Products of the Networked City – Exploring and revealing the materials of networked and computational infrastructures

This thesis addresses two interrelated issues a) how the field of interaction design is challenged by the increasing proliferation of network and computational technologies into our spatial environments, and b) how we may apply explorative interaction design practice to engage in and investigate this development through design. These issues have been taken up through a range of research by design projects that engage hands-on with the technological infrastructures of the networked city, yet work towards a communicating and mediating output in the form of epistemic artefacts such as products, visualisation, photography and films. Through a diverse interdisciplinary analytical framework the thesis argues that the networked city may be understood as and through heterogeneous socio-technical-cultural design materials. These materials are conditioning, shaping and abstracting design work in various ways, and are in need of a critical investigation, articulation and creative exploration through design. The thesis lays out and develops how a discursive design practice may contribute to such cultural articulations.