Videogame urbanism

Author:	sandra youkhana + luke caspar pearson (you+pea)
London, uk, 2016-ongoing
www.videogameurbanism.com

Purpose	Activation	Interconnection	Collaborating
	Raise Awareness	Educate	Visualize Needs
	Simulate Impact of Decisions	Decision Making	Designing
Co-Creation	Co-Analysis	Co-Design	Co-Implementation
	Co-Maintenance	Co-Monitoring
Outcome	Decision Making	Knowledge	Assessment
	Design	Inclusion	Awareness
	Partnership

Mechanics	Alternative Reality	Role Play	Rule Based Play
	Location Based	Simulations	Mapping
	Geolocation	Hypothesis	Metagame
Tech&Tools	Analoge Tangibles	AR / VR	Audio Visual
	Data AI	Data Collection/Visualization	Digital Interface
	Mobile
Aesthetics	Sensation	Imagination	Assemblage
	Physical Activity / Construction	Realism

Scale	Metropolitan	City	District
	Neighbourhood	Street	Undefined
Audience	Community	Planning Expert	Audience Stakeholders
	Policy Makers
Scope	Individual	Metropolitan	Small Group
	Crowd	Pre-Defined

Videogame Urbanism promotes the use of games as tools that allow us to question the forces and systems that shape contemporary urbanism, and in turn develop virtual worlds that challenge existing power structures. Students generally arrive in the studio with no background in game design, game engine software or associated coding languages. As such, the pedagogic approach of Videogame Urbanism is centred around learning skills and critical theory through the production of design projects, the output of which are playable interactive gaming applications containing virtual environments. Each of these projects is realised using Unity as the base game engine, with functionality extended in different directions depending on the project-specific research theme. This includes custom controller interfaces, networking for online game environments and various procedural tools for generative systems.

By incorporating real world information and data sets into games, we allow players to directly uncover information about cities through play. Since its inception, Videogame Urbanism has produced over fifty games (and counting) of varying complexity and scope. Each of these projects is produced in teams, and within the studio we also playtest and critique our design studies, while regularly involving outside critics and stakeholders to join conversations around the development of the work.