Franges intra-urbaines à l’épreuve des projets de paysage

Avec l’extension urbaine diffuse en périphérie des métropoles, les franges urbaines deviennent mouvantes et de moins en moins lisibles. Elles sont diluées dans l’urbanisation et prennent des formes diversifiées à l’intérieur de l’agglomération elle-même. Notre hypothèse est que ces franges ne peuvent être réduites à des bordures de l’agglomération. Elles sont plutôt à considérer comme des territoires intermédiaires, des flous entre plusieurs réalités spatiales, sociales et idéelles que l’appréhension paysagère peut concilier. Elles constituent des interstices à même de souligner des entités différenciées qui composent la ville avec leurs caractéristiques urbaines et leurs paysages singuliers. Dès lors, les projets de paysage pourraient considérer les franges intra-urbaines, dans leurs différentes configurations, comme un enjeu métropolitain en mesure de susciter des expériences urbaines singulières et de révéler les paysages urbains et les sensibilités associées.With diffuse urban sprawl on the outskirts of urban centres, urban fringes are shifting and becoming less easily distinguishable. They are diffused within the urbanisation process and take different forms within the agglomeration itself. Our assumption is that these fringes cannot be simply considered as the edges of the agglomeration but rather as intermediary territories, blurred spaces between spatial, social and conceptual realities that landscape planning can reconcile. They constitute interstices which are able to underscore the discrete component entities of the city with their urban characteristics and distinct landscapes. Thus, in landscape projects intra-urban fringes may be considered, in their different configurations, as opportunities for providing singular urban experiences and as landscape components revealing different urban landscapes and the impressions associated with them

”Beyond 3D printers”: understanding long-term digital fabrication practices for the education of visually impaired or blind youth

Disability professionals could use digital fabrication tools to provide customised assistive technologies or accessible media beneficial to the education of Blind or visually impaired youth. However, there is little documentation of long-term practices with these tools by professionals in this field, limiting our ability to support their work. We report on such practices in a French organisation, providing disability educational services and using digital fabrication since 2013, for six years. We trace how professionals defined how digital fabrication could and should be used through a range of projects, based on pedagogical uses and the constraints in creation, production and maintenance. We outline new research perspectives going beyond 3D printers and its promises of automation to embrace hybrid approaches currently supported by laser cutters, the learning and documentation process, and the production of accessible tactile media at a regional or national scale

Micro-ethics for participatory design with marginalised children

Marginalised children are uniquely vulnerable within western societies. Conducting participatory design research with them comes with particular ethical challenges, some of which we illustrate in this paper. Through several examples across two different participatory design projects (one with autistic children, another with visually impaired children), we reflect on the often overlooked tensions on the level of micro-ethics. We argue we are often required to rely on multiple moral frames of references. We discuss issues that the immediate interaction between researchers and marginalised children in participatory projects can bring and offer an understanding of how micro-ethics manifest in these collaborations. We contribute to a theoretical exploration of ethical encounters based on empirical grounds, which can guide other researchers in their participatory endeavours

Investigating the design space of smartwatches combining physical rotary inputs

Watches benefit from a long design history. Designers and engineers have successfully built devices using rotary physical inputs such as crowns, bezels, and wheels, separately or combined. Smart watch designers have explored the use of some of these inputs for interactions. However, a systematic exploration of their combinations has yet to be done. We investigate the design space of interactions with multiple rotary inputs through a three stages exploration. (1) We build upon observations of a collection of 113 traditional or electronic watches to propose a typology of physical rotary inputs for watches. (2) We conduct two focus groups to explore combination of physical rotary inputs. (3) We then build upon the output of these focus groups to design a low fidelity prototype, and further discuss the potential and challenges of rotary inputs combinations during a third focus group

Les ateliers-promenades : des expériences sensibles (paysagères) habitantes aux micro-interventions urbaines

Cet article présente un protocole méthodologique visant à l’appréhension des rapports sensibles que les citadins entretiennent avec les lieux. Dans le cadre d’une multiplication de discours incitant à une ville plus « sensible », mais aussi à un appauvrissement de la manière de la penser à travers les projets urbains, cet article souhaite enrichir l’idée d’une conception urbaine qui soit plus respectueuse des significations et ressentis attribués aux lieux par les habitants. Ce protocole a été élaboré dans le cadre de la recherche-intervention FACT - Fabrique ACTive du paysage. Il se structure autour de la réalisation d’« ateliers-promenades ». Son objectif est de saisir les sensations et ressentis paysagers pour tenter de mieux comprendre ce qui fonde le rapport au lieu et ce qui fait sens paysager, afin de pouvoir en tenir compte dans les interventions/transformations urbaines.This article presents a methodology for analysing the emotional relations between urban dwellers and their environment. In a context of increased insistence on a more “sensitive” city, and of an equally impoverished approach to urban projects, this article seeks to enrich the notion of an urban design more respectful of the meanings and experiences inhabitants attribute to places. This protocol was developed within the framework of the “Fabrique ACTive du paysage” intervention-research project. It is built around the organisation of “walking workshops”. The objective is to record sensations and experiences relating to the landscape in an attempt to gain a better understanding of underlying elements in the relationship to a place and what is meaningful in a landscape, so as to take these elements into consideration when intervening on or transforming the urban environment

MapSense: multi-sensory interactive maps for children living with visual impairments

We report on the design process leading to the creation of MapSense, a multi-sensory interactive map for visually impaired children. We conducted a formative study in a specialized institute to understand children’s educational needs, their context of care and their preferences regarding interactive technologies. The findings (1) outline the needs for tools and methods to help children to acquire spatial skills and (2) provide four design guidelines for educational assistive technologies. Based on these findings and an iterative process, we designed and deployed MapSense in the institute during two days. It enables collaborations between children with a broad range of impairments, proposes reflective and ludic scenarios and allows caretakers to customize it as they wish. A field experiment reveals that both children and caretakers considered the system successful and empowering

MapSense: Design and Field Study of Interactive Maps for Children Living with Visual Impairments

We report on the design process leading to the creation of MapSense, a multi-sensory interactive map for visually impaired children. We conducted a formative study in a specialized institute to understand children’s educational needs, their context of care and their preferences regarding interactive technologies. The findings (1) outline the needs for tools and methods to help children to acquire spatial skills and (2) provide four design guidelines for educational assistive technologies. Based on these findings and an iterative process, we designed and deployed MapSense in the institute during two days. It enables collaborations between children with a broad range of impairments, proposes reflective and ludic scenarios and allows caretakers to customize it as they wish. A field experiment reveals that both children and caretakers considered the system successful and empowering

An exploratory study of the uses of a multisensory map— with visually impaired children

This paper reports an empirical study of a multisensory map used by visually impaired primary school pupils, to study human habitats and differences between urban, suburban and rural areas using a local example. Using multimodal analysis, we propose to examine how the use of smell and taste shape pupils’ engagement and the development of a non-visual knowledge of geography. Our research questions include: How do pupils try to make sense of this unusual material, in conjunction with the tactile, audio and tangible material used in this lesson? How does the special education teacher support the development of these interpretations? Multisensory material has the potential to support experiential and embodied learning: were these promises achieved? Our findings show how this multisensory map reconfigures spatial occupation and interaction dynamics, and that it has the potential to make the classroom more pervasive to pupils’ social, spatial and emotional lives. In doing so, it provides opportunities for the teacher to develop citizenship education. The paper provides concrete examples of uses of smell and taste in learning activities to support engagement, and has implications for pedagogical design beyond special education

Franges intra-urbaines à l'épreuve des projets de paysage

International audienc

Technologies numériques et durables aux défis de la métropole sensible

International audienceRevue d'histoire des techniques / Journal of the history of technology V-1 2016 | 2018 : Ville et technique Dossier thématique : Ville et technique Technologies numériques et durables aux défis de la métropole sensible Technological and sustainable cities issues for senseable metropolis ÉMELINE BAILLY Résumés Français English L'enjeu du numérique apparaît de plus en plus prégnant dans les projets urbains durables. Il s'apparente parfois à une nouvelle marque de fabrique urbaine​ : ville numérique, ville intelligente, connected city. Notre hypothèse est qu'il traduit un nouvel idéal de ville technologique durable. De fait, la conception urbaine a souvent évolué grâce à l'introduction de technologies nouvelles. La maîtrise agraire et la canalisation de l'eau ont permis l'édification des premières villes, l'édification des routes, leurs mises en réseaux commerciales, l'industrialisation, le développement de la ville moderne fonctionnaliste (rails, infrastructure, zoning, etc.). Elle s'est accompagnée des visions utopistes successives où la technologie apparaissait comme l'emblème du progrès humain. À présent, avec le développement durable, l'ambition technique, en particulier environnementale et numérique, doit au contraire préserver la planète, les hommes et les civilisations. La technologie change ainsi de statut. Elle n'est plus pour le progrès de l'homme, mais pour la pérennité du monde. Comment, dès lors, ce renversement de paradigme impacte-t-il la culture technique héritée​ et la conception urbaine actuelle ? En quoi ces techniques environnementales visant la maîtrise d'énergie, de l'eau, la protection des ressources... et celles numériques visant la création de réseaux intelligents, nouveaux services urbains, etc., permettent-elles de concevoir une ville durable ? Pour répondre à ces questions, nous chercherons à comprendre ce qui fonde la ville durable et numérique pour les politiques publiques afin de questionner les idéaux technologiques urbains associés