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athens :: hybrid city symposium

Athens, 4 – 5 March 2011

Venue: Drakopoulos hall, University of Athens central building, Panepistimiou street, Athens.

Urban life is in a state of flux. The widespread adoption of technologies that facilitate social activity among prospective users influences community dynamics and introduces the emergence of unique social interactions. The city is augmented through multidirectional processes. Digital information is embedded in persistent architectural forms (the built environment), yet at the same time, environmental representations of the urban settings are being displayed on the screens of mobile communications devices.

The aim of the proposed symposium, distinctly reflected in its title (“The hybrid city”), is to highlight the potential transformative shift of the fundamental features of the urban condition, regarding the recent developments in communication technologies. Emphasizing the inherent interdisciplinary nature of technologically mediated urban activity, the symposium will bring together experts drawn from academia and the industry, as well as artists, designers, cultural operators and policy makers. Primary goals are to explore the emerging character of the city, to address questions resurfacing on the nature of urban experience and to outline strategies and tools for future social interaction and participation.

The symposium will consist of discussion panels led by invited key-note speakers both from Greece and abroad. It will focus on a variety of aspects and approaches that are viewed as particularly pertinent to the holistic coverage of the modern multifaceted urban milieu. Specifically, the symposium will include panels on the following subjects:

  • The virtual and the real. The multiple versions of contemporary cities as matrix of new social dynamics.
  • Environmental perception and knowledge of the hybrid urban experience.
  • Mapping practices and location based activities as a means of collaboration and participation.
  • Emergent forms of artistic expression and new design processes, relating to the hybrid city.
  • The city as gamespace. New modes of interactivity and playful tactics as a means of appropriation and reclaim.

As one of the events of the Global Gateway action, the symposium will seek to engage prospective participants from all the countries involved in the consortium and especially from Turkey, underlining that Istanbul is a city of particular importance for the project.

Program on: webpage of Hybrid City Events