Datapolis

Data has become a critical component to our life - when was the last time that you spent 24 hours offline? In a way we granted the idea that we are and will be connected. Yet, we hardly comprehend its mechanisms: connected objects, self-driving vehicles, satellites, global internet cable networks, data centers and humanoid robots are yet the tangible evidence of a complex and connected world. Datapolis contributes to a theoretical debate on data and its effects on space, architecture and environments including ecological, economic, political and societal dimensions. By means of academic papers, short essays, a historical timeline and a catalogue of gizmos, maps and diagrams, speculative proposals in sophisticated and detailed drawings and photographs, this book intends to be speculative on the ways in which architecture can get engaged with data, its infrastructural space and its scale. Datapolis is curated by TU Delft researchers Paul Cournet and Negar Sanaan Bensi.