The »Real-Time City« research center participates in the new KISDedition journal »rrrreflect: Journal of Integrated Design Research«. As a digital open access journal, »rrrreflect« publishes outstanding works by graduates, professors, lecturers and guests of the KISD. »rrrreflect« is published online and archived by Cologne Open Science under the Creative Commons CC-BY license.
The first issue contains an article by Finn Steffens on his BA thesis »Epidemic Geographies: From Infographics to Cartography«, which was supervised by the »Real-Time City« research center . In his paper »Epidemic Geographies«, Steffens examines divergent conceptions of geography and space during the Covid-19 pandemic. He focuses on the cartographic implications of the global spread of the disease for the legal and social reorganization of urban space.
Specifically, Steffens examines how the geodata-based approach to contact tracing, which was particularly widespread in South Korea, contributed to the preventive containment of the pandemic. The Bluetooth-based approach to contact tracing used in Germany did not track people’s geographic location, but rather their relationship to other people using the same coronavirus alert app. While the South Korean model mapped infected individuals and thus contributed to infection prevention, the Bluetooth-based approach lacked cartographic representation and thus preventive measures.
Steffens explores whether cartographic models can be made productive for the Bluetooth-based contact tracing model, enabling proactive and preventive measures to contain pandemics. In a speculative augmented reality application, such a relational epidemic cartography was designed, which could become an integral part of future »warning apps«.
Journal website: https://rrrreflect.org/
Image: Design work »Social Distancing«, Ebertplatz, Cologne, as part of the project »Assemble | Disassemble«, 2020.