Spatial Practices/ Digital Traces: Embodiment and Reconfigurations of Urban Spaces Through GPS Mobile Applications Regner Amaury Ramos Ramirez The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. !1 !2 Signed Declaration I, Regner Ramos, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. Signed: 11 July 2016 !3 !4 Abstract This research explores the relationship between bodies, space and mobile technologies by studying the affective and spatial properties of three GPS-based mobile applications—Grindr, Mappiness and Waze. Discussions of how newly constructed subjectivities experience location, orientation and spatial movements—both physical and digital—emerge throughout the chapters. The study seeks to answer the following research questions: How are GPS-based apps enabling the construction of new digital subjects and embodiments? How do they enable users to perform these identities in space? How does the production of these new subjectivities create alternate forms of inhabiting urban spaces as well as alternate modes of digital mobility? In what ways do GPS apps create new spatiotemporal relations for bodies, and how are these relations made visible by the interfaces’ spatial and urban representations? To answer these questions, the three apps—which were selected from a group of contemporary apps based on their GPS properties, strong link to urban space and relation to embodied performance—are treated as a series of material objects. Though each app’s particular purpose varies, as a set they suggest coupled themes that structure the study’s analysis: physical boundaries/digital peripheries, companionship/wayfinding, embodiments/othering, judgement/ confidence, gamification/interface, intimacy/tactility and trails/digital residue. Guided by Cyberfeminist theories, the method of study is conducted through three phases: personal empirical research, in-depth interviews with participants and the designing of a series of coded avatars of the participants’ identities. The dissertation argues that there exists a mutual shaping between a person’s subjectivity and app-technology, and that these constructions affect the way space is navigated and perceived. To elaborate on this triadic relationship between body/space/technology and to open up new imaginaries to theorise about the body in space through a Cyberfeminist perspective, it proposes a new, performative figuration—the boy—arguing that these newly constructed identities are fluidly assembled and disassembled by their continuous negotiation between physical and digital boundaries. In this way, the study rethinks how Grindr, Mappiness and Waze enable alternate embodiments for performing identities in space, while also seeking to discuss how they create new spatial organisations and socio-spatial manifestations. !5 !6 Contents/Index Signed Declaration..................... Pg. 3 Abstract.......................................... Pg. 5 Contents/Index............................ Pg. 7 Acknowledgments...................... Pg. 9 Introduction................... .............. Pgs. 11–20 Chapter 1 Theories/Framework....................... Pgs. 21–66 Chapter 2 Method/System................................ Pgs. 67–92 Chapter 3 Strolling/Scrolling............................ Pgs. 93–144 Chapter 4 Striding/Sliding................................ Pgs. 145–196 Chapter 5 Driving/Guiding............................... Pgs. 199–240 Conclusion.................................... Pgs. 241–262 Bibliography/References.......... Pgs. 263–300 Appendix....................................... Pgs. 301–309 !7 !8 Acknowledgements To my advisors Dr. Ben Campkin and Dr. Peg Rawes, for the unwavering guidance they provided during my strolls, strides and drives in the last four and a half years. To my friends, for making me smile and laugh throughout this process, and making it clear that it can’t be all work and no play. To my former flatmate Astrid, for constantly reminding me that “everything will be fine”, as I sat on my yoga mat writing day in and day out. To Sabina, for all the years of camaraderie and teamwork, and for helping me prepare for my Viva. To Alejandra, for showing me that there’s nothing a little Mexican food or greasy burger can’t fix. To Miguel, for not only offering his unconditional companionship, but also for selflessly giving me a home during the months of finalising this dissertation. And to my sisters Tatiana and Cristina, and my cousins Jorge and Natalia, for always staying close to me despite the considerable distance. To Mami, for being my main source of emotional support and spiritual strength, and an inexhaustible source of love and care. To Papi, for always believing in me, for being my exemplar of ambition and for giving me the confidence to not hide my identity for fear of being judged. And to both of them, for lovingly flying their ‘boy’ back to Puerto Rico every winter when the sun stopped shining over London. Thank you all for being just a push notification away. !9 !10 Introduction !11 This dissertation approaches the theorisation of space by studying a mutually constitutive, triadic relationship between the human body, urban space and mobile technology. To delve into this relationship, it focuses on one of the smallest and yet most ubiquitous systems of technology in everyday life: the smart phone GPS-based application. As such, this is a study looking into three particular GPS-based mobile apps—Grindr, Mappiness and Waze—as well as the ways in which these are informing new, digitally-mediated urban and spatial practices performed and embodied by the subject. Each app varies drastically from each other in their functions: Grindr is advertised as a social networking app aimed at helping gay men find other men, and help foster face-to-face encounters; Mappiness is advertised as a digital survey attempting to map a correlation between a user’s environment and their levels of happiness; and Waze is advertised as a satellite-navigation app for drivers to reach their destinations using the fastest, least congested routes. Strolling, striding and driving, as modes of urban movement, are figuratively and individually explored in the dissertation through their embodied and performative link to digital scrolling, sliding and guiding. Each of these practices respond to primary modes of user-interaction with Grindr, Mappiness and Waze’s interfaces, respectively. Although the apps are vastly different, all three were selected from a group of contemporary apps based on their GPS properties, strong link to urban space and relation to embodied performance. They are treated as a series of material objects, particularly when addressing the physical and spatial properties of the screen and interface. Discussions of how these apps shape new subjectivities, alter location-experience and inform spatial movements—both physical and digital —emerge throughout the chapters. By studying subjectivity in relation to architectural and urban space, this dissertation aims to answer the following research questions: How are GPS-based apps enabling the construction of new digital subjects and embodiments? How do they enable users to perform these identities in space? How does the production of these new subjectivities create alternate forms of inhabiting urban spaces as well as alternate modes of mobility? In what ways do GPS apps create new spatiotemporal relations for bodies, and how are these relations made visible by the interfaces’ spatial and urban representations? How do the processes of feedback between user, space and interface displace boundaries between private and public, physical and digital, and individual autonomy and technological agency? Contemporary technology is increasingly embedding itself into people’s lives and has become a way for people to mark their presence in space and time. There is an element of performance within the use of mobile technologies, and especially for younger generations, it is a way !12 to let others know ‘I’m here’, wherever ‘here’ may be.1 The marking of time—of documenting real- time performance in space—has become an inherent condition of the twenty-first century’s technologically-enhanced subject. It is pressing to address the role of technology as a force which moulds the behaviour and identities of city-dwellers to then understand what type of subjects are being produced and how they construct spatial relations. Mobile technologies are effectual at creating augmentations as well as distractions from day- to-day, physical experiences. At times, being so connected to the Internet can distract people from paying attention to the events, things or people that surround them, and arguably can be detrimental.2 However, the view that people are losing touch with being in-the-moment because of technology, fails to acknowledge that mobile technologies are documenting time and experiences, as well as reconfiguring the relationships users have to each other and to their immediate environment;3 through mobile technologies, users have found a way to create their own real-time narratives in an almost autobiographical manner. However, within the field of the built environment, research into the presence and incorporation of technological elements within urban landscapes has largely focused on the pragmatic and functional aspects related to safety, efficiency