A device to read the city

By reading we mean finding another possible form of seeing, moving, listening

The project imagines an urban environment that can be read, analyzed and criticized as a text. By reading the city in this way we find other possible ways of seeing, moving and listening. In a scripted city, marked by escalating levels of perfection, efficiency and control, the emancipatory aspects of urban life are undermined, allowing little room for anything that doesn't fit the image of the "norm".

Scripts to Read the City is an attempt to foster diverse experiences and uses of space, similar to a theater script interpreted differently by each actor. The tools of navigation are a device indicating which character to play and a guide, including a set of directions and instructions.

The project explores a relation between scripts and spontaneity, chance and control, and how scripts and unpredictability can enhance each other, stimulating imagination, encouraging us to engage with space from another perspective.

Link to our working pad

About

Context

The project starts from a concept that an urban environment can be read, analyzed and criticized as a text. By aimlessly wandering and drifting we can name exactly what we see, hear. List making can make very explicit what is missing, and who is not present or what is successfully hidden. If the city can be read it can also be annotated Posters, newspapers, graffitti, clothing, performances in public squares, protest, traffic serve as footnotes, annotations with very diverse comments.

Many services and "smart solutions" provide comfort but also drastically reduce the level of unpredictability in a city. In a highly scripted cities, filled with prohibitions, navigations, how can we use scripts to enforce and strenghten unpredictability?

What is it?

A physical device and a publication closely connected, working together. (Used as a method to encourage chance discovery and unproductive inefficiency, activated by a workshop)

a device

• device can be used to observe and to listen to
• has a shape of a tube that can be carried with you and accompany your walk
• assignes a character to follow, based on the built in tilt sensor that measure steps

a printed guide

• includes a manual for the device
• collect scripts
• template to make your own paper device
• template to write your own script

workshop

• project presentation
• make your own device
• a walk to perform scripts
• scripts writing
• feedback

Why make it?

In a smart city ruled by obsession with perfection, maintenance and efficiency, how do we measure to whom those spaces are serving? And who decide what is the norm? This project is an attempt to find new forms of observing the city, to understand who is present in a particular space and what are their real needs and desires? What kind of city do we actually want? For the people performing this to be brave and curious, be concious of the unwritten structures that are designed into the 'city behaviour' and try to break them. At the Gemente visit, we were told that 98% of our behaviour is without having to think about it, but we do not belive that is true, our behaviour in this environment is really dictated by the rules and restrictions that are in place. Re-claim a city that does not feel yours with these little breaks of paths.

Allows continuously overwriting many parts of one street ( seeing a familiar place within a very different context)Different narrative, objects, words, sounds, observations revealed

Plan

Week 1:

concept

writing scripts

Prototype 1

Design of the device - come up with ideas, sketches, materials, all rthe inspiring visual references

Power the device

Week 2

Editing of the scripts

A guide - template

Finalize the device

Plan a workshop

Send invites for a workshop

Week 3

Print the guide (Wednesday)

Workshop (Saturday)

Adjust the guide if time allows with insights from the workshop

Week 4

Playing cards

Drinking wine

Celebrating the project

Finalizing documentation from the workshooooop

Scripted city

Smooth city is expierienced differently by different people, and as much as everyone needs a safe and clean urban environment, free from danger and crime, it can also be a highly normative, controlling environment, gradually eliminating any chance for unexpected changes, productive friction, or oppurtunities to intervene according to one’s own ideas and desires.

Steering away from the expectations set by the "smooth city" often leads to various forms of social discomfort, ranging from disapproving looks to police intervention. Consequently, anything that strays from these expectations is seldom allowed to evolve naturally or at its own pace, resulting in a homogenized environment where diversity and individuality are suppressed.

Scripts for perfection and efficiency

- Contemporary urban scenarios - predictable what can happen

- Dictating what kind of activities are allowed

- Controlled terrain

- Social norms

- Certain expectations

- How people are expected to behave?

What kind of city do we accually want?

- Never speak to strangers / talk to strangers

- Desire for smoothness / desire for friction

- Frictionless environment / Random chances encounter

- Predictable / Surprising

- Higly controlled spaces / Autonomous spaces

- Privatised / Collectively shaped

Script open for interpretations

" In the ‘Smooth City’, complexities are deliberately erased. Spaces and narratives are simplified to form a streamlined version of urban life. The city, with its highly scripted and predictable spaces, becomes easy to use and thus remains unquestioned. The opposite of smoothness, unsmoothness, does not necessarily equate to unscriptedness. Like a theatre script that results in a different play according to a different director and actors, the ‘Unsmooth City’ enables a variety of narratives and interpretations. As such, smoothness and unsmoothness can coexist and even enhance each other." René Boer

scripts

page 1

N: Walk along one street.

O: Read the words that you can find written around you. Write a poem with the sounds they make.

L: Listen for the layers of sound. Notice the background hum, the mid-level sounds, the prominent noises and walk along them.

Now perform the sounds as if you were a musician, using the device as your instrument.

page 2

N: Whenever you see a narrow alley or a side street, take it.

O: Focus on the textures you encounter—brick walls, building's façade, the color of a passerby's coat, wooden benches, metal railings. Touch and describe them

L: Listen to the rhythm the sounds around you are creating. Try to ignore the tones, and only focus on the pattern the sounds are making. Some are fast, slow, repetitive. How many different kinds of rhythms can you collect?

page 3

N: Walk to the quietest place you can think of in your close surroundings

O: Search for written and unwritten scripts. How are you expected to behave even in this tucked away place? Are they prohibitions or encouragements?

L: Now listen to the loudest sound

page 4

N: Walk to the nearest intersection and cross to the opposite corner

O: Spend some time looking up at the tops of buildings Then carefully examine the ground Look for objects that could easily stay unnoticed Spend a moment scanning the building from top to the bottom - observing without moving.

L: Identify as many sounds as you can. What do they tell you about this place?

page 5

N: Take a left at the intersection and follow the road

O: Imagine you were able to archive exactly how your eyes are moving

L: Close your eyes and listen to the city’s sounds for a moment They may appear as one big thing at first, but as you pay more attention, you notice how each is so separate.

Imagine now that they are different instruments in a song, and try to find all of them.

page 6

N: Cross the street and walk diagonally until you reach a grassy area

O: Look at how the buildings and objects around you touch. Are they kind to each other? Are their bonds strong? How long do you imagine they could have they been there for together?

L: Walk along the perimeter of the grassy area, stop at various points and listen how different the reoccuouring sounds are in each of these spots. Read them and compare how they sound from place to place.

page 7

N: Pick one moving sound you think you can follow and see where it brings you

O: Stand still, in front of a city object of choice. Examine it closely. Notice how it looks, feels and sounds. How it exists in space. Now imagine being this object, looking at the world from the same stationary position. Pretend you share the same set of eyes and go for a little adventure.

L: Read for sounds like the one you followed. Are they frequent? Loud? What do they tell you about this place? And how are they connected to it?

page 8

N: Take exactly 37 steps to the left. Be conscious of your movement step-by-step, as if you were performing an elaborate dance. Feel every muscle moving, each millimeter creating its own choreography

O: Notice how moving in a different way makes you look at things. Can you focus on looking if you move in a way that feels unnatural to you?

L: Focus on the sounds your careful movements produce, do your steps rumble?

page 9

N: Look at the people in the environment around you. Pick one and copy how they move. Their step, how they move their hands, maybe even their tone of voice if you can hear them talking.

O: Can you see a surveillance camera ?

L:How much noise are you making right now? How loud is your step? Are you listening to music on headphones? Are they bleeding any sound? Are you breathing loudly enough to be heard?

page 10

N: Walk until you find a bench. Sit down and go to the page number...

O: Observe the people around you

Notice their body language, expressions, and interactions. What stories do you imagine for them? Imagine who they are, and what they notice in the city. Look for this.

L: Read around and search if someone else is repeating them. Are they the same?

Prototyping the device

We work on the (sensor) hardware while also thinking about the look of the device.

Technical aspects for the technical aspects we need:

• Tilt sensor
• Wires
• Microcontroller with SD card
• 3 leds
• battery
• maybe resistors

Led one turns on after one step. This led is corresponding to the observer section of scripts in the publication/guide. This will prompt the curious pedestrian playing to go to that section and perform a chosen script.

Led two turns on after 200 [could be changed, temporary value for testing] steps. This corresponds to the listener section of the publication/guide. This will prompt the curious pedestrian playing to go to that section and perform a chosen script.

Led three turns on after 500 [could be changed, temporary value for testing] steps. This corresponds to the listener section of the publication/guide. This will prompt the curious pedestrian playing to go to that section and perform a chosen script.

It would be nice if after this, the succession would continue in a loop, to have the pedestrians be able to keep playing after, choosing to perform new scripts.

For now (7 June), the code looks like this:

#define outputA 14
#define outputB 12
#define outputC 13
#define outputD 15
#define outputE 2

int counter = 0; 
int aState;
int aLastState;  

void setup() { 
  pinMode (outputA,INPUT); //this is giroscope
  pinMode (outputB,INPUT);
  pinMode (outputC, OUTPUT); //this is led so signal goes out
  pinMode (outputD, OUTPUT); //this is led so signal goes out
  pinMode (outputE, OUTPUT); //this is led so signal goes out

  digitalWrite (outputC, LOW); //turns all led off at beginning
  digitalWrite (outputD, LOW); //turns all led off at beginning
  digitalWrite (outputE, LOW); //turns all led off at beginning

 Serial.begin(9600);

   Serial.println("Hello World.");
 delay(2000);
  
  aLastState = digitalRead(outputA);   //checking the connection
  Serial.println(aLastState);
} 

void loop() { 
    
aState = digitalRead(outputA); //0 on groun 1 on 5 v, also checking connection

  if (aState != aLastState){     
    // If the outputB state is different to the outputA state, that means the encoder is rotating clockwise
    if (digitalRead(outputB) != aState) { 
      counter ++;
    } else {
      counter --;
    }
    Serial.print("Position: ");
    Serial.println(counter); //write the number of turns
    if(counter >= 50){
     digitalWrite(outputC, HIGH);
    } //turn on led if it has turned more than 50 times
    else {
     digitalWrite (outputC, LOW);

    }
    if(counter >= 100){
     digitalWrite(outputD, HIGH);
    }
    else {
     digitalWrite (outputD, LOW);

    } //turn on led if it has turned more than 100 times
    if(counter >= 150){
     digitalWrite(outputE, HIGH);
    }
    else {
     digitalWrite (outputE, LOW);

    } //turn on led if it has turned more than 150 times
  } 
  aLastState = aState; // Updates the previous state of the outputA with the current state
}

Reference used: https://howtomechatronics.com/tutorials/arduino/rotary-encoder-works-use-arduino/

Like this, the three LED turn on after 50 turns of gyroscope each, but we want them to turn off also, so it still has to be modified.

Real Final Code:

#include <BMI160Gen.h>
#define listener 12
#define observer 14

const int select_pin = 10;
const int i2c_addr = 0x69;

int aState;
int aLastState; 

void setup() {
 Serial.begin(115200); 
 while (!Serial);    

 BMI160.begin(BMI160GenClass::I2C_MODE, i2c_addr);
 BMI160.setStepCountEnabled(1);
 BMI160.setStepDetectionMode(0);

 pinMode (listener, OUTPUT);
 pinMode (observer, OUTPUT);
 digitalWrite(listener, HIGH);
 delay (1000);
 digitalWrite(listener, LOW);

}

void loop() {
 int steps = BMI160.getStepCount();
 if (steps > 100){
   BMI160.resetStepCount();
 }
 Serial.println(steps);

 aState = digitalRead(steps);

 Serial.println(steps);
 if(steps > 0 && steps < 50){
 digitalWrite (listener, HIGH);
 }
 else {
 digitalWrite (listener, LOW);

 }
 if(steps > 50 && steps < 100){
 digitalWrite (observer, HIGH);
 }
 else {
 digitalWrite (observer, LOW);

 }
}

Prototyping physical

Device sketch wiring

Placeholder for slideshow of scanned publication:))

Workshop

• intro - 10 / 15 minutes, context of this project, present the publication - guide and the device

• play with the device - 15 min (give printed guide with do it yourself paper device)

• walk - 30 minutes

• meet again and invite them to write scripts - 10 min

• share / or exchange if they want (bring scanner so we can document)

• get feedback

• you can take the your own script and the guide with you

• hugs <3 byeeee

POSTER!!!!

DOCUMENTATION: https://pzwiki.wdka.nl/mediadesign/Scripts_to_read_the_city