Planning for Urban Media

Large video screens situated in public spaces are characteristic of the highly mediated public environment of contemporary cities. While screens are now able to support a range of content, including interactive applications, urban planning policy still treats them largely as commercial display surfaces only. This locks planning into a regulatory model based on minimizing the impact of advertising, and underestimates the possibilities for public screens to incubate innovative modes of urban communication. This chapter discusses a research project focusing on public use of interactive gaming on the Big Screen at Federation Square in Melbourne. The project was part of a larger research initiative exploring the impact of digital media technologies on how people interact with each other in public space. Material was gathered from a combination of observations and interviews. In addition to informing further development of similar interactive events at public sites, the findings raise important questions for urban planning in the context of pervasive digital media.