Sustainable infrastructure for ad hoc social interaction

Abstract

We explore how to design sustainable infrastructure for ad hoc social interaction based on the conception of infrastructuring, meta-design and Living Labs. The exploration is based on a design experiment of establishing a Network Zone (a Living Lab setup) with support of a smart phone app. The objectives of our design program were to create connections and design possibilities for letting social interaction emerge through use that could continue beyond the project period. The experiment was part of a project in collaboration with a larger urban municipality (Copenhagen) to rethink the way we can offer services to senior citizens in order to strengthen social interaction among them. It was done in an urban outdoor environment. We add to the discourse that positions design as something that, rather than taking place before use, should happen in use – here by creating objects that are open for reconfiguration through use.