Speaker
Description
Gameful participation with tangible objects and collaborative design games introduce innovative ways of engaging stakeholders in urban development. Design games are playful and facilitate structured idea creation by securing collaboration. They contain physical materials and clear rules, driving discussions and insights. A specific example is the “StreetForum Design Game” where players collaboratively design shared urban spaces at street level. First envisioned as an analog board game, in the subsequent versions, the StreetForum developed further, adding Augmented Reality (AR) features and a fully digital version on the MIRO platform. Such a flexible format – from fully analog to hybrid, analog-digital – allows for very diverse groups of participants to access and engage in the game. While sharing a common perspective, the game actually empowers the residents and planners with improved sensitivity regarding the real urban needs, tackling the challenges of that community.
Meanwhile, “MoBil” – another StreetForum tool developed – makes urban space dynamic and multifunctional for playing, learning, meeting, and creating diverse activities. This collaborative process promotes long-term co-creation and end-user involvement and allows communities to develop a space that would grow with them. It is also envisioned that the project will turn into one of the global models in leading urban design, sharing methods and design in an open-source tool with the aim of diffusing innovation and adaptability on an international scale. Together, these both tools show that participatory design and gamified collaboration can drive impactful and sustainable urban development.
This topic is a unique opportunity to discuss the nexus of play, design, and urban development. The discussion of novel applications of gameful participation and tangible objects will provide insight into how structured, interactive tools like design games foster collaboration and creativity among stakeholders. The “StreetForum Design Game” provides a strong case study in which such methods translate abstract challenges into concrete, shared experiences that empower both residents and planners. From the analog board game to a hybrid model with the integration of digital and analog aspects and embedding AR, it shows in one go how adaptable and inclusive these approaches are meant to be. The same goes for the tool “MoBil”, which truly opens an avenue for co-creative processes to redefine urban space – not as static entities, but as living, dynamic ones that evolve in congruence with needs. These dialogues around these tools not only underline their potential for changing the course of urban planning but also call for versioning with scalability, effectiveness, and position regarding their role and approach as open-source models for global adaptation. This debate has the potential to create new concepts and expand the vision on sustainable participative urban development.
| Keywords | Design Games; Gamification; Tangible artefacts; Co-creation; Augmented Reality; Collaboration |
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