Agorà 2.0: designing hybrid communities

Abstract

The current work envisions Agorà 2.0 as a conceptual framework for designing hybrid communities inspired by the values of the ancient Greek agorà as well as those of Web 2.0. We report a research-through-design study of a digital social network extended with a wearable ubiquitous device aiming at augmenting social bonding in contemporary cities. Various research and design iterations as well as the resulting prototypes are described and reflected upon. The elaborated Agorà 2.0 paradigm seems to be helpful for incorporating citizens in future (co-)design of cohesive environments.