PLAYFUL MEDIATION OF PERCEPTION AND ENGAGEMENT Urban Space and Location-based Augmented Reality Applications through the Lens of Play by Gerald Martijn Munters A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences of the University of Twente in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Philosophy of Science, Technology, and Society. University of Twente, August 2017 Supervisor: Dr. M.H. Nagenborg Second reader: Dr. N. Gertz “ “ Deai mo areba wakare mo aru nan te In a season of partings and new greetings Dare ka ga kimeta kisetsu ni In such tradition made up by somebody Mata ne to ookiku te wo futte I wave my hand well for future reunion Sayonara jya nai to tashikameta To confirm this isn’t farewell Kotoba ni naranai kimochi wa Feelings that can’t be worded Kono hanabira ni nosereba iin da yo Can travel through these flower petals Tte kimi ga oshietekureta koto This you’ve told me Ima demo chanto oboeteiru kara I still remember well ” ” SCANDAL Departure, 2014, para. 4. SUMMARY This thesis contributes to the comprehension of the influence of location-based augmented reality applications (LARA) on the perception of and engagement with urban space. Within the domain of playable city initiatives, initiatives geared towards urban engagement and social dialogue, and set against the technological focus of smart city rhetoric, the author aims to assess how LARA can foster deep relations between people themselves and urban space. Within the discourse of smart and playable cities, there has been comparatively little research done on how LARA influence one’s experiences of and engagement with urban space. As the use of both (non-)informational LARA is variously argued to result into both less urban engagement and more citizen engagement, an inquiry was deemed valuable. In particular, the following research question is addressed: How do location-based applications, that use augmented reality on mobile phones in an urban environment, affect one’s perception of and engagement with urban space? This thesis analyses the contemporary relation between play, LARA, and the city, the challenges to understanding the relation between virtual and non-virtual spaces, the new practices that emerge when using LARA, the ways LARA bring about new forms of mediation, and how to design LARA for urban engagement. To analyse our interactions with LARA and urban space a framework of play is developed that includes both an anthropological and artefactual concept of play anchored in three dimensions of engagement, mediated, and networked play). Play as a heuristic lens is deemed appropriate as play is involved in the interaction between people and their environment, is incorporated in contemporary everyday life, and can account for the performative capabilities of technologies in the construction of experiences and engagement. The hybridity of space facilitated by LARA is what demarcates LARA from other technologies. Urban space is connected, mobile, and social, and the boundaries between physical and virtual spaces has been blurred. New tensions between materiality, information, and augmentations in non-virtual spaces that emerge by the use of AR interfaces are discussed. The intertwinement of virtual and non-virtual spaces and entities affirms the dynamic relation between the two and explains how LARA mediate between these actual and potential levels of reality. The complementary virtual layers induced by LARA mediate (1) the way users relate to each other; (2) how certain spaces are experienced; and (3) how users understand a particular place. An inquiry into the practices of LARA will point out the specific qualities of LARA including, amongst others, their role in communication, memorialising urban space, turning urban space into a background of play, and translating ‘using urban space’ into ‘engaging with urban space’. LARA allow for playful tactics to re-appropriate meaning and experiences of space. Some users create augmentations that interact through places, while other users create content of spaces and places themselves. These overcodings include pluralised forms of authorship of augmented space that promote certain actions and perceptions. This thesis suggests to distinguish between informational LARA that ‘read’ the world and non-informational LARA that constitute autonomous entities, thereby highlighting that what makes LARA, especially non-informational LARA that do not adhere to non-virtual equivalents, stand out. Each type entails different relations of mediation between the world and those who experience the world. Informational LARA adhere to a relation of augmentation, which includes both hermeneutic and embodiment relations, whereas non-informational LARA adhere to a relation of engagement, which includes both alterity and embodiment relations. This thesis concludes that LARA affect our perception of and engagement with urban space in a variety of manners. The potentiality of LARA to position the augmentation and urban space on the same level highlights an important feature in developing LARA that stimulate urban engagement and citizen dialogue. Depending on the type of LARA different forms of mediation are established which may or may not have positive influences. Various design guidelines are presented to evoke thoughtful discussions to stimulate the development of LARA for meaningful play. Ideally, informational LARA bring people to unexpected places and support the contact between people by connecting people, both users and non-users, to a similar narrative. Non-informational LARA would, ideally, direct the attention of users to both the augmentation and urban space. The augmentations should ((in-)directly) connect with their environment and bring, thereby, urban space to the fore. When these connections are not centralised or when the focus is directed to external goals such as productivity or efficiency or elements of play (agôn, alea, mimicry, or ilinx), the development of a deep relation with urban space and urbanites is obstructed. Finally, one should remind oneself that the mediations are a unilateral process. It is in the interplay with LARA, people, and urban space that perception and engagement are influenced. When one is aware of this interplay, one can unravel the various elements within this hybrid space to design for particular forms of mediation. Keywords Augmented Reality; Location-based Augmented Reality Applications; Urban Space; Play; Playable City; Philosophy of Technology PREFACE – GOTTA CATCH ‘EM ALL! Something with virtual worlds, games, and identity. That was my initial plan when I was searching far and wide for a thesis supervisor. After a long journey which took me along various offices, I finally ‘caught’ a rare supervisor in the person of Johnny Hartz Søraker. Soon thereafter, however, I had to trade him for another supervisor as Johnny decided that he would rather go to Google in Dublin than supervising me – which is, actually, the most rational choice. I decided to throw my idea into the garbage bin and develop a new and more sophisticated proposal in order to catch another rare supervisor. I ended up with Michael Nagenborg (or he ended up with me) writing about augmented reality, play, urban space, and Pokémon.i A unique combination if you ask me. I mean, who can say that he or she has written a master’s thesis in which Pokémon, games, and augmented skeletons are prominently featured? I should probably thank Michael for allowing me to write about this crazy yet interesting topic of location-based augmented reality applications and urban space. Apart from the freedom and guidance he has given me during the process of writing, I would like to thank him for the fruitful meetings we have had. Every meeting provided me with inspiration and the necessary critical thoughts to improve my work. Especially the discussions about flying unicorns, shopping malls disguised as old villages, and bottles of Coke Zero that are engaged in a battle over space stimulated me to investigate the peculiarities of AR in urban space. I would also like to thank my second supervisor Nolen Gertz for his portion of nihilistic commentary. A big thank you to Nicola Liberati who gave valuable insights into postphenomenology and AR. Furthermore, I would like to thank my parents for their support in every way possible. I should also thank Boris, my cat, for allowing me to cuddle him to comfort myself and for being the furriest scarf around my neck while writing – my apologies to those I have skyped with and saw me being distracted by a living and purring scarf. Lastly, I would thank my grandfather Gerrit Kroes and grandmother Jannie Kroes in whose memory I have written this thesis. Your kindness and devotion has supported me during my years of studying at the University of Twente. During these years, you were always interested in the projects I did. Your support helped me to strengthen my belief and focus to use, develop, question, evaluate, and investigate technologies and technological developments. Thank you, grandpa and grandma, hereby a ‘Volle Vijf’. Rests me to say, I hope you will enjoy reading this thesis and will, the next time you go and scan the city for virtual beings, consider how location-based augmented reality applications open up new forms of mediation that influence your way of perceiving and engaging with urban space. Gerald Munters August 2017 i I should, in retrospect, also thank Google as without their interference, I would not have had Michael as my supervisor.