“Design is about the betterment of our lives poetically, aesthetically, experientially, sensorially, and emotionally.”

 

—Karim Rashid

​

Overview

Townsend (2013) advocates for “slow data” as a counterpoint to the instrumentalism of smart cities. Instead of prioritizing speed and surveillance, design ethnography emphasizes deep, contextual urban listening. Students collect and annotate slow data, such as photographs, audio recordings, and walkthroughs, to construct rich urban narratives that bridge technology and lived experience. This enables them to reflect on longevity-related challenges within the built environment, identify design opportunities, and propose interventions that contribute to the making of a purposeful soft city (Sim, 2019).

 

Reflections

• In an age obsessed with acceleration and efficiency, how can “slow data” disrupt the speed-driven culture of design research and innovation, and what might we lose or gain in the process?

• When viewing the city as a “soft city,” how do design ethnographic methods expose hidden tensions between personal experience and urban systems?

 

References

• Sim, D. (2019). Soft City: Building Density for Everyday Life. Island Press. 

• Townsend, A. M. (2013). Smart Cities: Big Data, Civic Hackers, and the Quest for a New Utopia. Stanford Social Innovation Review. https://doi.org/10.48558/BXTE-BQ78