Abstract: 

From personal devices and homes, to energy grids and urban mobility systems, the term “intelligent environments” encompasses on one hand connective technologies and on the other hand institutional mechanisms that link information into decision and action. When decision and action emerge collectively, global behavior depends not only on the institutional mechanism but also on how information is mediated and on what modalities the physical environment affords. In this talk I present research at the intersection of connective media, human behavior, and design, focusing on the question: how do we design intelligent environments for cooperative behavior?

In the first part of the talk I approach the topic from an institutional and systemic perspective. Using Boston’s bike share system as a case, I present on one hand, an in-depth data-driven and simulation-based analysis on the limits of efficiency of centralized methods of control such as truck rebalancing, and on the other hand, experimental research on the potential efficiency of collective methods of control, such as price incentives.

In the second part of the talk I approach the topic from an affordances perspective. Using cases from tangible and bodily interfaces, interactive strategic games for learning, and DIY making, I present projects that explore how design, form and materiality can manifest information and mediate communication.

With applications in cities, buildings, products, and services, the research I present pursues a future in which ambient intelligence derives not as a result of computer commands but rather as a natural collective interaction of human responses to goals of common interest.

Dimitris Papanikolaou

Dimitris is an urban scientist, designer, and engineer, with a background in media technology and computation, and interests in social, behavioral, and learning sciences. He is a doctoral candidate at the Harvard GSD, a graduate from the MIT Media Lab (Smart Cities & Changing Places groups), and an adjunct Assistant Professor at the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) of NYU. His research explores the intersection of connective media, human behavior and the built environment with applications on urban mobility.