This presentation takes its point of departure in a transdisciplinary exploration of urban affective encounters and moves towards a revaluation of contemporary urban space from the joint perspectives of evental urbanism and affective interaction design within the frame of the ongoing research project Affects, Interfaces, Events. 

The city, its planning and design, is primarily driven by economics and architectural regeneration for making profits. By bringing forth urban ecologies and their affective potentials (as value, capacity to affect and to be affected) we argue that it is possible to change the refrains (social, mental, environmental) of the current urban condition. In Three Ecologies, Félix Guattari argues that an eco-logic approach is necessary to initiate real change, forge new value systems and new productions of subjectivity (1989/2000. In our current practice, we have conducted two urban workshops within the frame of ‘Urban Fabric(s)’ where we have explored the relational ecologies of various urban bodies and textures. Within a transdisciplinary group of researchers consisting of interaction designers, artists, engineers and performance interventionists, we have explored the relations and affective capacities inherent in a variety of urban fabrics and layers. Using the body, the senses and an interactive design that enables people to feel WiFi and CO2 as Electric Muscle Stimulation (EMS). At the presentation we will draw on the workshops to propose eco-logical designs for re-articulating and revaluing urban environments.

For more information on the Capacious conference: http://capaciousjournal.com/conference/.