How might we design and plan urban spaces to be more hospitable for foxes? How might a worm or a nettle plant experience the neighbourhood we live in? What kinds of urban data might parakeets find useful? And how might we design new technologies for more equitable living spaces for all of London's inhabitants - human and non-human, big and small?

Come play with humans and other creatures as part of an end of research project "More-than-Human Data Interactions in the Smart City" that explored these questions and more. We invite you to be curious with us to explore who we share our city with, and how we can better live together with our non-human neighbours with the help of digital infrastructure and data. We'd love to see you there.

The event includes:

Live music that speaks to our relationship with other species, including Sam Lee from the Nest Collective (https://samleesong.co.uk), and Amy Cutler (https://amycutler.net)
Talks and demonstrations from wildlife experts, including moth identification, and bacterial projections
Multispecies games
Herbal cocktails and nibbles
Launch of the Discovery Box: Play with our box of inventive artefacts to help you get to know our non-human neighbours better.
Launch of our project booklet full of reflections from project partners and participants

When: Thursday 16th December 2021, 16:30 - 19:30

Where: Spitalfields City Farm

Who: Anyone who is interested in cities, data and the ways in which we cohabit with urban species. People from all ages are welcome.

This event is FREE but requires prior registration. Tickets are limited. Please let us know if you have any accessibility needs you’d like to discuss.

About the project

There are many different ways data is collected about people, services and resources in our cities. Some of this data helps organisations make key decisions about the ecological health of urban spaces. Much of this data is managed by local authorities or environmental organisations and not always available to local communities seeking to improve their neighbourhoods with a diverse range of species. Data collection technologies and sharing strategies have also been designed with a focus on human behaviours and interactions. We’d like to explore what it means to design for data interactions through a more-than-human perspective and imagine other ways data could be collected, repurposed and interacted with to support diverse forms of life.

Who is involved ?

The project is a collaboration between researchers at City, University of London, Goldsmiths University, Warwick University, Newcastle University, and the London School of Economics, and project partners the Roving Microscope and Cordwainers Grow. It is funded through an EPSRC Human Data Interactions Network Plus grant.

For more information email sara.heitlinger@city.ac.uk

Winter Feral Playground