Living in Digital Public Space

In this thesis I argue that our everyday engagements with digital technology, many of which are overlooked or taken for granted, are spatially productive, because they contribute to how we feel and what we feel inclined to do when we are in public space contexts. To illustrate this I draw on first hand experiences of public space in Melbourne (Naarm) during the first two years of the COVID-19 Pandemic. With this I invite urban professionals to rethink their assumptions about the role of digital technology in public space, and how to account for this in urban planning, policy, and design.