Online / on-site

Author:	Cyrus Peñarroyo
Detroit, united states, 2014
https://vimeo.com/340360013

Purpose	Activation	Interconnection	Collaborating
	Raise Awareness	Educate	Visualize Needs
	Simulate Impact of Decisions	Decision Making	Designing
Co-Creation	Co-Analysis	Co-Design	Co-Implementation
	Co-Maintenance	Co-Monitoring
Outcome	Decision Making	Knowledge	Assessment
	Design	Inclusion	Awareness
	Partnership

Mechanics	Alternative Reality	Role Play	Rule Based Play
	Location Based	Simulations	Mapping
	Geolocation	Hypothesis	Metagame
Tech&Tools	Analoge Tangibles	AR / VR	Audio Visual
	Data AI	Data Collection/Visualization	Digital Interface
	Mobile
Aesthetics	Sensation	Imagination	Assemblage
	Physical Activity / Construction	Realism

Scale	Metropolitan	City	District
	Neighbourhood	Street	Undefined
Audience	Community	Planning Expert	Audience Stakeholders
	Policy Makers
Scope	Individual	Metropolitan	Small Group
	Crowd	Pre-Defined

Online/On-site combines publicly available spatial data with information gathered from interviews of local high school students in order to map detailed geographies of digital access and exclusion across Detroit. Despite recent development, Detroit has one of the lowest rates of Internet connectivity in the United States, excluding thousands of people from the opportunities for education, employment, and belonging afforded to those with the ability to get online. This condition is exacerbated by the economic precarity of many Detroiters, the high costs of individual residentially-based internet access, and uneven broadband service provision throughout Detroit’s neighborhoods. Many of those affected are school-aged youths that need the Internet to complete their homework, submit after-school job applications, or simply socialize with their classmates.

This project attempts to “game the system” through strategic collaboration and identifies latent opportunities to reimagine the city’s disinvested neighborhoods in ways that enable public assembly and digital interaction, proposing urban design strategies that are rich with alternative ways to connect physically and virtually. The project understands the rules and parameters behind the creation of community mesh networks and mines representational techniques from social media apps and digital interfaces in order to communicate that information to a wider public. Using a combination of maps, diagrams, and renderings, Online/On-site hopes to redefine what digital access and equity could look like in the urban environment.