Kudos and tidbits
Tags: eric gordon, Gautam Bhatia, gene koo, Hub2, India, macarthur, Media, National Building Museum, Second Life, technology, The Urban Spectator
A large part of what we're attempting to do here at the Planning Pool is to implement user-friendly technologies to give people a greater voice in their community. We'll be adding/improving a couple of features over the coming months to achieve this goal. With this in mind, kudos to Eric Gordon and Gene Koo, who have together been awarded a MacArthur grant for their Hub2 project to explore the urban planning applications of the video game Second Life.
Though some old-timers will scoff at the thought that Second Life might one day be a widely utilized planning tool, it (or something similar) will become only more viable in the future. There are surely large chunks of essential information (like accurate budgeting) that cannot yet be fully captured in video games, but people like Gordon and Koo are trying to close those gaps. What's particularly striking about their effort are the "technology interpreters" they bring in to assist novice gamers: youths. While older generations might need these "interpreters", young people are already being socialized with technology that can contribute to participatory planning practices. The challenge for planners, then, might not be to create new media participatory programs, so much as to utilize what already exists.
Gordon recently spoke with Metropolis about the project. His new book, The Urban Spectator, is supposed to come out soon and should interest readers of this site. His blog is also worth a peek.
Koo wrote an excellent blog on video games and democratic participation.
*For the record, I have no idea how to play Second Life. Sim City on the other hand...
Tidbits:
- Many kids grow up wanting to be astronauts, scientists, professional athletes or entertainers. Not nearly as many long to be planners or civil engineers. The National Building Museum, which does some awesome stuff, is hoping to change that.
- Think planning in North America is tough? Don't complain to Gautam Bhatia, who eloquently describes the challenges of planning and architecture in India in an eight-part series, beginning with this article.
Pat on 
Vanessa said:
Jun 10, 09 at 5:09 pmThe Second Life project sounds horrendously interesting. I say “horrendously” because I can imagine how many hours I could spend playing with such tools!
Speaking of Sim City, Jarrett Walker of the blog “Human Transit” recently posted about the old Sim City’s fundamentaly flawed assumptions about how cities work.
http://www.humantransit.org/2009/06/did-sim-city-make-us-stupid.html
Gene Koo said:
Jun 15, 09 at 6:29 amI should emphasize that Second Life and the virtual technology is being used as a tool in the Hub2 project, not as a standalone “serious game.” The participants engage in real space, in real time, as well as virtually. Eric uses the term “augmented deliberation” to capture this dual-channel communication approach.
A quick note on SimCity, which seems to be alternately loved or bashed by the Serious Games and urban planning community for (a) promoting urban planning, or (b) distorting urban planning. Personally I lean towards the former camp, and I feel that those who critique its inaccuracies have probably never tried to develop any form of mass entertainment. The open question is whether SimCity can be made more realistic (e.g. by including community participation, citizen will, property rights) without impairing its core attractiveness (that is, it’s a “God Game”) — or better yet, that such features might actually enhance the entertainment value!
Please continue disussion on the forum: link