DIGITAL (RE)PRODUCTION

Since 2016, the mobile augmented reality game Pokémon GO has renewed interest within communities by mediating spatial engagement using in-game markers that must be engaged with throughout physical urban landscapes. This thesis identifies factors that influence the spatial distribution of digital markers used by this game to help inform analyses of urban gamification, urban spatial distribution, and cultural knowledge production processes. Drawing specifically on theories of urban spatialization and digital media studies, I highlight features of physical and digital legacies of redlining within Lexington, KY that are reproduced via Pokémon GO. I argue that the urban racialized landscape of Lexington is reproduced via the augmented reality game Pokemon GO. This issue has yet to be examined by urban digital geography situated within urban gamification contexts.