About
About (inter)facing the hybrid city
In November 2025, I commenced my research project (Inter)facing the Hybrid City within the Professional Doctorate Arts + Creative programme. The programme provides a framework for contributing to new forms of knowledge production through artistic research, emerging at the intersection of practice, theory, and societal challenges.
My research focuses on the contemporary city as a hybrid environment in which physical and digital layers are becoming increasingly intertwined. Digital technologies—such as data platforms, sensors, algorithms, and interfaces—play a growing role in the organization and experience of urban life. At the same time, the design choices underlying these technologies often remain invisible, despite their significant impact on public values such as inclusivity, transparency, autonomy, and democratic agency. This research is based on the conviction that these design choices themselves should become subjects of public debate.
In my research, I adopt an approach referred to as Critical City Making. This approach is inspired by design and research traditions that place public values at their core and that employ design as a means of making societal issues visible, discussable, and experientially tangible. The focus lies on the so-called interfacing challenge: the ways in which physical and digital urban environments intersect, overlap, and influence one another. Particular attention is paid to ethical implications, power relations, and the distribution of agency among different actors, including governments, technology companies, and citizens.
To support the research, a theoretical framework is being developed in the form of a glossary comprising approximately fifty key concepts. These concepts are drawn from a range of domains, including interaction design, systems theory, art, media theory, philosophy, critical theory, and computer science. The concepts carry different meanings in different contexts. The aim is to foster hybrid contexts by enabling concepts to migrate across disciplinary and environmental boundaries, thereby generating new perspectives and forms of understanding.