It's a Pain in the... Wild?: Struggling to Create Conditions for Emerging Practices in an Urban Computing Project

Abstract

Urban computing projects are complex endeavors that require the involvement of many stakeholders. A long-term goal of such projects can be seen as providing positive outcomes on local practices. This is, however, a huge challenge. Drawing on the trajectory of the UBI-Oulu project, we identified a variety of stakeholders and abstract forces that shaped the project and its outcomes. The trajectory was largely characterized as reactions to the contesting forces. Our contribution was a framework for making sense, and managing the complexity, of "in-the-wild" urban computing projects. The framework categorized the implicating factors according to their level of 1) contribution to project goals, 2) interdependence, and 3) foreseeability. The use of the framework could help to relieve the pain in the wild.