Civic Superstructure: A Networked Public Sphere

[摘要] This thesis’s networked public sphere - the Civic Superstructure - transforms the public sphere by reconsidering the pace and purview of the civic. Contemporary public institutions are typically disconnected and isolated islands dispersed throughout the city. Our fast-paced, plugged-in lifestyle, however, is evermore inconsistent with such inconvenient geographical dispersal. By incorporating isolated public institutions into a networked system, this project provides a connective layer across an existing site and takes advantage of the interstitial zones between private institutions to offer the civic realm in places where you least expect it. This sprawling network acts as a platform for accessing public services and information, while also providing a new common space for the public to meet, to learn, to play and even to protest — in short, to be a public, even in this most unlikely of places rendered newly civic through a combination of digital and physical access.

[发布机构] Rice University

[效力级别] Superstructure