Hacking urban space

Hacking is increasingly becoming a tactic used by many spatial practitioners who operate at the intersection of digital media and urban space. Information technology that has recently expanded urban systems has initiated new opportunities to hack the city. The term “hacking” became popular in the digital subculture of the 1960s. The motive of the hacker is generally understood as gaining unauthorized access to a computer system to destroy data, to access information for personal purposes, or to use the gained access to distribute messages with social, ideological, or political content. The term hacking does not need to carry a negative connotation. Indeed, computer programmers often use the term in a positive way. After 2010, hacking urban spaces, usually for political or social reasons, became increasingly widespread as an artistic practice. Making systems of hardware and software more accessible in recent years led to citizen initiatives transforming urban space.