriented, diminishing citizens' agency and causing digital divides. As the agenda keeps spreading, there is an urgent need to develop more participatory, inclusive and bottom-up approaches to balance interests of those currently in strong power positions, such as large corporations. Participatory design (PD) and participatory approaches in general have been suggested as a remedy, but they often tend to be local, small-scale and short-term. Therefore, their impacts are often modest as well. We suggest that we need to start thinking about ways to create scalable approaches that would grow the temporal and spatial impact of actions and practices that intend to increase citizens' understanding and control over new technologies, i.e. their technological agency. Without making sure that more people have adequate knowledge and sufficient control and mastery of technologies, societal discussion and ultimately, political decisions, are left to few experts. We explore the potential of public libraries to act as an ally and cooperation partner in participatory design and technology education in general, with a significant potential to broaden micro-level actions' impact.

The use of log construction is increasing in Finland. This development is desirable for ecological and economic reasons. However, due to changes related to the technical properties of logs and their overall popularity, introduction of novel building typologies and urbanization in general, it is unclear how the public currently experience logs as a construction material and technique. Thus, in this paper our aim is to examine logs and log building holistically as a phenomenon in the Finnish context, and to explore what kind of perceptions of the log as an architectural material there currently are among Finnish laypersons. To do so, we analyse interviews conducted among 18 Finnish laypersons. The study method utilized a semi-structured interview combined with a walk-along interview in a log construct built by our research team. Results are discussed through the lens of relevant wood research and the Finnish history of logs. Results suggest that logs are currently perceived as a topical and trendy material because of their naturalness, warmth, and healthiness. Stereotypes related to logs, such as ruralness or traditionality, are changing or begin to appear differently. The visibility of log structures was found to be meaningful to the study participants in various ways.

In this chapter, we will explore the phenomenon of playful and playable lighting in smart cities. We will describe and discuss participant experiences of playful and playable lighting based on the design and evaluation processes of four case studies. These studies, we argue, provide aspects of participation, communication and self-expression; experiences of the sense of place, meanings and beauty; and activities of play and physical exercise. We will look at these case studies, and the aspects of playfulness and playability, through the lens of both smart city literature and relevant theories, and the practical experiences from the processes, examining also the afterlife of the case studies. We reflect on the presented case studies and their experiential aspects, asking: How can playful and playable lighting be made viable in a city? Finally, we conclude by presenting a design framework which consolidates aspects that, we argue, should be acknowledged, considered and addressed in the design and decision-making processes of smart cities, neighbourhoods and urban places in order to create playful experiences of playable urban lighting in a viable way.

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