Infostructures: Towards a Complementary Approach for Solving Urban Challenges through Digital Technologies

Abstract

Population growth in cities has led to unprecedented pressure on urban infrastructure services, such as electricity supply and public transport. As a consequence cities need to find sustainable solutions to maintain the availability of services while keeping them economically and environmentally viable. One traditional approach is to expand infrastructure, but this can be expensive, take years from planning to realization, and be politically frought. In this paper we discuss the concept of “infostructures” as cost and time-effective complementary approaches that leverage digital layers and urban digital media channels of the cityscape. Through four case studies and their analysis we illustrate opportunities for addressing different types of “unhealthy” situations with digital technologies.