- Geo-social networks and the understanding of the dynamics of the city: the case of Rio de Janeiro’s boundaries of formal and informal neighborhoods   1158 kb by    Torres, Yuri & Costa, Lucia | torres.yuri@gmail.com    Short Outline Geo-social networking reflects how cities are dynamic, while empowering the concept of social and collaborative involuntary creation drawn in the digital space. The overlapping of formal and informal boundaries within Rio de Janeiro can be mapped by that, raising discussions on how this data can become fruitful for planning practices. Abstract The dynamics of a contemporary city are shaped by very diverse and complex factors. Recently ubiquitous experiences towards the city have dramatically changed our concepts and perceptions of its territory. Widespread geosocial networking systems have been playing an important role in shaping the digital space based on the real interactions between citizens and the urban landscape. These networks opened up new possibilities of exploring the city combining the preciseness of mobile location estimation services with personalized content, full of cognitive and perceptive clues. Additionally they empower the concept of social and collaborative creation, important for the local identity and community engagement. The understanding of this personalized city, enriched by evaluations, recommendations and images, is an important research field to address problems and solutions to the city planning practices, specially in rapid growth contexts like metropolis in the developing world, where formal and informal settlements live side by side and are target differently in the planning practices. This study stands on the fields of social sciences and urbanism, aligned to traditional theories of citizens perceptions over the territory and their interactions (Jacobs 1992; Milgram 1977) and more recent investigations on the weakening effects of mobile technologies over the physical boundaries of the city (Schwartz 2012; Rainie and Wellman 2012). This study analyses the shaping of the digital urban territory through geosocial networking systems, ultimately Foursquare and Twitter. Methodologically it proposes tracking public profile check-ins to spots that suggest access of immediate services and use of public spaces in the most representative boundaries for the formal-informal neighborhoods of the city of Rio de Janeiro. Case studies in four different zones (the bounds of notably Rios more important slum areas: Rocinha, Maré, Alemão and Cidade de Deus) are conducted as paradoxical examples of how digital paths can be taken into consideration while analyzing and reconceptualizing the dynamics between neighborhoods within a city. The study concludes delineating the extension of existing formal-informal overlapping services in those neighborhoods through the analysis of open digital data generated by citizens of both sides of the bound, that proves the daily life interdependence relation of formal and informal neighborhoods in Rio de Janeiro. That being said, this study also suggests that the existence of more cross-social tolerance in the city may empower integrated discussions of those neighborhoods on the policies and planning practices. Jacobs, J. 1992. The death and life of great American cities. New York: Random House. Milgram, S. 1977. The Individual in a Social World: Essays and Experiments. London: Longman Education. Rainie, L., and Wellman, B. 2012. Networked: The New Social Operating System. The MIT Press. Schwartz, R. 2012. The networked familiar stranger: An aspect of virtual and local urban anonymity. In Cumiskey, K., and Hjorth, L., eds., Seamlessly Mobile? Mobile Media Practices, Presence & Politics. Routledge. Keywords Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2013: Frontiers of Planning - Evolving and declining models of city planning practice   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper