Abstract

Can a complex site, such as an urban park, be better understood through a game? Might this playful preparation be useful for design? In response to such questions, this paper discusses a practical project that structured design-oriented site research as a development, implementation and deployment of a locative mobile game in which designers learn by racing colonies of virtual organisms. The analysis of this experiment demonstrates that this approach can support creativity and provide benefits compatible with goals of ecological design.

• Stanislav Roudavski, Melbourne School of Design, The University of Melbourne, Australia, studies and designs technologically sustained places. His current practice-based research integrates organizational techniques of architecture, unpredictability and richness of performative situations, creative capacities of computing,
  visual languages of the moving-image arts, dramaturgy and spatial narrative.
• Alexander Holland, Melbourne School of Design, The University of Melbourne, Australia, works with kites, games, prison playgrounds and trees. He investigates the digital and physical characteristics of contemporary environments and the design opportunities arising at their intersection. Holland’s current research looks at how techniques of computing can make contemporary design more participative.
• Julian Rutten, Melbourne School of Design, The University of Melbourne, Australia. His research is situated at the intersection of culture, nature and technology. It explores how the concept of place evolves under the influence of technology. Rutten’s qualifications include landscape architecture, mechanical engineering and robotics, deployed in the context of interdisciplinary design.

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