Panel Statement
Panel: Think BETA: Participative Evolution of Smart Cities
The Betaville project has matured from an experimental software development project into a vehicle of communication and exchange in the mainstream: as a creative tool in planning and architecture studios, a medium for concept development and advocacy in the context of local art and urbanism projects. In this paper, one of Betaville’s founding citizens will present some of the first results from Betaville’s implementations in the field as a collaborative envisioning and development environment: from adaptive re-use of existing built forms to large-scale neo-topias built for New York, but in many cases drawing on a mind-boggling breadth of precedents. It seems to be possible to “mash up” Prouns, New Babylon, New Urbanism, discarded designs for baseball stadiums, and next-generation technologies… until the mix is just right for a next step in the real world.
- Carl Skelton is Industry Professor and the founding director of the Brooklyn Experimental Media Center and the Integrated Digital Media programs at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University, USA. His work on the Betaville project has been supported by the Rockefeller Foundation through its Cultural Innovation fund, the Municipal Art society of New York, Microsoft Research through the Games for Learning Institute, and Red Hat. idm.engineering.nyu.edu
Full text (PDF) p. 2262-2267