reflections
In the process of creating a new Cities of Things manifesto for 2026 and beyond, as a reflection of the state of Cities of Things, an explorative research project was started. Through interviewing 30 experts the first outlines of thinking about the shift from a cities of things with agency,
reflections
Download When_Trash_Bins_Become_Citizens.wav As a little experiment and a way to reflect on a part of the research from the last 7 years of Cities of Things, I used the (in)famous Notebook LM tool to create a podcast discussing research sources. The result was rather
reflections
In my piece for RIOT 2025 (June 2025), I argued that generative and agentic AI push us into something qualitatively different: intelligence no longer as an app, but as an atmosphere—infused into objects, services, and environments until the fabric of everyday life becomes conversational. The shift is not only
reflections
Weekly reflection on human-AI-things collaborations The shift isn’t from human coders to AI agents. It’s from coding to engineering. Every, the company behind Lex (which I’m using right now), released four predictions for 2026. The one that stuck with me: the rise of the “agentic
reflections
The weekly reflections on the news in human-AI-thing co-performances are brought to life via a story from the future of living with agentic things in the city. A Day in the life: The Ginger Grid I wake to a soft ripple of brass and bike chains—the
reflections
The weekly reflections on the news in human-AI-thing co-performances are brought to life via a story from the future of living with agentic things in the city. This month, we go inside the home. A Day with NutriSphere: The Ambient Kitchen 6:30 AM: Maya's
reflections
The weekly reflections on the news in human-AI co-performances are brought to life via a story from the future of living with agentic things in the city. Morning, with headlines Maya scrolls the morning headlines with her thumb, the screen casting a cool light across the kitchen table.
reflections
Since this year I update the Substack Cities of Things with a short speculative design exercise. In good current habit, in a back-to-back composing with Claude (via Lex.page): I bring in my thoughts, I create an object concept and Claude is creating a little day-in-the-
reflections
On 4 June 2024, I gave a talk at an evening on “Designing Intelligent Cultures with Data and AI”, organized by design agency CLEVER°FRANKE from Utrecht (check also their recap). I decided to share my developing thoughts on the emergence of Generative Things, a new breed of things that
reflections
Following the method of last Month, I again asked the AI-intern (ChatGPT-4) to reflect on the different weekly thoughts at Target is New, through the lense of the Cities of Things Manifesto. I continued the conversation a bit with my own feelings about last Month, as an important
reflections
Every week, I post a newsletter via Target_is_New signaling notions from the news and elaborate on one topic triggered by a news item or event I visited. As my frame of view is the City of Things beliefs, it makes a lot of sense to create a monthly
reflections
New AI-endeavours build communities of self-improving multilateral augmented intelligence, as flocks of multi-core AIs improve themselves in continuous self-reflection. (This post was sent as a newsletter on 31th July via Cities of Things Substack) Having AI as co-performers with humans has been the topic more