October 7, 2011

What would it be like to experience the city as a nonconsumer? Join creative consulting and design collaborative spurse for a foraging walk and sense a world of pleasures underfoot. Following curiosity down alleys and meandering across parks, we will collect edibles from parks, dumpsters, restaurants, and markets and have a “freegan” picnic at the water’s edge. Dress code: be ready for a little dirt and adventure.

Photo used by permission under Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) License from Ed Yourdon.

Digital devices and networks are merging with our physical environment, allowing us to capture information in real time, process it, and communicate it back to our cities. The citizen is at the center of this new urban condition: empowered by digital technologies, our capacity to make smarter decisions and to contribute to the place we live in is greatly enhanced.

The MIT SENSEable City Lab has been exploring this momentous change in projects with cities around the world. Assaf Biderman, associate director of the MIT SENSEable City Lab, will take us on a journey through the lab’s view of the future city, followed by a discussion.

Photo: courtesy Assaf Biderman

Juliet Schor, professor of sociology at Boston College, discusses how the confluence of sustainability imperatives, economic stagnation, and digitally enabled creativity has given rise to a movement of connected consumption. On- and off-line, people are sharing, swapping, collaborating, renting, gifting, trading, and teaching. Innovations such as Freecycle, time banks, and co-working make it possible for households to live low-impact, high-satisfaction lives anchored in rich social networks and financial independence. Professor Schor will share her findings on the present and future of a development that is likely to transform daily life in dramatic ways.

Photo: courtesy Juliet Schor

Signified is a documentary project featuring and highlighting the work of queer-identified individuals who are fostering enriching and sustaining vibrant and diverse communities. The project is comprised of an ongoing web series of short video profiles, an online platform for educational-resource exchange, and a salon forum featuring the work of a diverse range of queer people and organizations. Join us as we discuss the vision behind the project, screen highlights from season 1 of the video series, and hear from two of Signified’s featured subjects, MM Serra and Darnell Moore. Live drumming and refreshments to follow.

9 pm screening
9:30 pm discussion with Darnell Moore and MM Serra

Image: created by and courtesy Anna Barsan and Jessie Levandov