plugfinder.com: Finding and Sharing Electricity in Your City

Abstract

The proliferation of mobile electronic technology such as cellular phones, laptops, and lightweight video projectors increases the demand for electrical outlets in public and semi-public spaces. www.plugfinder.com is a website that allows people to annotate maps of electricity outlets in their city.

The virtual activity that takes place on the website is accompanied by occasional organized walking tours by the plugfinder team. plugfinder.com is a project that promotes the temporary use of urban spaces through the creative adaptation of electrical infrastructure.

By documenting and facilitating street level uses of electricity, the plugfinder project calls attention to the manner in which daily routines and access to resources are defined by infrastructure, bringing to light a little noticed, yet vital, public resource. This paper posits that providing electricity as a public good has the potential to generate social and cultural capital for cities.

This document may be relevant to municipal governments, urban planners or economists in order to prepare for creative uses of electrical infrastructure. The plugfinder.com project itself may be relevant to anyone who wants to explore or use space temporarily in the city they inhabit.