Smart CITY patterns: Creating environmental stylesheets to template ‘inclusivity’ on Cardiff Bay Barrage

Abstract

From parks to shopping areas, smart technologies are being used throughout our cities to inform, guide and even persuade us into certain experiences. In terms of the technologies (and their usage), the emphasis is now very much on the mobile device and mobile applications that provide us with the digital media time to interact and share. Moreover, what we are increasingly witnessing and experiencing is how this mobile experience can fully absorb and disconnect us from the environment around us. The authors of this paper want to re-focus the actual role of the environment in the design of the smart city experiences. Integrating site-specific artworks with smart technologies, the goal of this research is to put the emphasis back into the environment as a place where everyone can engage and enjoy regardless of ability and/ or disability. This paper reports on the early conceptual stages of the Cardiff Bay Barrage project. It will highlight how the work (thinking and feeling) of artists, computer scientists, writers and engineers in alignment with the needs of industrial partners Cardiff Council and Philips Lighting Ltd. can bring `inclusivity' to the experience of all/any visitors to Cardiff Bay Barrage. This paper presents the `pattern making' process involved in the preparation for gathering and validating of initial requirements to support the overall design for this inclusive experience.