in the site of existing urban-situated technologies that permeates urban transportation infrastructure, namely the substitution of civic content for advertisement in the urban iconography. Significantly, this opportunistic initiative lies at the intersection of both the network architectures of transportation and of communications. Innovative in concept, “Civic Ads: Public Smart” thus does not involve the development of a new technology nor the implementation of a new system. It will be entirely solar-powered, whether on site (with autonomous nodes of information) or off-site (with a distributed network of PV arrays with a total capacity equal or superior to what is required by the project). The targeted systems include but are not limited to (1) Bus Stops, (2) Subway Stops, (3) Roadways, (4) Taxis Fleets. Two models of delivery systems are proposed: (a) Wireless environmental sensor networks with backfeed loop (e.g. to monitor chemical pollution, temperature, weather forecast etc.). In this case, the color of light becomes a qualitative or quantitative indicator. The information on the panels is static and interchangeable (this system will be updated when organic LEDs become commercially available). A typical bus-stop in New York City now uses approximately 400 Watts of electrical energy; in “Civic Ads: Public Smart,” this energy load would be reduced 75% and be solar-powered. (b) Audiovisual feed: New civic information is integrated into commercial broadcasts (e.g. re. recycling regulations, health advisories and warnings, world statistics etc.). "Civic Ads: Public Smart" implies a fractal framework of knowledge, from the localized information of each display to the metascale of global public awareness.

Describe the current stage of your initiative and your implementation plan over the next three years

Building upon a speculative narrative which was conceived schematically in 2001 and awarded a in 2002 a grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts, Photic is now seeking funding opportunities to develop “Civic Ads: Public Smart” in New York City (NYC), and to take it to the prototyping stage. New sensor, edge lighting and smart glass technologies applicable to the project have now become market-ready. Significantly, new media systems have also recently appeared, such as electronic displays at subway stations and interactive screens in roaming taxi fleets.
If awarded a Buckminster Fuller Challenge Grant by the Buckminster Fuller Institute, Photic will do due diligence on all the components and parts of the proposed systems, and simultaneously engage in a dialogue with NYC’s city and transportation agencies as applicable (first year). Photic will consequently develop comprehensive specifications with the manufacturers (OEM) of the various components as relevant, as well as elaborate a detailed narrative of the possible scenarii for the integration of civic information in the public realm. As the project develops, technical and financial assessments will be computed, including comparative studies with current federal, state and municipal spending for public advisories (second year). Collaboratively with New York City’s agencies, Photic will pursue funding opportunities for a short-term pilot-project as well as for the incremental system-wide and city-wide implementation of the project in the long term (third year).

Describe how your strategy meets the entry criteria ("What We're Looking For")

“Civic Ads: Public Smart” is adaptive to the transformability and plasticity of today’s urban communication and transportation typologies. Moreover, at a time when civic and commercial lighting systems are cumulative, Photic’s proposal proposes integrated, non-linear and adaptive distributions of light, and substitutive uses for smart electronic technologies beyond commercial signs or isolated interventions.
“Civic Ads: Public Smart” is a bold proposal based on the assumption that public space should claim civic content in the urban iconography, and that already situated networks of communication technologies provide a compelling infrastructure for ecological and socially responsible information. This parasitic initiative aims at increasing our collective knowledge through the innovative use of networked information. Its anticipatory premise is suggestive that incremental initiatives of informative content will lead to a smarter collective, and will engage all to be more proactive on environmental issues.

Describe the qualifications and experience of you and/or your team and your ability to execute your implementation plan

Nathalie Rozot is a multidisciplinary design consultant whose portfolio includes distinguished large-scale public space projects encompassing lighting design, exhibit design, architecture, landscape architecture and urban planning. She was a Director for the award-winning lighting design firm l’Observatoire Int., before starting her own practice in 2006. In 2008, she launched Photic, a lighting design & research practice with a focus on solar lighting applications and critical studies on lighting systems for the constructed environment. Rozot has received grants from the City of Paris and the New York Foundation for the Arts, and her design work has been featured in Paris, Rome, Osaka and New York. Adjunct faculty at Parsons’s lighting design graduate program since 2001, she also created a series of +Lighting hybrid workshops in landscape architecture and architecture masters programs in Versailles’s Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Paysage and Lille’s Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Paysage et d’Architecture. She regularly contributes as a guest critic at CUNY, Pratt and Columbia University in New York, and she lectures internationally.
Rozot is a member of the Van Alen Institute, the Architectural League, the New York Academy of Sciences, the Society of Building Science Educators and Lighting Designers without Borders.