Play as a Design Tool Seminar

Event details

My PhD research has identified that there is a shift in attitude towards adult play. The study illustrates that play it not just a leisure activity but that play can and should be integrated into processes we once considered work. Play is being recognised as a compelling, engaging and powerful communication tool. Kane cites, ‘play will be to the 21st century what work was to the industrial age - our dominant way of knowing, doing and creating value’ (2004). Through my research I have developed a design model that incorporates a playful process as a method for gathering information to support the co-design of urban space. My methodology invites communities to design workshops at the master planning stage of the consultation process, meaning at an early stage of an urban design project, to model their ideal urban environments out of cakes, biscuits and sweets. The aim of the tool is to gather information and ideas by asking users (local communities) to play with the objects and create structures that represent future urban design proposals. This seminar focuses on two projects (undertaken in 2014 & 2016) that demonstrate the play as a design tool process.