The Use of Digital Games in Participatory Planning Practices
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THE USE OF DIGITAL GAMES IN PARTICIPATORY PLANNING PRACTICES A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE FACULTY OF HUMANITIES 2016 By Moozhan Shakeri School of Environment, Education and Development 2 Contents Abstract Declaration Copyright Acknowledgement Chapter 1 ....................................................................................................................................13 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 13 1.1. Context of the Study ...................................................................................................... 13 1.2. Digital Games in Urban Planning Toolbox ........................................................... 14 1.3. The Added Value of Games as a Participatory Planning Tool ...................... 16 1.4. Research Aim and Objectives .................................................................................... 18 1.5. Structure of the Thesis ................................................................................................. 18 Chapter 2 ....................................................................................................................................23 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................. 23 2.1. Introduction...................................................................................................................... 23 2.2. Research Philosophy and Design ............................................................................. 23 2.3. Research Questions ....................................................................................................... 26 2.4. Research Methodology ................................................................................................. 28 2.4.1. Rigor Phase; Defining the Gaps in the Practice of Games in Planning 28 2.4.2. Relevance Cycle; Participatory Planning and Game Design ................ 31 2.4.3. Design Cycle; Game Design for Research Purposes ................................ 32 2.4.4. Definition Phase and Game Principles ......................................................... 34 2.4.5. Iterations; Game Documentations, Storyboard and Paper Prototyping ................................................................................................................................. 34 2.4.6. Development Phase ............................................................................................. 35 2.4.7. Evaluation Phase ................................................................................................... 35 2.5. Summary of Research Methods and Questions ................................................. 40 Chapter 3 ....................................................................................................................................43 GAME SCIENCE AND URBAN PLANNING ................................................................................ 43 3.1. Introduction...................................................................................................................... 43 3.2. When Games Met Science; the Historic Use of Games in Planning Practices ........................................................................................................................................... 43 3.2.1. Simulations, Serious Games and Policy Games ........................................ 44 3.2.2. Storytelling Paradigm and Gamification: the Second Wave of Interest in the Use of Games in Planning ....................................................................... 46 3.3. The Current Use of Games in Participatory Planning Practices .................. 49 3.3.1. Games about Planning ........................................................................................ 49 3.3.2. Games for Planning Issues ................................................................................ 51 1 3.3.3. Games that Use the City as a Game Board .................................................. 53 3.3.4. Gamification and Gameful Design ................................................................. 56 3.4. Game, Simulation or Interactive System; On the Terminological Ambiguity and Evolving Definition of Games .................................................... 58 3.5. Game Science or Games and Science? How Successful Games are in Planning Practice? ......................................................................................................... 63 3.6. Games as an Artefact with Embedded Information Systems ...................... 66 3.6.1. Data Flow between the Real World and Imaginary World of Games 66 3.6.2. Fiction and Science Fiction; New Conceptions of Validity .................. 69 3.7. Summary ........................................................................................................................... 70 Chapter 4 ................................................................................................................................... 73 GAMES AS AN ARTEFACT IN PARTICITPATORY PLANNING ......................................... 73 4.1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 73 4.2. Knowledge and Democracy; on the Long Lost Friendship of Kratos and Demos ................................................................................................................................. 73 4.2.1. Engineered Demos in the Rise of Scientific Knowledge ....................... 75 4.2.2. From Homogeneity to Agonism; Deliberative Democracy and New Collective Knowledge ........................................................................................... 76 4.2.3. The Information Age and Democracy .......................................................... 78 4.3. The Role of Knowledge and Planners in Planning Processes ...................... 80 4.4. Planner’s Conception of Lay Knowledge; Demos Vs Experts ...................... 84 4.5. Planning Tools and Art; If All You Have is Science Everything Looks like a System ................................................................................................................................ 86 4.5.1. Art and Science Distinction .............................................................................. 89 4.5.2. Can Games be Useful in Piercing the Wall of Democratic Planning? 91 4.6. Relevance of Games to the UK Participatory Planning Toolbox ................. 92 4.6.1. History of Participatory Legislations ........................................................... 92 4.6.2. Evaluation of These Efforts; Democracy and Participatory Planning Legislations ............................................................................................................... 95 4.7. Summary ........................................................................................................................... 99 Chapter 5 ................................................................................................................................. 101 DESIGN PHASE (PART ONE); DESING AND DEVELOPMENT ....................................... 101 5.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 101 5.2. Definition Phase; Defining the Design Problem and the Main Components of the Design Solution.................................................................................... 102 5.2.1. Design Problem ................................................................................................... 102 5.2.2. Design Solution: Outlining the Main Components of Design Space ...... ................................................................................................................................... 105 5.3. Design Principles ......................................................................................................... 110 5.3.1. Principles that Target the Dramatic Elements of the Game ............. 111 5.3.2. Principles that Target Participatory Planning Concerns ................... 112 5.3.3. Principles that Target the Gameplay Design .......................................... 115 2 5.3.4. The List of Game Principles ........................................................................... 115 5.4. The Gaming Platform ................................................................................................. 117 5.5. Game Context; the University of Manchester Campus ................................. 118 5.6. Design Iterations ......................................................................................................... 120 5.6.1. Iteration 1: Open Ended Competition .............................................................. 121 5.6.2. Iteration 2: Locations Embedded in the Storyline ............................... 124 5.7. The First Playable Version; Mythoplastis V1.0 ............................................... 128 5.7.1. Mythoplastis Story ............................................................................................ 128 5.7.2. Mythoplastis Mechanic for Online Version of the Games ................. 130 5.7.3. Mythoplastis Mechanics for the Pervasive Part of the Game .......... 132 5.7.4. Aesthetic; User Interface ...............................................................................