Recommend books Urban Play: Make-Believe, Technology, and Space

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Urban Play: Make-Believe, Technology, and Space

★★★★

8

Fabio Duarte・・Ended

Updated: August 3, 2021

Content length: 224 pages

language: English

Source: amazon

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Synopsis

Why technology is most transformative when it is playful, and innovative spatial design happens only when designers are both tinkerers and dreamers. In Urban Play, Fábio Duarte and Ricardo Álvarez argue that the merely functional aspects of technology may undermine its transformative power. Technology is powerful not when it becomes optimally functional, but while it is still playful and open to experimentation. It is through play--in the sense of acting for one's own enjoyment rather than to achieve a goal--that we explore new territories, create new devices and languages, and transform ourselves. Only then can innovative spatial design create resonant spaces that go beyond functionalism to evoke an emotional response in those who use them. The authors show how creativity emerges in moments of instability, when a new technology overthrows an established one, or when internal factors change a technology until it becomes a different technology. Exploring the role of fantasy in design, they examine Disney World and its outsize influence on design and on forms of social interaction beyond the entertainment world. They also consider Las Vegas and Dubai, desert cities that combine technology with fantasies of pleasure and wealth. Video games and interactive media, they show, infuse the design process with interactivity and participatory dynamics, leaving spaces open to variations depending on the users' behavior. Throughout, they pinpoint the critical moments when technology plays a key role in reshaping how we design and experience spaces.

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💖Spotlight Pick — What Makes It Special

If “smart city” talk feels a bit too optimized and sterile, Urban Play: Make-Believe, Technology, and Space is a refreshing reset. Duarte and Álvarez argue that technology is most transformative not when it becomes purely functional, but when it stays playful, open-ended, and experimental—and that’s where truly resonant spatial design comes from.

What makes it special is how concrete (and fun) the argument gets: the book moves from Disney World’s fantasy-driven design to the spectacle-tech mixes of Las Vegas and Dubai, then connects those ideas to how games and interactive media shape spaces that are participatory and variable—spaces that change with people’s behavior. It’s ultimately a compelling case for using tech to bring back serendipity, creativity, and emotional resonance in urban life—and it’s also a Choice Outstanding Academic Title (2022).