Leonardo Parra Agudelo

BIndDes Universidad de los Andes, MFA (Des&Tech) Parsons: The New School for Design

Everyday Creativity, Active Citizenship and Multimodal Interaction in Urban Public Spaces

The increased proliferation of ubiquitous, digital products and digital media has had a vast impact on urban public spaces. As the possibilities continue to evolve, the use of personal technology and devices in these spaces appears to be making them less interactive, social and democratic, by separating the physical space from the discussion arena. As a consequence, there’s an increased need to re-think all technology and media used to interact with others in urban public spaces. Numerous projects promote active citizenship in different settings, including urban public spaces, but the challenge of giving citizens active access, authorship and agency remains. This challenge could be framed within an everyday and creative approach.

An active community that deliberately engages itself in bottom-up action, through everyday creative practice in urban public spaces, is the graffiti grassroots movement. This study intends to integrate the graffiti grassroots vernacular knowledge with an approach to the built environment and devise multimodal digital experiences in urban public spaces that encourage citizenship through everyday creative activities. These experiences will offer citizens access to grassroots practices and concerns, the opportunity to participate in content creation, and visualise and communicate the consequences of their actions. As a result, this project will inform how to strengthen and amplify everyday citizenship practices in urban public spaces beyond the boundaries of any single atomic movement or community.

Biography

Leonardo Parra Agudelo is a designer and PhD candidate at the Urban Informatics Research Lab, School of Design, Creative Industries Faculty at QUT. His research interests are in how active citizenship can be supported by digital media, and the possible political implications of designing digital media for urban public spaces. Before his PhD candidature, he was Assistant Professor (teaching) at the School of Design and Adjunct Professor at the International Studies Centre at Universidad de los Andes in Bogota, Colombia. He was a member of the Universidad de los Andes Architecture and Design Faculty Committee in 2009-2011. He was chair of the Sigradi Conference 2010 and co-edited the conference proceedings. His work has been showcased in different venues around the globe, including the Chelsea Art Museum and Flux Factory in New York, Sónar International Festival of Advanced Music and New Media Art at Barcelona, and numerous events and shows in Colombia. He has been part of the Teachers’ Development Program of the Universidad de los Andes in 2005-2007 and 2012-2015. He has also been awarded with the Dean’s Award from Parsons the New School for Design 2005-2007, and QUT’s QUTPRA and HDR Tuition Award 2012-2015.

Follow Leonardo on twitter: @Parra_Leonardo

Supervisors

• Assoc. Prof.  Marcus Foth (Principal)
• Dr Gavin Sade (Associate)