Play has always had its place in the city. From simple games like “don't walk on the pavement lines” to location-based games such as Pokémon Go or playful manifestations like flash-mobs, many playful practices use the urban spaces as their playground. Today, however, city-play is acquiring a new, important dimension: it is seen, more and more, as an antidote to the anonymity of the urban environment. The inhabitants of cities feel increasingly powerless and disconnected in face of the changes brought by globalisation, gentrification, segregation, and the ICT revolution. Urban play, on the other hand, reinforces the perception of “city ownership”: it is an activity that requires immersion and light-hearted engagement and is able to unite people around a shared experience: cities that play together stay together.
If broken windows theory claims that urban disorder leads to increased crime rates and lower quality of life, city-play is a catalyst of positivity, making urban spaces feel more friendly and safe. Play is a powerful tool capable of promoting senses of ownership, community, and belonging which all contribute to improving urban life and the well-being of citizens.
The project ReClaim, mapping the existing urban play activities and proposing a new, bottom-up approach to gamification, built a concrete and methodologically sound framework on how to use playfulness to make cities more liveable and inclusive to be used by activists, designers, gamifiers and researchers.
The main objective of the project was to construct a multidisciplinary methodology for the analysis and implementation of playful gamified activities taking place in urban spaces.
The project also addressed a methodological objective: to outline a new way of doing gamification, capable of addressing the issues related to this practice and of promoting critical thinking and bottom-up playfulness in the participants.
Finally, ReClaim aimed to have an important impact on the career of the Experienced Researcher, Dr Mattia Thibault, allowing him to reach a position of independence and leadership in game and gamification research.
