Augmenting Cities Hackathon

 

ABOUT

Back in summer 2016 Pokemon Go was flushing our streets with mostly (but not exclusively!) young people pursuing a new, at first sight strange augmented urban reality. In 2017 the roll-out of Apples ARKit in its new operation system made 100+ million devices ready for the use of augmented reality (AR) over night. We believe that AR offers value far beyond gaming and we started to research and test its functionality for urban planning and the associated participation processes over the last months. Now it is time to dig deeper! We would like to invite interested parties from a wide range of disciplines to participate in our Hackathon ‚Augmenting Cities‘ at the Einstein Center Digital Future.

During two intense days we will investigate the intuitive character of augmented reality and how it can be deployed within the urban planning framework. How can it be used as a meaningful interface that allows to display the versatility of cities in augmented planning processes? What AR applications will change, how we use and live in cities and how do we plan for this? How can we use AR as a design tool based on underlying complex urban information systems? We think, that AR holds significant opportunities to communicate the complexity of decision making processes in urban development which might lay further cornerstones towards achieving higher and more diverse rates in the overarching public participation processes.

If you have backgrounds in urban design, – planning or modelling, game, interface or infrastructure design or anything else associated or adding value to new forms of city planning be in touch. We are looking for talents with ideally first AR experiences and most importantly ingenuity and enthusiasm to investigate this new field in thinking, planning and using cities!

 

APPLICATION

You are interested in participating in the Augmenting Cities Hackathon? Tell us briefly (maximum one A4 page) who you are, why your are interested in this event and what your motivation is! Send your application till May, 25th (EOD) to hackathon[at]ecdf-urd.de. We are looking forward to work with you!

 

EQUIPMENT

WHAT WE PROVIDE:

At Augmenting City Hackathon, we provide:

• various screens,
• projectors,
• tablet computers,
• presentation material such as flip charts, paper and pens.

 

WHAT YOU NEED:

A personal Laptop with a pre-installed AR-capable software (e.g. Unity3D) and motivation!

 

SCHEDULE

Please note, that the schedule still might change a bit since we are not completely done with the organization of the event.

WEDNESDAY (06.06.)

THURSDAY (07.06.)

FRIDAY (08.06.)

 

JURY BOARD

Prof. Jochen Rabe – Einstein Center Digital Future
Prof. Philipp Eversmann – Experimental and Digital Design and Construction | University Kassel

more will follow…

 

LOCATION

YOU CAN FIND US HERE:

Einstein Center Digital Future
Wilhelmstraße 67 | 10117 Berlin

 

ORGANIZERS & PARTNERS

 

Einstein Center Digital Future
Chair for Urban Resilience and Digitalization
Prof. Jochen Rabe & Research Associate Max Rudolph

 

FAQ

Who can participate?

Participation at Augmenting Cities Hackathon is for free. While anyone interested may participate, we especially encourage students and open source developers to participate.

How can I form my team?

We believe self organizing works best. Nonetheless we want encourage you to mix up the participants according to their professional field or studies in order to get the most expertise in each team. Closer to the event, we will open a Slack where you can advertise your team or yourself, to put together teams that look for new members and developers looking for teams.

Who own the intellectual property of hacks?

The participants of the teams will own the full IPR for their work. However, we strongly encourage the participants to publish their code as open source.

Do I need to register to attend?

Yes, registration is essential. Our event can book up very quickly but we will run a waiting list.

What about accommodation?

There is no accommodation arranged by the organisers. For people travelling on tight budget, there are a number of hostels nearby, including Heart of Gold, Cityhostel, Generator Berlin Mitte, and baxpax Hostel. For others, there are lots of hotels and other accommodation nearby, e.g. NH Collection Berlin Mitte, Maritim proArte, The Westin Grand, and Sofitel Berlin Gendarmenmarkt.  Note that the venue will be closed for a few hours in the middle of the night, so do need some place to stay overnight.

Where can I ask more questions?

At this point, feel free to email the organisers at hackathon[at]ecdf-urd.de. We will establish a Slack for the event a few weeks before the event. At that time you may ask your questions at the Slack.

Anything else?

We will make photos and videos during the whole event. Please be aware that by attending our events you may be visible in the audience in photos or in the video of the event.

You are welcome to take photos at the event but please do not use flash photography as it is very off-putting for the speaker and disruptive for other members of the audience.

Due to our exclusive location at the Robert-Koch-Forum in Berlin Mitte, close to the German Parliament, security regulations are very strict. That means, you unfortunately can’t bring friends or family to the venue, who aren’t registered participants of the Augmenting Cities Hackathon.

 

TUTORIALS