Architecting digital spaces

Digital spaces are an urban geography in their own right. The trouble is, most of our online spaces are monopolized by entities ultimately trying to sell us a product. As a result, those spaces similarly embody the same Orwellian doublespeak that characterized the Soviet era. We are told we can use them for building connection and community, but we... See more

I think a large part of why we’re so unhappy with our digital spaces is that the people designing them don’t really see themselves as urban planners. It’s a metaphor that occasionally floats around without much acknowledgment that it has altogether ceased to be a metaphor .

If designers, product managers and engineers are really digital urban planne... See more

Kernel’s open source curriculum is an incredible resource for anyone interested in how designing digital spaces will change with the introduction of decentralized data storage and economics. From studying money through the lens of linguistics and culture to understanding, truly, how trust is constructed in complex systems, it’s the most sincere, ph... See more

“What I’m interested in is deep aesthetics: the universal or near-universal forms that elicit deep, subconscious positive or negative emotional responses. These deep aesthetics are changing, too, but not nearly fast enough to keep pace with rapid technological, political, and social upheaval around us.”

– Lane Rettig, on the importance of studying d

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Philosophers and practitioners of architecture have long studied the relationship between physical spaces and ritual, ritual and the creation of culture, culture and the embodiment of thought.

It’s why, as a complete novice to the field, one of the first things you learn is that architecture is an irreducible mode of thinking in its own right . It’s... See more