Strategies for Intuitive Interaction in Public Urban Spaces

Characterised by the increased spread of technology out of workplaces and into public spaces and homes, the so-called third-wave of human-computer interaction has placed greater focus on scenarios that are socially situated, context dependent and not necessarily task oriented. This movement has led to studies investigating how people interact with digital applications in public spaces, but the discussion of intuitive interaction thus far has not been extended to this new realm of user interfaces. Designing for intuitive interaction in public spaces differs from traditional digital applications due to the inherently fluid social nature and often large-scale character of urban interventions. This article discusses the design of interaction for public spaces, based on applications we developed along the years, contrasted to similar endeavours elsewhere. We analyse them through the lens of frameworks for intuitive interactions and derive a series of strategies towards designing for immediate use and high crowd turnaround in urban interventions.