Cities are not just made of streets and buildings, but of relationships, time, and possibilities.
Digital technology today is entering this web and helping to reshape it, influencing the way we participate, move, and recognize ourselves in urban spaces.
In Lara Ballurio’s interview in Giornale La Voce I discuss how technologies can become civic spaces, capable of listening to local communities and bringing to light often invisible needs and daily practices. Not neutral tools, but devices that can include or exclude, including from a gender perspective.
Experiences like FirstLife, by the Territories and Digital Communities Group of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Turin, demonstrate how digital technology can support forms of grassroots participation, creating connections between people, places, and institutions.
At the same time, research and collaborations with projects like Stem Up, funded by the Digital Republic Fund, dedicated to promoting STEM disciplines in education, help raise awareness of these issues.
Rethinking cities, then, means questioning who has a voice, which bodies and which times are considered. And imagining technologies that not only accelerate, but also help us live better.
