Experiencing hybrid spaces a scoping literature review of empirical studies on human experiences in cyber-physical environments

Abstract

Whether we are taking a leisurely stroll through the city or rushing about our daily business, our everyday lives are today informed, mediated, and entertained by digital technology. As a consequence, new spatial arrangements are constituted that have been conceptualised as hybrid spaces. They evolve in connection with mobile devices and ubiquitous Internet access and are characterized by an imbrication of the physical environment and digital technology. Although hybrid spaces permeate our everyday life, there is little empirical research on experiences in hybrid spaces. This paper presents a scoping literature review on experiences in hybrid spaces. Based on a synthesising reading of research evidence from 28 empirical studies, three overarching thematic strands were identified: place, mobility, and social interaction. However, the empirical research field appears nascent still and lacks convergent and consolidating approaches, particularly across disciplines. Nevertheless, while digital technologies have so far been associated with processes of domestication and a diminishing importance of places, mobile devices and especially AR applications can draw people outside and foster spatial meaning-making. Hybrid practices change spatial uses and produce new patterns of urban functions at multiple levels. Moreover, hybridisation challenges fundamental notions of ‘place’, as digital augmentation allows for the coexistence of an infinite number of modifications of a place and can encompass past, present and future representations. While what we gain and lose through this development remains an open question, we provide concrete guidance for future research on what and whom to investigate, as well as how to do so.