My Street ABC

Author:	Kjell van ginkel
2020
https://www.mystreetabc.com/about

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	Small Group	Small Group
	Crowd	Pre-Defined

The objective of My Street ABC is to give people a unique typographic perspective on their everyday urban environment by challenging them to find their own Street ABC. This experience transforms the way they perceive their city, no matter if they’re small kids just learning their ABC’s or educated adults.

Back in 2002 when Kjell van Ginkel was studying Graphic Design in the Netherlands he noticed that by looking at the streets in a different way, they were filled with unintended letters. He discovered them hiding in the shapes of street markings, fences and shadows among others. Soon, he started photographing these letters and completed his first street alphabet.

The idea lingered in his mind ever since; in 2011 he made a different, more colorful, alphabet from the streets of Rio de Janeiro and in 2017 he used these letters to make an artistic intervention at the entrance of The School of Education from Unicamp in Brazil. It featured letters spelling out E-S-C-O-L-A (school), referring to his firm belief that the city is also a valuable educational space.

In late 2018 he developed this concept further by publishing a “My Street ABC” book. It features a complete alphabet of letters found on streets from all over the world, and challenges people to find their own. We have found that My Street ABC has the unique power to transform the way people perceive their city, no matter if they’re small kids just learning their ABC’s or educated adults.

The next step was the soft-launch of the My Street ABC app (beta), which is still in development and targeted for an official release in late 2020. Using well-established gamification methods, the app motivates people to work in teams to complete their own local Street ABC’s. Depending on the user’s neighbourhood, city or country, the letters will have their own distinctive look. These letters can be shared, rated, and even located on a map through shared location data, giving us a globe-spanning database of these unique Street ABC’s