Towards e-Cities: An Atlas to Enhance the Public Realm Through

Interactive Urban Cyber-Physical Devices

Paulo Cruz

, Ivo Oliveira

, Bruno Figueiredo

, João V. Lopes

and Paulo Freitas

Lab2PT, School of Architecture, University of Minho, Campus de Azurém, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal

Keywords: Urban Cyber-Physical Devices, Augmented Public Space, e-Cities, Sustainability, Urban Design.

Abstract: Cyber-physical devices are the backbone of a postdigital society in which the virtual and real spaces are

seamlessly integrated by ubiquitous computing and networking. The incorporation of such devices in public

space is a central subject of a strategic Research Project that gathers a multidisciplinary team from architecture,

product design, polymer science and ICT R&D units. This paper frames the key roles of public space and

ICTs for UN Sustainable Development Goals and sustainable smart cities. It also reports the architecture R&D

unit review on the relations between public space, community, environment and digital interfaces. This review

was materialized in an Atlas that collects, classifies and relates a corpus of heterogeneous urban cyber-

physical projects case studies. We expand on three main framing concepts (Digital Twin, Interface,

Awareness) and identify trends on the devices’ design and deployment strategies to counteract digitally hostile

environments and early obsolescence. We also suggest the rising of new types of urban devices aiming at

expanding the liveliness of urban places, the knowledge of urban life and the users’ environmental

consciousness. The lessons learned from the Atlas fed the design guidelines for a developing demonstrator of

a new breed of environmentally sensible interactive urban devices.

1 INTRODUCTION

Throughout history, the role and meaning of public

space in the city has evolved. Nonetheless, its

infrastructural and social roles, remain fundamental

components of inhabitants’ wellbeing. Urban life has

always been supported by the creation of devices that

address human needs in those spaces, from street

furniture to the architectonic artefacts of the cities’

hidden infrastructures (Uslu & Bölükbaşı, 2019).

With the widespread of internet and pervasive

computing, most of the services are being digitalized

and moved to a global networked virtual space,

parallel to the physical one we inhabit (Castells,

2009). The evolving technology opened new

possibilities of interaction between these two spaces,

and from real to virtual, a gradient of mixed realities

was created. Augmented Reality, Internet of Things

(IoT), Big Data and Digital Twin are technologies and

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3170-4505

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9217-5662

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8439-7065

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1300-189X

concepts that seem to be the sign under which

Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

is shaping our world. A new networked digital layer

is correlating all aspects of the human life and

identity, but also the built environment around us and

the meaning of public space as a place (Cindio, 2008).

Following this repositioning of public space,

triggered by a new digitally mediated public realm

and a pressing global sustainability crisis, the

interlacing between digital and analogue, between

bits and atoms, is pervading and redefining

architecture and urban design disciplines (Ratti &

Claudel, 2016).

1.1 Public Space and ICT, Key Factor

for the SDGs

These two facets, Public space and ICTs, are key

factors in reaching UN Sustainable Development

Cruz, P., Oliveira, I., Figueiredo, B., Lopes, J. and Freitas, P.

Towards e-Cities: An Atlas to Enhance the Public Realm Through Interactive Urban Cyber-Physical Devices.

DOI: 10.5220/0011975500003491

In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Smart Cities and Green ICT Systems (SMARTGREENS 2023), pages 58-69

ISBN: 978-989-758-651-4; ISSN: 2184-4968

 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Goals (SDG) and targets. Our main focus among

SDGs is Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements

inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable; specifically,

the target 11.7: To provide universal access to safe,

inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces,

particularly for women and children, older persons

and persons with disabilities (Goal 11 | Department

of Economic and Social Affairs, n.d.). Public spaces

are an opportunity to achieve other SDGs, namely:

SDG 3: Health and Well-Being – NCD prevention,

access to healthy foods and local markets, physical

activity, walkability and safe circulation; SDG 5:

Gender Equality – public spaces safety for women

and girls; SDG 8: Decent Work for All – public

spaces are the “workplaces” for many informal

workers; and SDG 13: Climate Change – green and

public open spaces in cities addresses both climate

change mitigation and resilience (Kristie, 2016).

Authors like (Tjoa & Tjoa, 2016) outline the

enormous potential of ICTs to ensure quality and

accountability, and to accelerate the accomplishment

of the SDGs. The UN World Summit on Information

Societies (WSIS) in 2003 and 2005 was devoted to

the vision of “a people centred, inclusive and

development-oriented information society”, which

was synthetized in eleven WSIS Action lines (Cn) for

ICT driven sustainable development. UN Action Line

facilitators have produced a WSIS-SDG matrix

linking WSIS Action lines with SDGs

(www.wsis.org/sdg). ICTs are both identified as

targets in the SDGs for education, gender equality,

infrastructure (universal and affordable access to the

internet) and as a cross cutting tool to be utilized for

the achievement of all the SDGs (Table 1).

WSIS-SDG relations were further disaggregated

into the SDG targets. There is no direct linking

between WSIS ICT Action lines and our main focus

SDG target 11.7, although we can say that the former

are implicit in many solutions for a safe, inclusive and

accessible public space. Also, Action line C9

(Media), related with information accessibility, user

data security and the role of media in the Information

and Knowledge Societies, is not directly referenced

as related to SDG goal 11. The questions addressed

by this Action line seem most relevant to cities as the

natural relation between public space and media is

historically acknowledged (McCarthy, 2003).

1.2 The Role of Urban Cyber-Physical

Devices for Sustainable Smart

Cities

A Cyber-Physical Device (CPD) is a device in which

physical components and software are deeply

intertwined. We consider CPD both as an individual

device and a component of a broader Cyber-Physical

System (CPS). These can process and define actions

from data collected from their environment, being

compliant to spatial and temporal contexts. Ongoing

advances in science and engineering expand the link

between computational and physical elements by

intelligent mechanisms, increasing the adaptability,

autonomy, efficiency, functionality, reliability,

safety, and usability of cyber-physical systems

Table 1: WSIS Action lines - SDGs matrix, highlighting SDGs related to public space and Action lines related to SDGs 8 and

11 (adapted from https://www.itu.int/net4/wsis/sdg/).

Towards e-Cities: An Atlas to Enhance the Public Realm Through Interactive Urban Cyber-Physical Devices

(Khaitan & McCalley, 2015).

Our approach to CPDs departs from the

architecture and urban design disciplines. It targets

CPDs developed to assist urban life in public spaces

or to manage city infrastructures, which we termed:

Urban Cyber-Physical Devices (UCPD) and Urban

Cyber-Physical Systems (UCPS). In this perspective,

both the object, its relations to user and impacts on

the site and society, are as important as the

technicalities of the system and ICT technologies.

Urban Cyber-Physical Systems can be seen as a class

of what has been labelled as Cyber-Physical-Social

Systems (CPSSs): the extension of Cyber-Physical

Systems to seamlessly integrate cyber space, physical

space and social space (Pasandideh et al., 2022).

The combination and coordination between the

physical public space, urban data and ICTs is tied to

the concept of Smart City. A tentative definition of

Smart City implies an approach to urbanization that

uses innovative technologies to enhance community

services and economic opportunities, improve city

infrastructure, reduce costs and resource

consumption, and increase civic engagement

(Halegoua, 2020). They are the product of mass

urbanization, the contemporary Society of

Information and Knowledge and the fourth industrial

revolution response to global problems that threaten

our planet (Mitchell, 2000). UCPDs play a major role

in all these fronts. As we shall see, UCPDs are (i)

sensible hubs, collecting and broadcasting urban

information; (ii) interactive interfaces between city,

individuals and communities, raising awareness and

engagement; (iii) gateway devices, bridging cyber,

physical and social spaces; and (iv) adaptable

devices, pushing for design and governance solutions

that address both large-scale long-term societal

emergences, and small-scale short-term daily life

individuals concerns (Anwar et al., 2021).

1.3 The Research Project

The incorporation of UCPDs in public space is a

central subject of an ongoing strategic Research

Project that gathers expert teams from architecture

and product design, polymer science and ICT R&D

units. This paper reports the initial review on the

relations between public space, community,

environment and digital interfaces produced by the

architecture R&D unit. This was materialized in an

academic publication named Atlas for the design of

future e-cities (Atlas from now on)

(https://tinyurl.com/mrm5mnws) that collects, labels,

relates and critiques a corpus of heterogeneous

UCPDs case study projects deployed in public space

around the world, which reflects the

multidisciplinarity of the research team.

The scientific importance of this Atlas is trifold:

(i) for the Research Project the lessons learned from

the Atlas fed the design guidelines for a demonstrator

of a new breed of environmentally sensible

interactive urban devices, which integrates all the

project’s research lines; (ii) for the scientific

community it is an updated state of the art in the

subject, extending related work like the Pool of

Examples of the CyberParks 2014-2018 project

(CyberParks, 2014) or Active Public Space project

publications (Markoupoulou et al., 2017); and (iii) for

the non-experts it’s a theoretical and monographic

introduction to the subject, with an ample set of fully

illustrated applied cases.

In the following sections we delve into the Atlas

and use it as a leitmotif to expand on the subject of

UCPDs, their public space incidence, user behaviour

and societal transformation potentials into a more

sustainable urban future. The paper continues as

follows: first we present the Atlas and records

structures, the set of case studies and the reading grid

rationales; next we present results on case studies

cross readings and relationship mappings; finally, in

the discussion and conclusion section we comment on

results, expand on their meaning to sustainability and

on their importance to Research Project future work.

2 MATERIALS AND METHODS.

THE ATLAS STRUCTURE

The Atlas is a compilation of UCPDs’ case studies,

presented as a set of records with a unified

representation, meant to be used as an easy to consult

state of the art document. It dives into aspects of

devices’ development and implementation and

analyses public space transformations. It was

methodologically devised after the definition of Atlas

in Geography: a set of standardized thematic

representations providing a comprehensive image of

a territory (in our case: the Interactive Urban Cyber-

Physical Devices subject). Because of the continuous

emergence of new projects and technologies, the

Atlas is designed with a chronological coded

structure, receptive to new additions.

SMARTGREENS 2023 - 12th International Conference on Smart Cities and Green ICT Systems

Table 2: List of recorded projects in the Atlas (please refer to links in the end of this paper).

Figure 1: The four-page record’s organization in Atlas’ BENCHMARK case study (P17.01). Reading grid, from left to right:

Preview; Datasheet; Object; Context (top) and Review (bottom). Images in pages 2 and 3 from [20].

2.1 Case Studies

The rationale behind the selection of examples

followed a series of principles backing the main goal:

to portrait the diversity of contexts and scales, and the

several design and deployment strategies of

innovative UCPDs. Priority was given to objects with

a physical existence that support typical human needs

(mobility, comfort, security, etc.), and to

implemented or prototyped design objects over

untested concepts, purely artistic interventions or

digital-only initiatives. We’ve searched for examples

that possess some sort of sensing, communication,

interactivity or adaptability capacity that augments

their physical performance and extends its existence

into the virtual realm. The Atlas currently comprises

24 case studies (Table 2).

Towards e-Cities: An Atlas to Enhance the Public Realm Through Interactive Urban Cyber-Physical Devices

2.2 The Records Structure

Each project entry is bound to a four-page

organization with two main foci: Object and Context

(Figure 1).

The complete set of the records reading grid

headings is: (i) Preview; (ii) Datasheet; (iii) Object;

(iv) Context; and (v) Review.

(i) Preview. A bird’s eye view of the project that

summarizes its context and design concepts using

highlighted tags that clearly make it easy to

identify and situate. This information is divided

into 5 topics as in Table 3.

(ii) Datasheet. Situates the example with general

information: project’s official name, code,

development team, third-party participation,

development nature (e.g. academic, independent),

location, year, keywords, related projects and

references. An Overview topic describes the

project by the development team’s own words.

(iii) Object. Under this heading, the main design

features and functions of the objects are

organized. Stress is in the relations between the

physical and digital components of the device, and

the functioning of its associated interface. Topics

are as follows:

• Design Principles. Small description of the

strategic, functional and implementation choices,

considering modularity, customization,

adaptability, associated digital platforms, etc.

• Shape and Material. Descriptive paragraph of

the tangible scope of the object such as:

dimensions, general shape, composition,

materials, connections, structural design.

• Sensors and Connectivity Infrastructure

Technologies. Detailed list of implemented

sensors and type of collected data, as well as the

connectivity infrastructure technology.

• Specific Functioning. A summary of the

interface, hardware and software functioning

Table 3: Preview topics, subtopics, tags, and their description.

SMARTGREENS 2023 - 12th International Conference on Smart Cities and Green ICT Systems

including connectivity infrastructure, technologies,

interaction principles and data flow.

(iv) Context. Addresses the presence of cyber

physical technologies and interactive devices in

the public space. The focus is on the urban

contexts in which they are deployed and their

influence in the design and functioning of the

spaces, and in the people who inhabit them.

Topics are as follows:

• Context Diagram. A graphic diagram depicting

(with relative fidelity) the urban context type and

scale which the device is attached to, synthetizing

its contextualized functioning.

• Context: Small description of the public space

the system is applied to, including urban, cultural

and geographical contexts.

• Induced Transformation. Analysis of the

device’s effects in the public space and the

citizens (direct or indirect), as well as influence

over contemporary pressing matters, namely

urban sustainability.

(v) Review. A critique assessment of potential

benefits and weaknesses of the project, both as an

isolated and a contextualized object. Topics are as

follows:

• Success Factors and Strategies to Counteract

Obsolescence. Discussion about the project’s

characteristics and approaches that help make it a

success.

• Issues. A speculative overview around what are

the object’s main issues considering possible

obsolescence, dependencies and sustainability.

3 RESULTS. MAPPING THE

RELATIONS BETWEEN CASE

STUDIES

Keywords were assigned to projects empirically and

ranked based on the specificity of the characterizing

terms, from generic (lower rank) to particular (top

rank). There are 40 distinct keywords, but 12 of them

are only used once (e.g., Vital Signs, E-bicycle or

Digital Water) and don’t generate connections

between projects.

In Figure 2 we represent the relations between

Atlas records. Related projects are connected by

edges via keywords sharing. Each record has five

keywords, weighted by inverse ranking order, from

lower (1) to higher (5), and the strength of the relation

(edge weight) is determined by the sum of the

keyword weights in source (left) and target (right)

project. The disks size at right represent the number

of times a project is referred to.

Figure 2: Diagram of the relations between Atlas records,

via keywords.

From the results of this analysis, we can observe

that:

(i) The stronger aggregated sum edge is SMART

POLE - BIRLOKI (weight: 24, via Smart City +

Urban Furniture + Modular Design keywords),

followed by edge 21 SWINGS - ACTIWAIT

(weight: 21, via Playable + Social Interaction +

Public Open Space keywords), and MURMUR

WALL - THE HEART OF THE CITY (weight:

20, via Art Installation + Lightscape + Social

Interaction keywords). This depicts some

grouping of examples: first, UCPDs as smart city

equipment; second, UCPDs as social and activity

stimulators in public space; and, third, UCPDs as

public art media;

(ii) The most referred project is 21 SWINGS (10

times), then RESPONSIVE PUBLIC SPACE and

TREE.0 (9), and BENCHMARK (8). The fact

highlights the importance of examples related to

social interaction, design principles based on

playable strategies and kinaesthetic interactions;

(iii) The project BEACON is never pointed out as a

related project. As a technology it was deemed to

generic, so relations to other projects are weak;

(iv) The most used keywords in the Atlas are Urban

Furniture (10 times), Public Open Space (9),

Human Tracking and Social Interaction (6). To

some extent this reflects the bias in the designer’s

viewpoint and examples’ selection;

(v) The keywords more often ranked on top (2 times)

and producing the strongest simple edges between

projects (weight = 10), are Smart City (associating

SMART POLE – BIRLOKI), Sensor Box

(SMART CITIZEN KIT - ARRAY OF THINGS),

Towards e-Cities: An Atlas to Enhance the Public Realm Through Interactive Urban Cyber-Physical Devices

Big Screen (INTERACTIVE SCREEN -

AUGMENTED SPACES), and Art Installation

(MURMUR WALL - THE HEART OF THE

CITY). This corroborates the results described in

(i) and the importance of screens, yet the standard

user interface.

3.1 Empirical Results from Cross

Readings

In this section we do a summary of the Atlas’ records

cross readings, following the topics of the reading

grid outlined above. We intend to give a clearer

picture of the main problems, common solutions and

affinities between projects.

In Table 4 a case study project names – preview

tags matrix summarizes the tags highlighted in the

Preview first page of each record. Tags description,

and topic/subtopic grouping can be acquired from

Table 3. Following the five topics classification, and

by decreasing order of importance, the main used tags

are: (i) Context: Public and Exterior, Permanent,

Functional; (ii) Scope: Social, Environment,

Governance; (iii) Design principles: Replicable,

Connected, Customizable; (iv) Sensing capabilities:

Tracking, Environmental, Physical; and (v) Outputs:

Visual and Direct, Interactive, Deferred.

3.1.1 Datasheet Overview

Selected examples are contemporary with the

dissemination of internet and mobile digital

technologies, spanning the last 13 years. The

emphasis in this period reflects a bias towards the

availability of information, but it also hints to the

upwelling use of cyber components in urban devices.

Development teams are mainly academic, and two

organisations stand out: MIT (5 projects) and Gehl

Architects (2 projects). While North America (USA)

and Europe (Italy, Spain and Denmark) are the

standout locations, this indicates a Eurocentric (or

occidental) bias and the need for the diversification of

origins in future work. Most cases are not

participatory but most result from public institutions’

support in the implementation of the devices in public

space.

3.1.2 Design Principles

The incorporation of ICT technologies in the design

of urban life assistance devices pushes to

multidisciplinary and codesign processes.

Multidisciplinary teams of specialists are necessary to

address the increased complexity of the design task,

and codesign approaches point to a new stage of

hands-on participatory processes. This incorporation

and design processes leave traces in new breeds of

augmented types of standard urban objects, or give

rise to new ones. Playfulness and Emotional Design

Table 4: Case study project names – preview tags matrix.

SMARTGREENS 2023 - 12th International Conference on Smart Cities and Green ICT Systems

are two major design strategies to increase user

interaction and engagement with the objects, the

services or social goals. These strategies can be

applied both to the object, the digital interface and

media content that is presented by the devices. As

sensing and interacting devices UCPDs may produce

large quantities of data. Open-source, open-data but

also data visualization, play a major role in the

objective of the DIY Atlas’ examples, and are the

substrate for further artistic, design or commercial

explorations by other devices.

3.1.3 Shape and Material

There is no typical size or scale for this kind of

devices, nor implementation strategy, as they range

from pocket-size sensor boxes to street scale

interventions. Nonetheless, if most interfaces are

designed for urban scale, interaction between user

and the devices always happens in a human centred

scale. Shapes tend to be simple and rectilinear. This

trend can be related to the most used industrial

materials and fabrication methods where the main

concerns are cost-effectiveness and ease of

fabrication. Nonetheless, there are a few organic and

metaphorical shapes, such as trees, hearts or animal

inspired.

3.1.4 Sensors and Connectivity

Most of the examples are equipped with sensors and

can collect data in real-time. While some simulate a

near real-time sensing capability by collecting online

data, others have no sensing capabilities at all. The

most used sensors are environmental sensors and user

interface sensors. Geolocation, tracking, gesture and

facial recognition are other major uses for sensors,

which can be achieved in various ways (with

predominance to computer vision). Interactive touch

screens range from small tablet like screens, sensing

the pressure of a finger, to very big floor screens,

sensing the pressure of the users’ body. Sensor data

can be used locally and immediately discarded or

recorded in a web server using pre-processed data if

UCPDs’ nodes have edge computing and long-range

communication capabilities. In this case they can also

be remotely managed and maintained. Devices may

also work as a WI-FI Hotspot, nonetheless,

connectivity between personal devices and UCPDs is

mainly achieved by pairing Bluetooth/BLE wireless

devices.

3.1.5 Specific Functioning

Interaction with UCPDs is, in most cases, stimulated

by local soundscapes, lightscapes and personal device

usage integration. This engagement happens through

network facilitator systems such as QR codes,

Beacons, Bluetooth or other means of wireless

communication. Interfaces try to escape the common

PC experience, there is a general trend of gamifying

common actions in public space to increase

attractiveness. These include synesthetic experiences

that use the “body as interface” and alternative ways

(other than screens) of displaying information. The

data handling is carefully done to guarantee long-term

sustainability in pressing matters such as: personal

and site sensitive data security, legal usage,

communication networks overload, data storage

capacity and energy consumption of systems’

maintenance.

3.1.6 Context

Most of the examples in the Atlas are deployed in

developed countries’ public open spaces (see Table 2)

and address common global or characteristic urban

problems: environmental sustainability, public

participation, community resilience and security in

public spaces. These devices are installed mostly in

spaces seeking for high activity or pedestrian flow,

such as squares, boulevards or important street

intersections. Some cases are connected to indoor

activities and entertainment, and others are mobile,

therefore not site specific. Most devices are designed

to interact directly with pedestrians instead of cars or

traffic, notably a fruitful trend targets disabled people

and assisted living in public space. However, some

UCPDs are installed in segregated spaces, aiming at

their activation. The urban scales of interventions

vary from single interventions in small public spaces

to citywide devise systems; their cyber contexts

(network scale) also vary from direct physical

interfacing, or in-place mobile device pairing, to

global internet connectivity. The deployment time

frame of research or artistic based interventions is

short, while functional and industrialized products are

designed to endure harsh outdoor conditions for long

periods.

3.1.7 Induced Transformation

Public space transformation upon device

implementation can be segmented into six groups.

Although the device’s (i) Physical presence is the

only concrete direct transformation in the public

space perception, data collection is the base of (ii)

Towards e-Cities: An Atlas to Enhance the Public Realm Through Interactive Urban Cyber-Physical Devices

governance informed decision-making, which will, in

turn, lead to more tangible and intangible

transformations. (iii) Behavioural change is an

exemplary indirect transformation where data

communication and clever interface design are key

aspects in the moulding of place and sustainability

aware citizens. This also integrates (iv) social

interaction encouragement, aiding in the rupture of

bias and prejudice within different background social

groups that share the same public spaces as well as

(v) urban setting activation that foments social

interaction and permanence in otherwise segregated

spaces. The implementation of these devices can also

be more operative, focused on (vi) the facilitation of

quotidian tasks or even in the enhancement of city

infrastructures that can improve safety and inclusion.

3.1.8 Success Factors and Strategies to

Counteract Obsolescence

Successful interventions oftentimes rely on

opportune timings and placement. These prospects on

public space life renewal and good selection of

deployment sites (where interaction is welcome by

the users) are important aspects to consider. Apart

from other direct object design parameters, such as

safety, weatherproof, durability, anti-vandalism or

even modularity to ensure long-lasting devices, its

designed physical affordances are a safe fall-back in

case of digital failure, and a way to avoid object’s

obsolescence as a whole. Providing enjoyable

experiences as well as a sense of discovery through

emotional design is also a strategy to create empathy,

and therefore counteracting obsolescence. Perhaps

even more important, is the perceived utility of the

device and its inclusive goals (ethnographic, age

groups and disabilities) through its formal design and

intuitive user-friendly interface.

3.1.9 Issues

One of the main issues about applying ICT

technology to the public space is implementation cost

effectiveness. Although there are low-cost

technology and DIY solutions, large scale

implementations are yet too costly to produce and

maintain. There are heavy counterproductive

dependencies triggering obsolescence in UCPDs:

high-end technology, high maintenance, third-party

services, mandatory apps or even continuous service

content feed. Also, heavy dependence on novelty,

perceived usefulness and user attachment may

become a trivialization issue. The inequality of access

to ICTs, digital illiteracy or the bodily condition of

users to operate physical interfaces, are another major

issue from the perspective of users. User safety

concerns go now beyond devices’ ergonomic and

placement concerns, extending into collected

personal and site data security assurance, which

conflicts with users’ rights to privacy and anonymity

in public space. Also, the ecological impact of the

production of UCPDs we’ve studied is not a main

consideration concerning recycled materials usage,

sustainable fabrication processes or renewable energy

sources.

4 THREE CYBER-PHYSICAL

META CONCEPTS: DIGITAL

TWIN, INTERFACE,

AWARENESS

From a literature review on the design perspective on

UCPDs, and the process of elaboration of the Atlas

itself, a set of framing meta concepts were synthetized

regarding UCPDs and their incidence in the public

space. Without the objective of reaching closed

concepts, we’ve identified the following: digital twin,

interface and awareness.

From the engineering and CAD industries, digital

twin is the real-time digital representation of a

physical object or process integrating sensor data that

can be used to manage the real world (Fuller et al.,

2020). The responsive nature of UCPDs and their

double physical and digital presence in the public

space rekindles its use, counteracting a sense of

alienation from place and architecture. Regardless of

its complexity, the convergence between virtual and

real worlds seems undeniable and it depends on the

interface’s conspicuity.

Interface is a fundamental concept in architecture

and urban design, traditionally understood as the

symbolic boundary between public and private

realms or the physical surface that separates different

spaces. With the introduction of cyber technologies,

it could also mean the active control over building

elements and adaptable spaces. Interface design is

paramount in the engagement of people and UCPDs’

success, becoming a synonym of functioning (Dade-

Robertson, 2013). In the technological mediated

realm of contemporary societies, UCPDs are regarded

as the interface layer between a set of increasingly

overlapping spaces and interconnected networks

(Figure 3). Interface is the place where

communication and interaction happens, therefore it

is the place where awareness rises.

SMARTGREENS 2023 - 12th International Conference on Smart Cities and Green ICT Systems

Figure 3: Conceptual diagram with UCPDs as the central

interface node of a network of networks and as a gateway

between social, virtual, and urban spaces.

The concept of awareness seems to frame the

main goal for the implementation of cyber-physical

devices in the city and the notion of Smart City itself.

Awareness is synonymous of knowledge and

perception, but also consciousness, sensitivity, and

familiarity. This broad concept can be applied to

people, machines, the relation between them, and

between them and their environment. Public space

users’ increased awareness of global pressing issues

is a key factor to participation and engagement and a

main drive for the implementation of ICT technology.

Awareness is the first step to behavioural change and

social transformation which is arguably the very base

of a sustainable future. Developments in ICT

technologies also look to increase not only the

machine’s awareness of its users but also of other

machines and its environment in (increasingly

autonomous) automated networks of devices that

keep alive a digitalised world that seems to dispense

user’s intervention (Pitt, 2015). The increasing

dependency on ICTs may be seen as both an

opportunity and a threat, but awareness is ultimately

understood as human knowledge, literacy and

conscious use of machine, and participation in a

virtual world built to deal with real problems.

5 DISCUSSION AND

CONCLUSION

Contrary to the idea that digital space deprives public

space and collective life of its physical substrate, the

Atlas reveals examples of how the dynamics between

real and virtual, between physical and digital spaces,

are allowing their reviving. In addition to the

portrayal of current UCPDs, the Atlas provides a

perspective on new ICT mediated relations between

citizens and public space, that allow to pursue SGDs

with innovative strategies for inclusion, local

economic opportunity and sustainability awareness.

UCPDs have the potential to open public space to the

most vulnerable by means of increased security,

assisted living, new forms of communication and

simple human-centric playful interactions.

Concurrently they develop digital literacy,

community participation and environmental action,

namely for those with fewer opportunities and

education, by means of democratizing the public

access to digital technologies, information and media.

These devices also contribute to a reinvention and

diversification of uses and activities in public space.

Components of the public space or activities that are

increasingly monofunctional or restricted get

counteracted by devices that expand their possibilities

and publics (e.g., working outdoors, virtual visits to

museums). Diversity of uses and activities also means

more people and longer occupancy, so more social

and economic opportunities in a safer environment.

As most of UCPDs are urban data sensors, they

amplify an already data saturated digital space. This

data, if shared as open-data and allied to open-source

technologies and ingenuity, is a social and economic

opportunity for local entrepreneurs.

Although it’s too soon to establish the emergence

of new typologies, UCPDs gave rise to new classes of

objects deployed in public space with a distinct image

and functioning. We’ve identified and named three

instances: (i) Sensor Boxes, (ii) Smart Trees, and (iii)

Chargers. (i) Sensor Boxes are small UCPDs devoted

to sense the city, with the sole function of collecting

urban data, mainly environmental. They range from

institutional ICT infrastructures to simple DIY

devices in the open-source and open-data spirit,

merging ecological concerns with digitalization. (ii)

Smart Trees are tree-like free-standing structures,

devoted mainly to collect sun power, with their

photovoltaic “leaves”, for charging battery devices,

usually acting as Wi-Fi hotspots. Placed isolated in

urban squares they are also shading structures and

meeting points with interactive features. With the

multiplication of battery devices and electric

mobility, the need for autonomous or integrated (iii)

Chargers in the public space has increased. From

electric car pole chargers to personal devices’ USB

chargers integrated in solar urban furniture, these

devices are becoming pervasive. We notice that these

Towards e-Cities: An Atlas to Enhance the Public Realm Through Interactive Urban Cyber-Physical Devices

new classes of objects are mainly sustainability

oriented.

A significant part of the case studies in the Atlas

depends on considerable financial, material and

energy resources, and although sustainability

problems are main design motivations, these concerns

are not equally reflected in the production of the

devices themselves. Nonetheless, it is notorious that

this is an emergent and inescapable development.

Urban objects residing outdoors are increasingly

designed to ambient energy harvesting, becoming

energetically self-sufficient, and the use of recycled

materials and new fabrication methods that minimize

waste, costs and promote circular economy (like

additive manufacturing, is also a recent but growing

trend. These developments in energetic, material and

fabrication processes aren’t currently highly

intertwined with cyber components incorporation,

nor large scale 3D printed objects are fully accepted

as final products.

These challenges were the leitmotif for the

developing Research Project’s demonstrator for a

new breed of environmentally sensible interactive

urban devices, which integrates all the Project’s

research lines. It will be materialized in a family of

augmented street furniture that incorporates: (i)

cyber-components, (ii) renewable energy, (iii)

recycled materials, and (iv) additive manufacturing in

a full-scale outdoor-ready device, resorting to

recycled plastic extrusion-based additive

manufacturing by robotic arm. The lessons learned

from the Atlas fed the demonstrators’ requirements

and design guidelines, balancing digital integration

and physical affordances, as well as needed resources

and expected results.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Work co-funded by European Regional Development

Fund (ERDF) thru Norte 2020: Project

“Lab4U&Spaces - Living Lab of Interactive Urban

Space Solution” (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-

000072); and Project Lab2PT - Landscapes, Heritage

and Territory laboratory - UIDB/04509/2020 thru

FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia.

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SMARTGREENS 2023 - 12th International Conference on Smart Cities and Green ICT Systems

List of links to Atlas projects’ case studies in the web:

[1] https://carloratti.com/project/digital-water-pavilion/

[2] https://www.senseable.mit.edu/copenhagenwheel/

[3] https://www.dailytouslesjours.com/en/work/musical-

swings/

[4] https://www.smartcitizen.me/

[5] https://ueberall.us/portfolio/airfield/

[6] https://www.juansadaba.com/projectbirloki/

[7] http://www.arrayofthings.github.io/

[8] https://www.ortlos.com/projects/responsive-public-

space/

[9] http://www.puzzlefacade.info/

[10] https://developer.apple.com/ibeacon/

[11] http://www.tetrabin.com/

[12] http://www.urban-invention.com/

[13] http://www.underworlds.mit.edu/

[14] https://www.anaisafranco.com/heartofthecity/

[15] http://www.future-cities-lab.net/murmurwall/

[16] http://www.rossatkin.com/wp/?portfolio=responsive-

street-furniture/

[17] https://carloratti.com/project/future-food-district/

[18] https://www.dpa.com.sg/projects/projectbusstop/

[19] https://interactivespaces.dk/tree-0/

[20] http://benchmark.mit.edu/

[21] https://www.trisonworld.com/en/projects/trison-

digitalise-shopping-center-arenas-barcelona/

[22] https://www.itke.uni-stuttgart.de/research/icd-itke-

research-pavilions/itech-research-demonstrator-2018-

19/

[23] https://www.elkoep.com/smart-pole-in/

[24] http://www.ecaade2021.ftn.uns.ac.rs/session-16/

Towards e-Cities: An Atlas to Enhance the Public Realm Through Interactive Urban Cyber-Physical Devices