Author(s)

EMANUELE GIORGI

Abstract

The uncontrolled development of private gated communities (PGCs) in Mexican Territories is one of the many issues that are putting at risk the weak alliance between Humankind and Environment in our contemporary times. To change this trend, can design find a new ally in technological development? A diffused lack of human spirit seems characterizing contemporary society and territories, where decisions are controlled more by the economy and the technological development, rather than by the humanistic decision. This crisis is given by a lack of decision-making authority, but also by a widespread sense of fear and anxiety towards a technology-based environment, which is at the same time more and more powerful and less and less handleable. In this background, PGCs find a favourable context where to bloom and, even if they don’t bring positive benefits to the cities, nowadays they represent a very common phenomenon in all the American territories. Base on literature review and analysis of contemporary cases of digital interaction among citizens-IoT-environment, this research aims to (1) promote a reflection on the role that the technological and economic systems play in the development of contemporary territories, with particular reference to the phenomenon of PGCs, (2) analyze which analogies can be observed between urban-architectural design and technology to (3) define some strategies for designing new sustainable communities “hacking” technology-based environments. If territories are a combination between physical and digital dimensions, hacking them means working in the digital space, impacting the physical one. Thanks to technological devices, available to everyone in the daily life, procedures of re-designing territories and hacking the existing systems can be considered as a participative, fast and ubiquitous practice.

Keywords

private gated communities, sustainable territories, technological development