SocialBlock studies how intelligent technologies can be used to enhance community interaction and motivate residents to share spaces in order to advance sustainable development of urban living areas. The project uses the Hiedaranta area, an emergent urban development in the city of Tampere, as the study case for research.
The project unfolds as an interdisciplinary research by combining knowledge from software engineers dealing with human-technology interaction, civil engineers, communications engineers, social psychologists, urban scientists and architects. They all belong to different research groups at four Faculties at Tampere University: IHTE Human-Centered Technology (coordinator, Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences), ETLab Emerging Technologies Laboratory (Faculty of Social Sciences), POLEIS Politics of Space and the Environment (Faculty of Management and Business), CME Construction Management and Economics (Faculty of Built Environment), and SPREAD Spatial & Speculative Research in Architectural Design (Faculty of Built Environment). The external partner is Hiedanrannan Kehitys Oy at the city of Tampere.
SocialBlock is supported by the Intelligent Society (INSO) platform, a research initiative funded by the Academy of Finland (2019-2023) that seeks to strengthen cooperation on the Tampere University’s strategy axis society–technology.
More information about the project can be consulted in its website: SocialBlock
[Image: Tampereen kaupunki / Arkkitehtitoimisto NOAN, Jolma Arkkitehdit, Mandaworks, Schauman & Nordgren Architects, Tupa architecture / Arkkitehtuurityöhuone BUENAVENTURA; Gerd Altmann/Pixabay; SoftBank Robotics]