summer scouts measures emotional contentedness in vienna

summer scouts measures emotional contentedness in vienna
all images courtesy of mia meusburger and johanna pichlbauer

the modern city is a constantly changing organism in a constant upward motion of increased intelligence, preciseness, and efficiency. tools exist that optimize routes, manages distribution of resources, and in general greatly increase the comfort of its citizens. but what about the emotion of a city? who, or what, measures that? design students mia meusburger and johanna pichlbauer envision future cities capable of sensing imperceptible activities in the human psyche. 

tracing levels of sunscreen in the pool 

often, the most elementary of things bring humans together. winter’s first snowflakes floating down gently from the sky, or the moment of silence before the wrath of a storm is unleashed. trying to stay cool on a blistering spring day, or the first true day of summer. it’s not one particular thing that sets any of these events in motion, but many small things combined. 

the ‘summer scouts’ are a fleet of seven ultra-precise sensors. set about the city, they meticulously observe the environment and send data back to a central headquarters. at some point each tiny event reaches its fullest potential, signaling that summer in vienna has arrived. with the project, meusburger and pichlbauer hope to influence how residents consider their city. an urban area is an extremely complex organism, by creating systems to collect as-of-yet unconsidered bits of data, it can become much more than an efficient machine. 

tracking fresh air exposure through tram windows 

measuring barbecue smoke wafting through the air 

is it allergy season? the pollen scout knows when trees are flowering 

bugs per meters cubed 

collecting amount of movement per hour 

listening for clacking cutlery at schweizergarten 

if everything adds up, summer has arrived in vienna! 

interface for the city’s data headquarters

‘pool scout’

‘sound scout’

designboom has received this project through its ‘DIY submissions’ feature, which welcomes readers to submit their own work for publication. see more designboom readers submissions here.

edited by: nick brink | designboom