Festival CulturaDigital.Br

The Waste2No Project is an ongoing project by J. Alejandro Lopez Hernandez that explores how The Internet of Things (IoT) can be integrated into urban and domestic environments in ways that enhance sustainability and agency. The current iteration of this project consists of a concept for a website, the “Stuff Cloud,” that allows people to track things they would like to share, resell or swap with others within their urban vicinity. Secondly, it is an Urban Design speculation exploring of how The Stuff Cloud could alter the Urban Environment and the culture of shopping and disposing in cities. The project questions ‘passive’ technical approaches to sustainability where networked self-regulating systems automatically handle environmental performance leav¬ing the agency of the user out of the equation.

Waste2no is conceived as a open source project that can be developed in a local context, scaled up and improved over time. It employs open source technology including a web application, Arduino-based RFID technology and a modular construction system. The challenge of making such a system successful is in fostering a community that has the tools to take ownership of it. Hence, this project has been developed through collaboration in an international workshop at Berlin’s Aedes Network Campus and through a Design Jam at Toronto’s Thing Tank.

By sharing this project with the participants of the CulturalDigital.Br Festival, it is my goal to kickstart a discussion and brainstorming session focused on how sensor-based technologies can be appropriated in the cultural context of Rio de Janeiro to achieve a more democratic and sustainable city.