Games are a fantastic way to communicate urban research to wider audiences, and a fun means of engaging in public participation while designing and teaching. They are inclusive and reach a wide demographic including children and their parents, as well as, academics, policy makers, and practitioners.
This hour-long research seminar will include two rounds of presentations.
Firstly Tanushree Agarwal will introduce “Kuwaitscapes”, a card game based on the LSE Cities and Kuwait University research project “Public Space in Kuwait: From user behaviour to policy-making”, funded by the LSE Middle East Centre, Kuwait Programme. The research is an investigation that addresses some of the challenges and opportunities facing Kuwait’s residential neighbourhoods and everyday use of public space.
Adriana Valdez Young will then introduce her work and provide examples of “Playful Cities” exploring: What role play has in planning and activating our public spaces; and how prioritising play can build healthier communities and cities, especially as the world struggles with managing and recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. Her talk will share a snapshot for how principles of game design can be translated to create more inclusive and equitable public spaces.
Hosts:
Sharifa Alshalfan, Architect and Urban Researcher (Chair)
Alexandra Gomes, Research Officer, LSE Cities and LSE Middle East Centre
Asseel Al-Ragam, Associate Professor of Architecture, Vice Dean of Academic Affairs, Research and Graduate Studies and Director of the Architecture Graduate Program, Kuwait University