This short experimental film reflects on the impact of media ecologies, which blur digital and material learning environments. Ultimately questioning the role of educational institutions and infrastructures. From the Barbican to RCA, this is an algorithmic interactive trip around London.

Using architectural education as a case study, the project proposes an augmented reality learning system distributed within the city. It speculates on the role of platforms, mixed reality applications, gamification, and questions what skills we must (un)learn as humans who are navigating a Compressed City.

This learning system questions the gatekeeper role of institutions and formalized architectural education on knowledge of urban design and architecture and proposes another medium - utilising media technology and data to enable a more open relationship with the city and the public.

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Xinyue Zhang 'It is the real, and not the map, whose vestiges persist here and there in the deserts that are no longer those of the Empire, but ours. The desert of the real itself.'