Portable objects in three global cities: The personalization of Urban places

Abstract

This chapter examines the mobile phone and the whole range of portable objects that people use to inhabit, navigate through, and interface with urban environments. It provides a study conducted in three global cities-Tokyo, London, and Los Angeles-tracked young professionals’ use of portable objects. The chapter focuses away from private, interpersonal communication towards more public, impersonal, and instrumental kinds of social exchanges by examining the use of portable objects for navigating, interfacing, and transacting with urban locations and services. It discusses three ways of being present in urban space that involve the combination of portable media devices, people, infrastructures, and locations: cocooning, camping, and footprinting. Research on mobile phone use has focused on interpersonal communication rather than impersonal or transactional social exchanges. The chapter describes ways in which portable information objects and devices mediate people’s relationships to urban infrastructures, locations, and services in three global cities.