Urban play : make-believe, technology, and space / Fábio Duarte and Ricardo Álvarez.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Duarte, Fábio, 1970- author.

Álvarez, Ricardo , 1974- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Public spaces--Psychological aspects.

Public spaces.

Play environments.

Augmented reality.

Digital media--Psychological aspects.

Digital media.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxii, 196 pages) : illustrations, maps

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts ; London, England : The MIT Press, [2021]

Summary:

Fábio Duarte and Ricardo Álvarez argue that the merely functional aspects of technology may undermine its transformative power. Technology is powerful not when it becomes optimally functional, but while it is still playful and open to experimentation. It is through play--in the sense of acting for one's own enjoyment rather than to achieve a goal--that we explore new territories, create new devices and languages, and transform ourselves. Only then can innovative spatial design create resonant spaces that go beyond functionalism to evoke an emotional response in those who use them. The authors show how creativity emerges in moments of instability, when a new technology overthrows an established one, or when internal factors change a technology until it becomes a different technology. Exploring the role of fantasy in design, they examine Disney World and its outsize influence on design and on forms of social interaction beyond the entertainment world. They also consider Las Vegas and Dubai, desert cities that combine technology with fantasies of pleasure and wealth. Video games and interactive media, they show, infuse the design process with interactivity and participatory dynamics, leaving spaces open to variations depending on the users' behavior. Throughout, they pinpoint the critical moments when technology plays a key role in reshaping how we design and experience spaces.

Contents:

Introduction: Playfulness and Technology

1. Orchestrating Serendipity

Playing Spaces

Make-Believe: Playing with the Player

Playing with and Within the Rules

Playing with Space

2. Embodying Fantasies

Harnessing Symbolic Meaning in Spaces

Fantasies, Storytelling, and Place

Emotions and Play as Spatial Narratives

The Swamp: Walt Disney and the Strategy of Symbolic Development

Deserts: Metanarratives of Pleasure and Opulence

3. Tinkering with Spatialities

Playing and Tinkering

The City as a Playground

Playing with the City

Building Play Spaces

Constructing Building Blocks

4. Artifices of Self-Deception

Artifices of Self-Deception as Intellectual Tools

Space in Perspective

The Virtual: A Conceptual Framework and Immersive Reality

5. Learning from Video Games

Playing Video Games

Early Experiments in Spatial Design and Representation

Storytelling and Genius Loci: Early Efforts in Place-Based Narratives

The Rise of the "Side-Scroller" Genre: Linear Systems and Design Tools

Nonplayable Characters

3D Worlds as Interactive Playgrounds

Creating Tangible and Hyperreal Spatial Interactive Simulacra

Temporal and Regional Aesthetics Integration

Toward a Future of Virtual Urban Possibilities

Flexibility by Design

6. Virtual Reality, Empathy, and Design

The Modern Vision of VR

The Resurrection of a Vision

Conditions for Resurgence

Mixed Reality, Immersive Media, and the Future of Design

The Road Ahead

7. Learning to Play

Bauhaus, Media Lab, Fab Labs.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record and other sources.

Other Format:

Print version: Duarte, Fábio, 1970- Urban play.

ISBN:

0-262-36631-2

0-262-36226-0

OCLC:

1255633039