The image of the algorithmic city: a research approach

Design for civic participation in the “smart” city requires examination of the algorithms by which computational processes organize and present geospatial information to inhabitants. How does awareness of these algorithms positively or negatively affect use? A renewed approach to one popular twentieth-century model for city design reveals potential paths for answering this question. The paper examines the contemporary “algorithmic” city using Kevin Lynch’s prescriptions for livable urban design, and identifies several paths for future research.