Beyond Screens: Towards a Just Transition Framework in Media Architecture through Digital-Physical Hybridity

This paper explores the intersection of sustainable design, environmental justice, and social innovation through the lens of media architecture and architectural media. As urbanization intensifies and climate crises escalate, design practices must evolve beyond technical solutions to address systemic inequities in resource distribution and ecological burdens. Focusing on the role of design as a service-oriented discipline, this research investigates how media architecture—a hybrid field integrating digital technologies, public space, and participatory engagement—can act as a catalyst for environmental justice. By analyzing case studies of media-driven installations and community-centric platforms, the study argues that architectural media, when embedded with principles of equity and sustainability, can amplify marginalized voices, visualize environmental data, and foster civic agency in decision-making processes. The paper critiques conventional top-down approaches in urban design, advocating instead for co-creative frameworks that prioritize grassroots participation and socio-technical synergies. It examines how dynamic media façades, interactive urban screens, and data-driven spatial interfaces might democratize access to environmental information while challenging power structures that perpetuate spatial inequalities. Furthermore, the study proposes a theoretical model for “just transitions” in the built environment, where media architecture serves as both a communicative medium and a tool for systemic change, bridging gaps between policy, technology, and community needs. By situating media architecture within the discourse of social innovation, this research contributes to redefining design’s ethical responsibility in an era of ecological precarity. It calls for interdisciplinary collaborations that reimagine public space as a site of environmental storytelling, collective action, and equitable resource stewardship, ultimately advancing a vision of sustainability rooted in justice and inclusivity.