Smart [AR] Mini-Application: Engaging Citizens in Digital Placemaking Approach

Abstract

As an initial step to building a smart city, municipalities have used a wide range of communication means (applications and platforms) to improve cities’ services provisions. Collectively, this research has explored how designing, developing, and testing an augmented reality (AR) application for smartphones and tablets impacts citizens’ understandings of the concept of the digital placemaking approach. From a practical point of view, we employed AR to provide interactions and information about proposed locations for future public art projects within Mashhad city in this research. We found that experts can be using AR as a powerful tool to evaluate the impact of this way on placemaking or planning to become a smart city. Consequently, this research discusses the potential of the Smart [AR] Mini-Application to address placemaking conceptual aims. In addition, this research concluded that using AR technology could advance knowledge of placemaking; and how this solution could serve as an interactive, dynamic process for more meaningful participatory methods. In this work, as noted within, the application makes use of Mapbox to provide outdoor AR, which enables users’ devices to receive and send their updated locations. In the development phase of the application, RAD model outlines the methodology used to test the research hypotheses, followed by a presentation of the designed AR application and its results. Finally, Mashhad citizens were invited to test the Smart [AR] Mini-Application by placing a famous statue, finding each pinpoint marker and sharing the proposed place. Then the partcipants completed a questionnaire.