The Pop-up City: A Proposal For Augmented Reality As a New Urban Layer
*"I think the massive doses of Videodrome signal will ultimately create a new outgrowth which will produce and control hallucination to the point that it will change human reality. Television is reality, and reality is less than television."* — Dr. Brian Oblivion, Videodrome
During the pandemic's global shift to virtual spaces, the boundary between physical and digital realms further eroded. Augmented reality represents a cutting-edge technology merging these spheres. Frank Baum predicted such technology in The Master Key, envisioning a design-fiction prototype mapping data onto the wearer's vision. Nearly a century later, Boeing researcher Tom Caudell coined "augmented reality" for eyeglasses annotating factory workers' vision.
Lev Manovich defines augmented space as "physical space overlaid with dynamically changing information, multimedia in form, localized for each user." Azuma describes AR systems as those that "combine real and virtual, interact in real time, and are registered in 3D." Effective AR requires immersion — a compelling illusion of reality — and presence, the feeling of "being there."
The Augmented Urban Space
Spatial sociologist Dieter Lapple argues urban space has four social dimensions: physical, social, regulatory, and semiotic. AR adds a fifth layer comprising multiple digital sublayers:
Navigational Sublayer — Location-based AR anchors overlays to specific sites improving wayfinding. Examples: Google Maps' Live View, Yelp's Monocle, Cadillac Lyriq HUD.
Artistic Sublayer — AR delivers virtual public art: 3D models, animation, typography over street art or infrastructure. Snapchat and Jeff Koons placed a virtual Balloon Dog in Central Park; Sebastian Errazuriz digitally "vandalized" it critiquing corporate occupation of public AR space. In 2011, Mark Skwarek launched #arOCCUPYWALLSTREET overlaying protest messages onto NYC's financial district.
Game Sublayer — AR games transform cities into playgrounds: Pokémon Go, Ingress, Zombies Run!, Minecraft Earth.
Historical Sublayer — AR can archive history in situ. Alexandre Devaux's HoloLens project lets viewers walk through Paris as it appeared a century ago. John Craig Freeman projected Neda Agha-Soltan's image over Tehran's Azadi Tower memorializing her death during 2009 protests.
The Pop-Up City — A Future Vision
AR may become ubiquitous, merging digital reality with physical cities. Citizens wearing HMDs or implanted devices could select from overlapping digital layers — offered by municipalities, institutions, or individuals — to explore, play, and imagine. Risks loom: intrusive advertising, surveillance, cybercrime. Designers, urbanists, and policymakers must collaborate to safeguard an inclusive vision.
The Pop-Up City could become an equitable, imaginative homeland for all.