Last week I was in Manchester for FutureEverything. I presented on games and how they can be used to improve city life. Below are my notes and a selection of slides. It’s longish, but hopefully informative. I’ve tried to connect criticism of gamification with the virtues of open-ended play, and show how the latter can [...]
Tag Archives: urbanism
New Games for New Cities at FutureEverything
Human desire in the cognitive city
As I write this I am on a train to Utrecht, the last leg of my journey home from Berlin. I was there for Cognitive Cities, a conference on urban computing, data visualization and related subjects. It’s been a hell of a weekend – a few minor flaws aside, the conference was great and I [...]
A few predictions for the future of urban games
On Wednesday 14 April I co-hosted the first Best Scene in Town workshop on invitation of Waag Society’s Ronald Lenz. The other co-host was The Mobile City‘s Martijn de Waal. Best Scene in Town is a design contest wherein participants are asked to create an urban game, narrative experience or tour using 7scenes; Waag Society’s [...]
Shaping the city with urban games at Visible Cities #03
Last week I had the pleasure of being able to speak at Visible Cities, which is a series of events on emerging technologies and the city. The third edition looked at urban gaming and brought together architects, designers and technologists to explore how these games can be used to shape cities. Michiel de Lange kicked [...]
Talking about game design at Visible Cities #03
Head over to TrouwAmsterdam tomorrow for what is sure to be another interesting Visible Cities. I can’t think of another event in NL at the moment that is more at the forefront of urbanism and interaction design. So I’m pleased to announce I’ll be there to provide a short overview of what we’ve been up [...]
Architects vs. Game Designers – Fight!
If you’re like me and consider the city to be a playground, then I’d love to have you join me in two weeks at the Waag for the first Best Scene in Town workshop. The aim of this event is to explore the potential of location-based media in the city. We’re looking for participants with [...]


Six games about architecture
I went looking for a few recent examples of games that deal with architectural themes in some way. I pulled these mostly from a few of the major street games festivals that are out there, such as Come Out & Play, Hide & Seek, Igfest and You Are GO! Just from this small sample size [...]