Prototyping Cities Through Virtual Play
As part of Strelka Institute’s IN THE CITY international conference on life-changing technologies for cities, You+Pea were invited to propose ways in which architects can utilise videogames to propose new futures for the city.
Although they are different fields, architects and game designers actually share many similarities: both of them create environments to meet the specific needs of inhabitants, but some may work in AutoCAD and others in Unity. In our lecture, we discuss how architects can use videogames to question how we inhabit and engage with space. How can we reframe our interactions with urban environments through simulated virtual spaces? What if citizens can be invited into game worlds as a new form of public participation in the design of cities?