Silicon Barrio: Exploring Civic Technology on Barcelona’s Streets
During my recent trip to Barcelona for Mobile World Congress 2013, I had the opportunity to get a close-up tour of 22@Barcelona, the new-ish tech business center for the city. The event, Barcelona City WalkShop, was organized by Christine Perey, a principal player and strategist in the pursuit of international standards in open data, augmented reality, and location-based/geospatial technology spaces.
My perspective going into this WalkShop was from a decidedly optimistic viewpoint. Not necessarily “rose colored glasses,” but rather a bright hue of some exciting, forward-thinking news on a city I have loved for many years. When one is so used to hearing the constant hum of poor economy, high unemployment, and austerity measures, it is refreshing to see this hope-instilling mashup of Barcelona and technology–two things I’m especially excited about right now. I heard about 22@ Barcelona a few months ago when I was booking my Airbnb accommodations for Mobile World. I immediately went online and watched every video and scoured every site page. I was looking for evidence this broad initiative would somehow magically redirect this mighty cruise ship with the nimble, precise handling of a speedboat. I wanted it to fix everything. I began thinking of tech companies that might move their operations to BCN. There was hope!
The Walk
When I got to the designated start of the event, ironically 10 minutes late because the taxi driver couldn’t find the address in his hardcover, novel-sized printed map, I was more than a bit underwhelmed. There were about twenty-five people circling a cement bench covered with piles of paper handouts, not a hint of technology anywhere. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but that wasn’t it. But as the walk, and ultimately the workshop afterwards, progressed, my mood improved. I discovered Wi-Fi blanketed the area and parking sensors (inconspicuously) littered the streets, allowing drivers to scout available parking spaces via a smartphone app. There were also plans for data-driven traffic congestion remediation, where historical data on traffic congestion would be used to redirect the flow of cars and busses to reduce future jams. We also learned about the bicycle sharing (“Bicing“) and the automated scooter rentals, giving the citizens of BCN a green way to move around the city. I thrilled at the action put to these ideas and the city government’s willingness to take an entire section of their city and basically make it a tech lab . . . an incubator.
The Future?
But where there is innovation, there is also uncertainty and question. Will this massive proof of concept make it out of the 22@ lab? Will the “Open Data” initiative, promising universally available and consistently parsed data, be adopted and adhered to long enough to create the promised programs and civic enhancements? Or, will all this enthusiasm and action eventually be looked upon as an attempt to steer that cruise ship with a canoe? Who knows, but I’m willing to take a chance . . . a chance on Barcelona, on technology, and on those trailblazing optimists that allowed me into their world for a few hours one Sunday afternoon. Now if somebody could just get my taxi driver a GPS. For more info, pics, and tweets on the Barcelona City WalkShop, see the fine folks at Changify, a UK-based neighborhood funding platform and sponsor of the event. Adam Greenfield and Nurri Kim first originated the Systems / Layers WalkShop concept.
UPDATE: If you were one of the billions of people who missed the Barcelona City WalkShop, not to worry. You have another chance to participate—the New York City WalkShop, which will be all about mobile storytelling at the intersection of physical and digital Worlds will be held in a to-be-announced location on May 31st 2013 in, yes, New York City. And, so fascinated was I with the Barcelona WalkShop, I’ve volunteered to be part of the team planning and coordinating the event here in NYC. Stay tuned.
About the author
Steven Partington is a technology director for Condé Nast US. Born in the Midwest, he spent time in Los Angeles, CA before relocating to the East Coast. His passion for mobile technology began in the corporate environment, but as of late includes a keen interest in the standards bodies of IoT, M2M, AR, LBS, and the OGC. His latest project is collaborating on the New York City WalkShop, taking place in NYC on 31 May. The theme of the WalkShop is mobile storytelling platforms that, through interaction with the physical world, introduce historical or fictional characters, lead people to playfully interact with digital and physical props, and produce new technology-assisted experiences. He currently lives with his partner and their dog in a small town in central New Jersey.
