Children and the Mediated City. Place Attachment Development Using Augmented Reality in Urban Spaces

Nowadays technology has become an essential component in our urban environments. The mediated city is a concept that takes advantage of various kinds of technology to enhance the functional efficiency of daily urban life. Augmented spaces are one of the main elements of mediated cities which use Augmented Reality (AR) to facilitate communication and interaction between digital and physical spaces. Children, as users of augmented spaces, have the potential to explore mediated cities using various AR-enabled accessories. This ability gives children the opportunity to get a closer sense of connection to their city and experience place attachment which is the emotional bond formed between themselves and the place. This paper explores three case studies that exhibit how children use AR technology to develop various skills. Our goal is to promote AR as a contemporary tool that helps children better perceive and experience the feeling of place attachment in their city.