The use of low-cost sensors to collect environmental data can enable citizens to express environmental concerns and foster community building and activism. However, when made public, citizen data is often detached from the subjective experiences integral to citizen sensing. Our work with youngsters from diverse backgrounds explores how existing environmental datasets can be reactivated to engage new stakeholders and discussions. We present a research through design project with air quality data and draw attention to the role of ambiguity in our design process. We synthesize our reflections by discussing three design aspects that can make sense of ambiguity and encourage critical engagements with environmental data. Our goal is to offer a design-oriented account of how citizen-generated environmental data can be reactivated to express matters of concern.
Smart cities are often criticised as top-down and technocratic. However, initiatives that are more citizen-centric have difficulties contending with the prevalent technology-driven discourse. From a design perspective, this points towards a delicate balance between an approach that is critical enough to resist assimilation yet constructive enough to have a sustainable impact. This paper aims to explore and articulate this balance through the discussion of shanzhai, a Chinese phenomenon on the fringe of the global market economy. More particularly, we highlight three qualities of shanzhai by linking these to the case study of a smart bicycle lock, followed by a discussion in terms of their agonistic qualities. These three qualities of shanzhai, the marginalised people it caters, its hybrid aesthetic and its position in the market, could inform a design practice that critically yet constructively engages with technology in the context of smart cities.
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