"I love that you've brought this to attention. An extensive database of uncommon but resistant and hardy plants/foods could be developed and organized by climate. Ease of growth and processing should also be taken in to account. I will try to…"
A crash course in changing the world.
Making cities better - by playing with them
My hero is Augusto Pirovano, CEO of CriticalCity. At 27 (he is now 30) he began to wonder what would happen if we could a play so big that it could encompass our wh*** lives. He lives in Milano, Italy, a business capital plagued by pollution, social tensions, and more than its fair share of corruption. He thought that, if people could perceive their cities as playgrounds, they might live out their cities in a more lighthearted way, and think of things to do which would both improve their cities AND be fun.
CriticalCity launched in 2008. It is inspired by the same "fun theory" philosohopy underpinning Evoke, but it leaves more scope for players to suggest their missions; more importantly, it is very much territory-focused, inspired as it is by former Curitiba (Brasil) mayor Jaime Lerner's "urban acupunture" approach. The idea is to do things with a lot of symbolic significance in some key places in the city, and they will have effects well beyond the local area.
Augusto intervenes on cities with a very strong emphasis on narratives. For example this video shows A-Maze, an urban game that was meant to seal the beginning of a new strategy for the ancient city of Matera, in southern Italy. Matera, situated in a lagging area, needs to muster all of its energies and pride to make a credible bid for being European cultural capital 2019.
I got in touch with Augusto, and I am now helping him write a bid for raising fund for the next version of CriticalCity.
CriticalCity launched in 2008. It is inspired by the same "fun theory" philosohopy underpinning Evoke, but it leaves more scope for players to suggest their missions; more importantly, it is very much territory-focused, inspired as it is by former Curitiba (Brasil) mayor Jaime Lerner's "urban acupunture" approach. The idea is to do things with a lot of symbolic significance in some key places in the city, and they will have effects well beyond the local area.
Augusto intervenes on cities with a very strong emphasis on narratives. For example this video shows A-Maze, an urban game that was meant to seal the beginning of a new strategy for the ancient city of Matera, in southern Italy. Matera, situated in a lagging area, needs to muster all of its energies and pride to make a credible bid for being European cultural capital 2019.
A-Maze Matera - reportage from Staff CriticalCity on Vimeo.
I got in touch with Augusto, and I am now helping him write a bid for raising fund for the next version of CriticalCity.
Views: 31
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Comment by Hayden Darrell Linder on March 24, 2010 at 6:46pm
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Very cool stuff. How did you come across Augusto Pirovano? Meaning, what lead you to him?
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Comment by Alberto Cottica on March 24, 2010 at 6:58pm
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Actually, it was Augusto coming to me. I talked the Italian Ministry of economic development to start a network of creatives who collaborate in developing creative projects, the idea being that regional development policies, in Italy, have big budgets and very few ideas, whereas creatives have lots of ideas, some bad but some really good, and need funding to make a difference. The project, also on Ning, is called Kublai. Augusto uploaded the original CriticalCity on Kublai and was helped developed it by the community. He was soon recognized as one of the most visionary people around.
After singling him out I discovered he also has a profile here on Evoke, but not very active yet.
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Comment by Thomas Carlisle on March 24, 2010 at 11:56pm
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This is extremely interesting. Changing one's outlook on life by changing how they perceive the city that they live in. Not only would this change the individual's life, but it would change the life of the city itself, possibly making it a more colorful and vibrant place.
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Comment by MoE on March 25, 2010 at 11:42pm
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This was another great example of how powerful can games be, in order to convey a deeper consciousness of places, facts, people.
Thanks for sharing, Alberto; loved when, in the video, you say "keeping lively the cultural market"; it's a simple concept, though not obvious: "lively" is way different from "alive".
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Comment by John D. Boyden on March 25, 2010 at 11:47pm
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Love the title! Cute video. I like stefano's comments: convey a deeper consciousness of places, facts, people.
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Comment by Patricio Buenrostro-Gilhuys on March 26, 2010 at 12:03am
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Great experience design!!!
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Comment by Turil Cronburg on March 26, 2010 at 12:43am
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I don't speak Italian, so I missed all the discussion in the video, but I got the concept, and it's amazing (no pun intended). This is sort of what I was hoping some of the Burningman folks would start doing - bringing the combination of the playful spirit, art, and technology of Burningman into everyday lives of their communities. A few do, in small ways, but mostly they just seem to go back to their boring desk jobs and wait another wh*** year to do something awesome out in the middle of nowhere, where only a few wealthy geeks will be able to experience it. But Pirovano is doing it right in the middle of his city. Excellent!
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Thank you all for your comments. I would ask everyone to ping Augusto on Evoke, add him as friend, leave him comments etc., let my social innovator know that you appreciate his work. It does get lonely out there, when you are struggling for your dream.
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Comment by Elastika on March 26, 2010 at 7:00pm
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wow, this is really cool concept! love ti!
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