Reflections on diagnosing autism spectrum disorders

Personal reflections on the issue of labelling children as being on the autism spectrum

More-than-human Nights:Intersecting lived experience and diurnal rhythms in the nocturnal city

The contemporary nocturnal city is characterised by the interplay of luminosity and darkness, a chiaroscuro tableau inhabited by a myriad of flora and fauna—including, of course, humans. What patterns, rhythms, and indeed disturbances can be detected in this patchwork i.e. how do humans, non-humans, and wider natural cycles and rhythms co-produce the nocturnal urban environment? How is this coexistence of light and darkness inhabited by these multiple species? In short, how is the night moved through, and how does it move through us and our non-human companions? This paper is sited at the intersection of two perspectives on the urban night—first, lived experience and the affective dimension of the nocturnal city; and second, the wider rhythms of the city and the sky above that inscribe themselves into us and our companions. It asks how we, as researchers, can be attentive to the urban night so as to bring these two perspectives together. To do this, we will discuss two methods that the authors have used to inhabit and describe the urban night—one a perambulatory autoethnography of urban edgelands described through text and photography, the other an ethnography of urban temporality using photographic and sonic field recording techniques. Together, the authors’ different approaches pay close attention to both the human and non-human dimensions of the environment. We examine the diversity of nocturnal atmospheres, ambiances, and soundscapes to better understand their meanings and uses. Furthermore, we do this in a way that is attentive to the various spatial and temporal scales of darkness and light—from the palpable immediacy of lived experience or the daily tides of rush hour traffic to the changing phases of the moon or the activities of migrating birds or foraging beetles. By bringing these methods together, our aim is to contribute to a toolkit for situated fieldwork that can be used to create a rich description of the nocturnal urban environment—particularly one that includes but does not privilege the human. Furthermore, the work aims to make such descriptions legible and accessible within and beyond academia

Beyond the smart city:reflecting human values in the built environment

The paper presents a work in progress that will develop a tool for mapping and reflection upon human values within the context of the ‘smart’ city. As the rise in ‘smart’ city initiatives and implementation of technologies within the urban environment become more evident, citizens face irrevocable changes to their environment and their lives within the city. Such a reliance upon technological strategies to fix cities’ ills and a drive for constant innovation within the ‘smart’ city is largely being driven by technology companies and city leaders. Citizens must live with the consequences of such strategies which have the potential to change their environments in momentous ways. In order to develop new technologies within the urban environment Living Labs are becoming increasingly prevalent, enabling designers of technologies to engage with multiple stakeholders, including citizens, in the design and implementation of new products. We present a work in progress that develops a tool for the mapping of and reflection upon, human values in order to avoid unnecessary technologies being imposed upon citizens. Furthermore, we seek to engage those currently driving the ‘smart’ city agenda in envisioning an alternative future where consideration of citizen’s values and the effectiveness of the city takes priority over technology implementation for the sake of efficiencies. We present the need for this new tool as it goes further than existing methods in its potential for enabling citizens to develop clear understanding of the values present in the ‘smart’ city environment

Utilising games to generate awareness regarding gender inequality in parliament

The paper highlights gender inequality within the context of the European parliament using a wicked problems approach. Gender parity in parliament engages with issues of ethics, human rights and democracy, such issues benefit from raising awareness and instigating discussion techniques. Our study proposes the application of games and the use of game mechanics, dynamics and rhetorics as a medium to initiate engagement and understanding towards gender parity in parliament. Specific focus is given to the justification of the game’s type, design and development as an appropriate tool for addressing gender inequality issues. This is presented through the empirical analysis of prototypes and engaging with current research (gamification, gameful design, procedural rhetoric). Utilising games as a medium to induce an emotional response within an artificial environment enables the user to engage with feelings of unfairness and frustration. We suggest an indirect method that enables a user-centered physical experience within an artificial environment to address the volatile issue of inequality, informed by multiple perspectives. Our aim is to develop a digital game that enables players to experience the unequal state of women’s representation in parliament today and that encourages collaboration to overcome inequality as a win condition

Grassroots maker spaces:a recipe for innovation?

Makerspace has become an increasingly fashionable term that many community spaces use to label themselves. In this paper, we identify makerspace as an experience-led community space where people gather to make things together with the assistance of both digital and traditional making tools. This paper takes the inspiration from both Tuan’s definition of place and Lefebvre’s ‘triad spatial model’ and offers a unique analysis of what makerspace is in relation to makers’ experience. In addition, we would also like to discuss how these insights could inform future makerspace design

Local creative industries may be more global than we think:A study of tenants based at Baltic Creative, Liverpool

LOCAL CREATIVE INDUSTRIES MAY BE MORE GLOBAL THAN WE THINK explores the extent of international trade amongst a group of UK-based, micro-enterprises and SMEs (small-and-medium sized enterprises) classed as “creative industries.” The UK government’s 2018 Industrial Strategy: Creative Industries Sector Deal aims to increase UK creative industry exports by 50 per cent within 5 years, arguing there is a “great deal of untapped potential in the sector.” It also identifies small company size as a particular challenge to creative industry exports. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) maintains that in 2016 only 18 per cent of creative industries businesses engaged in international trade (DCMS, 2018a). Our research challenges these assumptions. At least one creative industries hub is already deeply entwined in global trade. In Liverpool’s creative and digital hub Baltic Creative, 69 per cent of tenants export. Furthermore, these exporters are highly dependent on their overseas income. Over one-third of exporters earn more than 50 per cent of their annual income from exports. Our research also finds that company size had not acted a deterrent to international trade. Rather company owners report concerns about access to global markets after Brexit, which had already resulted in significant financial losses for some. Our study reveals that even the smallest micro-enterprises are exporting not by way of strained or concerted efforts, but simply because they are operating in an open, digital, global environment where international trade is integral to their business

White Light/Dark Matter

The Modernist project is synonymous with light, clarity, and function. Yet its arrival in many cities was to encounter an urban landscape creeping out of the shadows of industrialisation. This was not simply an issue of form and utility, it was one of material fact since the aftermath of the coal-fired furnaces which powered the industrial revolution had also coated many buildings and streets with soot. Nowhere perhaps was this situation more acute than in Manchester. The original industrial city became arguably the dirtiest, its ‘architecture of darkness’ absorbing light so intensely that even the daytime was one of gloomy scenes. Such was the overall atmosphere that specific buildings were designed to resonate with this ‘dark matter’. Meanwhile, new developments in the city, such as the expansion of the UMIST campus in the early 1960s, pointed toward a gleaming new future for the city, written in white-rendered concrete and glass. The interplay between the white light of the Modernist aesthetic amid the dark matter of the blackened Victorian landscape was striking and uncanny. Parallel to these developments, in the US the lighting theorist and designer Richard Kelly was giving new expression to modern architecture through his three principles of focal glow, ambient luminescence, and play of brilliants. Working with darkness rather than against it, the diversity and nuances of lighting promoted by Kelly quickly dissipated with the increase in artificial illumination in urban centres. This planned power is evident in the recent comprehensive rollout of 56,000 LED lights in Manchester. By replacing the sodium lamps with bright white ones, the city has once again found itself full of tensions and contradictions between white light and dark matter. This essay investigates the contemporary inner-urban condition of Manchester with one eye looking into the rear-view mirror at its lost future as a modernist city

Nocturnal Urban Natures:Multispecies encounters in the pandemic city after dark

The coronavirus pandemic has manifest itself spatially in various ways through forms of lockdown, restriction, and curfew. This has significantly disrupted the activities and rhythms within many urban places after dark, especially in relation to the night-time economy. In the UK, this has meant cities at night have temporarily become the preserve of designated key workers, with a degree of this labour operating precariously. Frequently exhausted and overworked, some of these workers have sought to find restoration and recuperation in spaces of the nocturnal city that pre-pandemic would not provide such respite. By contrast, sites of urban nature which were previously occupied by individuals and groups after dark, each with different, sometimes competing, interests upon the demarcation and use of these places are noticeably devoid of human activity. Access to green space, meanwhile, has been a prominent feature of stories concerning health and wellbeing during lockdown yet this has nearly always been framed as a daytime activity. This paper, therefore, examines the appropriation of spaces in the nocturnal city for those undertaking nightwork while simultaneously investigating temporarily abandoned sites of urban nature to understand their character when their usual human occupants are absent. Drawing on a series of nightwalks across the city of Manchester, UK, to illustrate the entanglements between light and dark, work and respite, presence and absence, humans and non-humans, this paper considers how urban places change when dynamics of human movement and occupation are profoundly altered. In doing so, it explores alternative futures for the city and urban nature after dark by giving expression to how we might engage with multispecies places at night to present a preview of the post-pandemic nocturnal city as a landscape that is in a process of becoming

Dark Design:Reimagining Nocturnal Ambiances

The implementation of energy-efficient artificial lighting has been accompanied by a compelling narrative of savings in economic terms. However, this obscures significant costs to the environment, humans and non-humans. It has also led to higher levels of brightness at night. Integral to this process is the loss of nocturnal atmospheres and ambiances as access to darkness becomes further limited. We need new ways to address this ongoing extinction of experience of the nocturnal commons. Design can provide a valuable role in its ability to explore alternatives, to speculate on new sensitizations that enable nocturnal urban ambiances to be reimagined. This paper proposes an emerging field of ‘Dark Design’ as advocacy for change of existing beliefs concerning artificial lighting and darknes