Approaching the Contemporary Digital Dimension of the City: Notes and Challenges Regarding Athens’ Digital Image

Approaching the contemporary digital dimension of the city: Notes and challenges regarding Athens’ digital image

I. Bala1*, E. Moschouti2

1 MA Candidate in Urban and Regional Planning- NTUA Researcher ,NTUA Dipl. Arch. Eng,

2 MA Candidate in Urban and Regional Planning- NTUA, SSF scholar, Dipl. Planner, AUTH

*Corresponding author: E-mail: irobala@hotmail.com, NTUA Urban Environment Lab National Technical University of Athens, Urban Environment Laboratory,

Patission 42, Athens, 10682, Greece

Tel: 6973319766

Abstract

At the time being, the human perception of the “image of the city” is being formulated not only through the city’s physical but also its digital space. Intrinsically motivated by classic theoretical readings, this paper is aimed at researching the city’s new digital dimension and the way it transforms and differentiates the initial perspective. Nowadays, the “digital city” emerges as a wide field of research, whether dealt as a policy objective or as a dynamic, complex result of different components, casually representing the city in their own digital footprint. Approaching the digital footprint of the contemporary city and showing intensive consideration both for its “planned” but also its “spontaneous” formation, we compare different aspects of the newly planned digital cities to the elements that appear to synthesize today’s Athens’ digital image. Within this context, digital technology affects everyday life as well as the individual and collective experience, driving us to allege that urban space is being deconstructed and dematerialized, thus distorting the image of city’s physical space. Via exploring the perceptual experience of urban dwellers/web users, an endeavor is undertaken to determine the actual dimension of Athens’ digital footprint in everyday life, as well as the emerging challenges concerning the perception of the city’s image.

Keywords: digital city, digital image, user’s perceptual experience

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