ABSTRACT
This chapter provides empirical evidence from Australia of the affordances and limitations of urban screens as communication infrastructure in a local suburban area. It conceptualizes the experience of media-augmented public space as an assemblage, shaped by interactions between place, people, institutions as well as technology. The use of screens as media facades on buildings has been examined by architectural scholars. Cultural and sociological studies have also investigated the potential role of the screens in a twenty-first century public sphere and how they might shape new social practices and forms of public or civic communication. The large screen in Harmony Square has a plurality of uses that result from different programming arrangements and spatial uses, and these impacts upon how the public engages with the screen. Urban media infrastructure, such as Harmony Square’s large screen, introduces new affordances to public spaces, challenging older notions of spatial stasis and providing new avenues for public participation.
