CitizenLink
In a city filled with smart infrastructure, the public’s voice is often missing. CitizenLink reimagines the LinkNYC kiosks
as a civic platform—transforming a passive network into a space for local expression, participation, and everyday connection.
By reframing these screens as tools for community presence and authorship, the project explores how digital infrastructure can foster more inclusive, responsive, and human-centered urban experiences.
Designing tools for spatial belonging and civic participation
From Passive Infrastructure to Civic Surface
LinkNYC kiosks stretch across New York City, replacing outdated payphones with Wi-Fi, charging ports, maps, and city services. They’re a visible part of the city’s smart infrastructure—meant to connect people, support movement, and enrich the urban journey.
But beyond their utility lies an opportunity yet to be realized. On closer inspection, many citizens perceive these kiosks as passive and impersonal—broadcasting ads and announcements without creating space for public input.
CitizenLink reframes this system as an interactive urban layer. Through a mobile app, the platform transforms LinkNYC into a two-way civic interface—allowing people to share, participate, and shape the city’s informational and emotional landscape.
Interfaces for
Urban Expression
Sharing enables individuals, small businesses, artists, nonprofits, tourists, or local agencies to post directly from their phones to nearby selected kiosks—whether it's a pop-up ad, a community announcement, public art, or even messages to other passersby.
Participation invites citizens to engage with city-wide polls, local surveys, neighborhood initiatives, or donation drives.
These interactions create new patterns of urban belonging, expanding the role of public infrastructure from static display to a shared space for expression and participation—where everyday voices become part of the city's visible and evolving story.
CitizenLink introduces two core functions: sharing and participating.
A Direct Line
to the Urban Feed
At the heart of the experience is a streamlined system for small businesses to craft and post local ads. The interface allows users to upload their own visuals or use built-in templates, choose specific kiosk locations, preview their design in-situ, and manage scheduling and payment.
By enabling hyper-local content to surface in physical space, CitizenLink turns infrastructure into a platform for presence, authorship, and expression. It explores how digital systems embedded in the city can become participatory tools—helping people feel seen, heard, and connected in their everyday environments.
