This document summarizes a presentation about hacking at different scales from the body to the city to the planet. It discusses how hacking involves intentionally altering existing systems for new purposes, both beneficially and harmfully. Examples are given of hacking the body, hacking the city through guerrilla gardening and bike lane modifications, and proposals for hacking the planet through large-scale engineering projects. The presentation argues that hacking the planet through geoengineering may be essential for human survival. It also shows how technology and social networks allow new representations of reality and participation in virtual worlds.

1. Megahacks:
city, region,
planet
A presentation by
Dr Cindy Frewen Wuellner, FAIA, @urbanverse
Frewen Architects and University of Houston Futures Studies
For APF Virtual Gathering Futures Festival 26-27 02011

2. Hacking the body

3. Hacking the City
Morro de Providencia
Rio de Janeiro
Women, Morro de Providencia
Rio de Janeiro, JR Artist

4. Hacking the planet
geoengineering

5. hacking?
1. Intentionally altering an existing
system for new purposes
2. Frequently unauthorized,
sometimes subversive,
intentionally undermining
authority
3. Transformational or incremental
4. Harmful or beneficial to host

6. Why hack?
1. Solve a problem
– Add function
– Add beauty
2. Cause a problem
– Steal
– Destroy
3. Assert self

7. This is our world now… we make use of a
service without paying for what could be
called dirt cheap if it wasn’t run by
profiteering gluttons.
We explore… we seek knowledge… and
you call us criminals.
You make atomic bombs, wage wars, cheat,
lie, try to make it seem like we are the
criminals.

8. Yes… I AM A CRIMINAL.
My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is
that of judging people by what they say
and think, not how they look.
My crime… Is outsmarting YOU.
Something you never will be able to forgive
me for.
The Mentor, 1986
The Conscience of a Hacker

9. The people called the Third Culture are
hacking the planet. They are dissatisfied
with normality. They are changing things.
...
Hacking the planet is essential to the survival
of the human race.
Wesley Felter, 14 August 1998
THE HACK THE PLANET MANIFESTO

10. Megacity Sao Paulo

11. Megacities 1959 – 2000 - 2015

12. Urbanization
1950 – 2007 - 2030

13. Population Forecasts for Selected Countries
2010 - 2100

15. Prices are going up…
Food
Water Energy

17. motivation +
tools

18. The Plan Voisin in Paris
Le Corbusier 1922

19. Geodesic Dome City
Buckminster Fuller
New York City 1968

20. Brasilia

21. To use a building is to make it, by physical
transformation or by inhabiting it in ways not
previously imagined or by conceiving it anew.
Hill, 2001

22. Hacking the City
Co-Creating
The Underbelly Project
Abandoned Subway
New York City

23. Guerilla
Gardening

24. Bike Lane Hacks
Portland Oregon

25. D
DIY CITIES
Germany electrical
box bench

27. a shipping container…

28. becomes a house

29. Mobile shelters

30. Guerilla Art
Women, Morro de Providencia
Rio de Janeiro, JR Artist

31. Israel separation wall

32. Hacking Nature
Three Gorges Dam
Yangzi River, China

34. Lilypad floating ecolopolis
for 50,000 refugees
Vincent Callebaut

35. Hacking the planet
geoengineering

36. hybrid
hacks
Times Square NYC
Networked Omniscient Exhibit

37. Mobile Phone Users 2000 - 2010
From 1 billion to 5 billion users
in a decade

38. Social networks;
peer to peer
Representations Second Life
of reality; maps
Metaverse Roadmap
modified

39. Layar –
on android cell
phone

40. New York Phantom City Tour
Phantomcity.org

41. Heads Up display
wearable lenses
Vernor Vinge
Rainbows End

42. Heads Up Display

44. Co-making the city, Sydney Opera House
Jorn Utzon Architect
not just watching

47. Who
controls
sidewalks?

48. Who shapes our
transportation options?
Copenhagen Bike Highway

49. Who owns the
water?

50. Who owns the skyline?

51. History is the virtual made
actual, one hack after another.
MCKENZIE WARK
Thank you!
Contact
Cindy Frewen Wuellner
@urbanverse
http://urbanverse.posterous.com