Testing Game Design as a Method for Urban Design
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Raoul Bunschoten CHORA
Wounds do not speak for themselves: if emergent phenomena creates conflicts, they are like wounds in the city’s skin. The urbanist aims at healing those wounds, but this curative process involves more: knowing the causes of emergent phenomena. The wounds are indices, signs. What concepts and schematic orders do we need to interpret these signs, map the phenomena, model the dynamics of the subliminal forces? How do we stimulate their dynamic tendencies and imagine alternative developments? How do we create instruments for planning that use emergent phenomena to implement alternative developments? How do we change a profession in the context of a radically changing society and urban form...? URBAN FLOTSAM Stirring the City
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UNITEC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Testing Game Design as a Method for Urban Design RESEARCH BY DESIGN REPORT
Submitted to the Department of Landscape Architecture of Unitec Institute of Technology, Mount Albert In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Bachelor of Landscape Architecture
By Claire Liesching Auckland, New Zealand 2015
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Testing Game Design as a Method for Urban Design
5
Abstract
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Good urban design should reflect the vision of the community, not of the designer.
This research investigates the potentials for expanding levels of participation held by users of public urban spaces through the development of an urban renewal framework set within game design methodology. Based on the premise that current urban practises facilitate pseudoparticipation rather than authentic community empowerment, the project compares traditional end-state design methods and contemporary approaches (such as the tactical urbanism movement) against the fundamentals of game design. Framing this project is the question: How can game design methodology facilitate diversification and immediate activation of space? Using a declining urban environment, the Mt. Albert town centre, as a case study to situate and test this research on, the following document is a representation of how an alternative approach to urban renewal focussing heavily on developing an open participatory planning platform can inform responsive and relevant design options for public space. 7
Contents
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7 11 13 14 15 26 27 30 46 52 55 60 62 65 67 69 71 73 75 81 89 97 107 115 127 131 139 143
Abstract Introduction Research Question Definitions Research Proposal Unfolding Mt. Albert: the Current Situation Initial Theory Site Analysis An Alternative Approach Gamifying Urban Design: as a Methodology The Fundamentals of Game Design Tactical vs. Game How to Play? The Mt Albert Game Players Game Board Rules Scoreboard Game Pieces Playtesting: Game ‘Buy-in’ Playtesting: Site 01 Playtesting: Site 02 Playtesting: Site 03 Playtesting: Site 04 Playtesting: Site 05 Playtesting: Pop-up Shop Conclusion References Acknowledgments
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Introduction
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“How can a broad range of players have greater influence on the urban system they inhabit through an open participatory planning platform?” - EKIM TAN
This report examines how the fundamentals of game design can be applied as a methodology used in creating public urban space. The project began by investigating declining inner city suburbs in Auckland - a very real issue caused in part by the city’s urgency to expand and decentralise. This has resulted in issues of social capital deficiency and a lack of pride in local town centres, which is not improved when the habitual response to solving declining centres is through gentrification, ultimately turning a neighbourhood into another hip, marketable cliche. The following project goals were envisioned for the exploration of an alternative approach to urban design from a landscape architect’s point of view: a) Use game theory to create an interface as the platform from which urban design or renewal can occur. b) Test the above interface in the Mt Albert town centre via an incremental design process across potential public spaces identified in the site analysis phase of the investigation.
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NOTE: Due to the project being a simulation of what may occur in real life, responses formed as part of the feedback loop (scoreboard) to inform the basis of each subsequent design move was assumed based on familiarity of the site, community dynamics, and input from colleagues also familiar with the site. 12
Research Question
How can game design methodology facilitate diversification and immediate activation of space? Case Study: Mt Albert Town Centre
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Definitions For this report it is useful to understand the following key terms within their intended project context:
[Re-activate]: bringing urban public spaces back to life
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Activate
Design happens from the ground up, where community are empowered to make decisions in the planning process of their urban environs.
Bottom-up
The process by which a designer creates a context to be encountered by a participant, from which meaning emerges.
Design
Variety, multiformity. The provision or encouragement of diversity in an urban setting in particular regard to the types of users, spaces, activities, and community expressions/engagement options available in that setting.
Diversification
Where design does not predict or project just one future, but conceptualises the generative processes from which different futures might emerge.
Emergence
Government and professional designers have structured control of the project, while community is usually left out of any decision making.
Top-down
Research Proposal
The Problem
Auckland is New Zealand’s fastest growing region – predicted to account for 60% of the country’s population growth between now and 2043 (Statistics NZ, 2015). As the Auckland metropolis gives way to the pressures of intense urbanisation and decentralisation (meaning the dispersion of population and industry away from the city centre core), a problem emerges of how existing inner suburbs can manage such urbanity. Here the term ‘inner suburbs’ refers to the ring of small local villages proceeding from Auckland’s CBD core, where the historic linear organisation of each village’s Main Street led to a common space with a row-house typology and thin subdivisions, participating in one of the world’s oldest global urban patterns (Shane, 2006). While the function of these suburbs was to provide essential local services (i.e. a butcher, grocer, bookshop and florist) for small neighbourhoods during the city’s first period of slight sustainable growth, the 15
historic urban expansion 1842 1871 1915 1945 1975 2001 2008
dynamic Post-war development allowed these villages to be transformed into larger town centres with a strong focus on industrial areas nestled amongst neighbourhoods. The more recent outward proliferation of Auckland’s city beyond its inner suburbs has given rise to increased vehicular traffic and infrastructural development, seemingly changing the function of these suburbs and in some cases resulting in the degradation of previously affluent town centres. Lewis Mumford (1968) once wrote that “every urban function follows the example of the motor road: it devours space and consumes time with increasing friction and frustration… denying the possibilities of meetings and encounters by scattering the fragments of a city at random.” Sadly, the progress of urbanisation in Auckland has thus far lent itself to the fragmentation of the urban 16
Urban Decentralisation of Auckland<<
landscape at local and regional scales, leaving the urban integrity of the city’s inner suburbs uncertain through the course of continuing decentralisation. “It is not estrangement that procures landscape. It is the other way around. And the estrangement that landscape procures… is absolute” (Lefebvre, 1991). With this in mind, perhaps it is time to begin exploring what impacts urban restructuring has upon local places, and whether common global urban phenomena (such as gentrification) is really the best approach to renovate a town centre and its community?
Why is it a Problem?
“The issue with our urban realm is that it is compounded by our inability to disentangle ideological and historical definitions of the city from processes of industrial accumulation, producing landscapes that superficially resemble what we might call ‘urban.’” (Quinby, 2009) The suburb of Mt. Albert is located 7km southwest of the CBD. The area began as a borough in 1896, along with Mt. Eden, Grey Lynn and Remuera. By the early 1900’s the area was rapidly on its way to becoming “a millionaire suburb” described as one of the more pleasant suburbs of Auckland. In 1930 the population had surpassed the 20, 000 mark and post-war development was booming, making Mt. Albert the largest borough in New Zealand at the time. Eventually the district applied for ‘city status’ from the government, which was granted for a number of years in 1978 (Scott, 1983).
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City Centre Metropolitan Centre Town Centre Local Centre
Today Mt. Albert is classified in The Auckland Plan (2012) as a town centre. According to the document, a town centre is ranked 3rd on the urban centresâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; hierarchy (behind city and metropolitan centres) and is identified by its ability to function as a local hub for communities, providing retail/business services and community facilities. It should be easily accessible by public transit services and must have a variable capacity for accommodating new residential and business development. In favour of this, the Mt. Albert Precinct Plan (2010) envisions an employment of 600 more people and the development of 1000 new dwellings in the central capacity of the town centre by 2050, as a goal to â&#x20AC;&#x153;strengthen its role as a town centre.â&#x20AC;? However, the present state of Mt. Albert is declining as illustrated by several attempts over the last 20 years to renew the area. The most
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Hierarchy of Urban Centres<<
recent bid to secure the town centre as a design rejuvenation project was won by Auckland-based architectural firm Reset Urban Design; who agree that this particular inner suburb has been hit hard by recent urbanisation causing a rise in issues revolving around the “economic functionality, connectivity and relevance of Mt. Albert as a place.” The Auckland Plan is underpinned by a series of ‘good design principles’ which collectively indicate what is required to make a place like Mt. Albert successful. In brief the principles are: Identity responding to a context; Diversity - accommodating a range of activities, flexibility and adaptability; Integration – ensuring development supports existing and/or creates urban form; Efficiency – ensuring urban systems are maximised to deliver resource efficient, quality places (Auckland Council, 2012). The decision to embark on a renewal of Mt. Albert called for a Request for Proposal document (RFP) that was released in 2014, emphasising the current issues with the site whilst outlining the council’s vision to create a new public space in the town centre (adjacent to the rail station) which would ultimately provide a ‘high quality’ pedestrian connection from New North Rd to the station. In addition to The Auckland Plan, the RFP includes several of its own objectives aimed at good design for Reset Urban Design to follow, including the
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relocation of carparks; environmental context and vegetation considerations; cost effectiveness and design durability; furniture, lighting and proposed artworks; sustainability; and a catalyst for the provision of better retail/business opportunities for investment (Auckland Council, 2014). Both sets of council initiatives could be argued as being the ‘normative’ approach to urban design – broad in scope, taking on the assumption that the urban fabrics of all local centres in a city operate equally and should therefore be structured alike. However, a traffic flow analysis of the Mt. Albert area already raises concerns about the approach framework set by council. The main intersecting streets of the town centre - New North and Carrington Roads - experience an average volume of 28, 000 vehicles each daily (TDG, 2014). Only 10% of the traffic flow on these roads is generated by Unitec (Auckland’s largest technical institute situated on Carrington Rd), indicating the majority of remaining vehicle flow can be assumed as through traffic. This evidence illustrates that the town centre is dominated by the automobile determining its current function as a major arterial route. Does the normative approach outlined in council planning cater for such a scenario? Perhaps the implementation of a public square into the current transit functionality of the area is redundant if people are denied the “possibilities of
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7 km
Carrington Road New North Road
Mt Albert Road
meetings and encounters” as free agents of their own town centre. Is the classic ‘build it and they will come’ model still applicable in this situation? The exploration of a different set of design principles formulated by a landscape approach to the urban realm may provide more responsive design intervention for the site, in contrast to council’s traditional methodologies. The intermittent decline of the Mt. Albert town centre is proved by a similar trend occurring in cities around the world. In particular, the blight of the British high street in Margate provides a display of comparable symptoms of degrading centres as seen on New North Rd. The proliferation of fastfood takeaways, souvenir shops, dollar stores, empty shop fronts and fewer local traders have transformed the retail space of the main street in small towns since the rise of out-of-town
>> Inner City Suburb
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shopping centres in industrial areas increased with urban decentralisation (Hubbard, n.d). Both UK and Auckland council initiatives for the urban regeneration of these town centres involve the renewal of economic opportunities, usually by way of developing new retail/business opportunities via large investors and powerful stakeholders. But do these initiatives lend themselves to the gentrification phenomenon? It is oft argued that any attempt at urban regeneration merely encourages gentrification, causing the displacement of the working class as more prosperous retail opportunities are applied to the area, “wiping out the social history of an existing community or turning that history into a hip, marketable cliché” (Agnotti, 2012). Where do these local people go as land and rent prices soar and the more affluent take over their town centre? It is doubtful that these normative planning ‘improvements’ to a high street are welcomed by the working-class of any local community. Mt. Albert is currently made up of a range of ethnicities and incomes but is predominantly home to working-class Pakeha, Asian and Maori peoples, with only 25% of the population earning a family income above $100, 000 (Parliamentary Library, 2012). It could be inferred that the gentrification of the Mt. Albert town centre would result in place-taking, rather than place-making. Appeals for better models of planning and development that involve community
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improvement without displacement are required, further highlighting the viability of employing a landscape approach to urban design. “In reality, the urban is not merely a territory, but an organised field of social relationships characterised by the dynamics of centrality and socially constituted temporality.” (Quinby, 2009) The urban integrity of a place is a vital element to ensuring the success of the place for its people. The renewal process of Mt. Albert should be undertaken in a way that retains the town centre’s urban integrity through the advancement of social sustainability and intimate economic functionality. Social sustainability is simple – it is about people. Providing for the social needs and wellbeing of a community through the state of their urban environment. While intimate economic functioning of a place is the opposite of gentrification – and perhaps allowing a consideration of who has the ‘right’ to operate businesses on the main street. The urban form of the town centre can be viewed as a metaphor for community, and its ‘health’ >>Mt Albert Town Centre
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a barometer of communal well-being, again providing an opportunity to develop responsive design moves away from the normative approach. Why a landscape approach? Landscape architecture is regenerative; it supplements the existing environment instead of taking away from it. It reflects design in its most fundamental form, enabling an approach that pares back the functionalities of a site in its contextual entirety. Landscapes can be described as the juxtaposition of many commonalities and at the same time, many substantial divergences. “Urban design should find new tools and methodologies to deal with contemporary urban trends in a different way… urban renovation based on large and ambitious town plans are no longer effective” (Delsante & Bertolino, 2014). So can a ‘landscape approach’ be used to help achieve the multiple societal objectives from competing land uses in landscape context? Principles are already being 24
Conclusion
examined to help guide the design and decisionmaking process in landscape contexts, and include initiatives such as shared interest in an issue or problem, multi-functionality of the components and purposes of a place, engagement with multiple stakeholders, negotiated change logic, and systemlevel resilience (Buck & Sayer, 2013). The renewal of Mt Albert town centre could benefit immensely from the tactics employed by such an approach, facilitating a resolution of the siteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s existing structure to assist with responsive design interventions that preserve the urban integrity of a place; ensuring that restructuring of the urban realm involves the conservation of social sustainability and local economic functionality as well as the physical form. 25
Unfolding Mt Albert
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The Current Situation
“The management of urban change thrives on the cycle of conflict, negotiation, [non]settlement.” – CHORA
Initial research into alternative landscape approaches followed several theorists and their design principles prominent in current landscape architecture discourse. These included James Corner (Agency of Mapping), Rem Koolhaus (Camouflage, written by Neil Leach), and Deleuze + Guatarri (A thousand Plateaus). Key principles presented through these readings were: Emergence_ where design does not predict or project just one future, but conceptualises the generative processes from which different futures might emerge. Open Source Planning_ an outside-in practise to attempt to reach the aspirations of the public, corporate and civic sectors – involving all relevant actants and their networks for an immediate action and adaptation of systems. Rhizomes_ non-linear patterns: connecting any point to any other point. Rhizomatic maps have no beginning or end but always a middle, opening up reality to a host of new or alternative possibilities. 27
Mapping â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;How toâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; - adapted from Corner, 1999: > horizontal planes mark the earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s surface as direct impressions > vertical planes record or realise other information through a use of abstractness [omissions, selections, isolations, distance, codification]
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Camouflage Theory_ emphasising the processes that lie beneath the surface level manifestations of a place, a technique to inform better design used by Rem Koolhaas and OMA. (Leach, 2003).
Reflection of this research concluded that each of the theorists was an advocate for using creative representational methods of analysis for design. Specifically, Corner observes that while landscape and urban design today is surrounded by complex and contentious issues, mapping (as a creative advance) has the ability to provide designers with far greater efficacy in intervening in spatial and social processes. (Corner, 1999) Utilising the above knowledge, the following attempts at creative mapping form a preliminary exploration of how Mt. Albert has evolved as a place over time. The aim was to recognise the forces at play within the landscape. Collectively, the drawings command an analysis to identify the qualities of these forces, and directives for how they could be beneficial in a renewal process. Key information pertaining to themes of social sustainability, intimate economic functioning and physical urban form were unveiled. 29
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early 17th century_
First known settlement of the area occurred as the Owairaka Mountain defensive pa, thought to be the largest maori population during the 17th century. The values of kaitiaki Maori held with the land were strongly reflected in the way they built their settlements sustainably â&#x20AC;&#x201C; leaving the landscape virtually intact compared to modern day settlement patterns. 31
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1840-1900_
European settlement began and almost immediately Mt Albert was declared a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;highway district.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; The construction of major arterial routes during this period has continued to define the transit situation of the centre today.
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34
1900-1930_
Population and urban growth boomed, transforming the borough into the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest at the time. Subdividing intensified as did other infrastructures and services availability, creating evidence of strong economic functioning, urban form, and social sustainability.
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1950-1990_ considered the peak period of Mt. Albert
The Northwestern motorway was constructed to allow better connections between Mt Albert and the rest of Auckland. This resulted in the amalgamation of the borough with the city centre – which coincidentally saw the early stages of decline in the town centre. Major private sector retail investments (St. Lukes Mall, Pak’n’Save Supermarket) occurred on Mt. Albert’s periphery, redirecting shoppers out of the centre, and negatively affecting the centre’s local economies. 37
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2000- 2015_ the current situation, defined as lowest point of decline
By this stage local business began moving away. Asian takeaway stores and a Lim Asian supermarket now dominate the town centre, poorly reflecting the diverse range of residents actually living in the area, while a string of vacant stores also litter the main street. The notion of being a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;highway districtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is truly apparent with congestion issues and poor pedestrian linkages through the centre. Lack of public space, diversity in shopping, or interactive activities prevent people lingering in their own public spaces. 39
94,700
32,800 median income
1/4
12,000
34.0
2,100
Albert-Eden
Mt. Albert Central
40
median age
Decile 8+ schools
daily train users
2015_ photo-analysis and infographic representation of the town centre today
NE
64
open shops
7
vacant shops
8%
PACIFIC
28 % ASIAN
7%
MAORI
63 %
EUROPEAN
2015
2026
28,600 as is 29,600 waterview tunnel
28,600 as is 29,600 waterview tunnel
Mt. Albert Rd
16,600 14,300 W.V T
16,400 13,000 W.V T
Carrington Rd
30,800 23,000 W.V T
32,400 23,000 W.V T
New North Rd
SW
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Further site analysis demonstrating the transit nature of the centre; its complex spatial arrangement and potential social connections; and the planned future policy outlined in the Mt Albert Precinct Plan 2050. In summary, Mt Albert is an urban hub currently dominated by its transit nature and the constant flux of cars moving in and out. The town centre has a considerable lack of available public spaces, very little variety of activities available for the public, and a string of vacant storefronts which add the the overall degradation of the centre. In addition, the demographics of the area arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t accurately reflected in the town centre, and residents have been calling for action for the past 20 years. However, any planned renewal project for the site is heavily constrained by the local boardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s slim budget of $3.4 million, of which $1.2 million will be used on the train station pedestrian bridge upgrade to be completed by Auckland Transport. These factors set the impetus to explore an alternative landscape approach in contrast to the usual endstate planning methods. 42
1
5 mins
10 mins
user defined
20 mins
Transport
2
Spatial Arrangement
3
20
0m
Policy 2050
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We must design simultaneously place and process.â&#x20AC;? - Thom Mayne
The following site selection drawing identifies spaces which have the potential to become high functioning public zones in Mt. Albert - places where design could be tested in order to diversify and activate the space. Sites 1, 3 and 5 (all carparks) have already been identified within planning policy for the town centre as catalyst areas for development by 2050. 44
Selection of Sites
45
While cities and urban centres often look towards big budget projects to revitalise their neighbourhoods, the reality is that there just arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t enough of those projects to go around. Mt. Albert is a prime example - as previously described with the budget situation for the planned town centre renewal. But if frustrated inhabitants of the town centre are demanding action now, what design options are available to immediately facilitate diversification and activation of space? A logical answer is tactical urbanism, which is described as a place-making methodology utilising small-scale, temporary interventions seeking to address social, built or environmental issues within local environments. It is low risk, low cost, and often community driven. Forerunner of the contemporary movement, Mike Lydon, claims there is a lot of power in iterative design and has framed the methodology as follows:
1. TEST 2. PLAN, TEST AGAIN 3. PLAN, INVEST
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An Alternative Approach
USING EVENTS community workshops visual interventions pop up events
TO ADDRESS
appearance
community belonging
urban policy urban environments
publicness
What is tactical design?
WHICH ACHIEVE platforms for dialogue
mobilised activity reactivated or reimagined spaces
>>Adapted from Greco, 2012
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Pop-up Parklet in an on-street parking space in San Francisco >> 48
<< Walk Raleigh way-finding project, Los Angeles
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Findings from further exploration into the tactical urbanism movement shows that as a methodology, it experiments with the functional aspects of spaces as temporary ephemerals, using outcomes to eventually arrive at a more permanent sustaining of the space. However, a major limitation of using tactical urbanism seems to come from the absence of combined systems that can successfully leverage both top-down and bottom-up together. If the project is implemented from the top down, as seen with the Vancouver Parklet program, community engagement may be jeopardised while the city tries to get the project on the ground as quickly as possible. On the other hand, if a project is carried out from the bottom up as an individual, unsanctioned project, the risk of not representing the entire community increases. According to urban planner Mariko Davidson, some of Los Angeles most successful tactical projects – ‘Walk Raleigh’, ‘Better Block’, were undertaken solely by young, “college educated white males.” This raises concerns about the relationship of tactical urbanism with social equity, and whether the methodology is able to truly engage in urban issues (demographics, geography and politics) or run the risk of becoming an elitist program misrepresenting the needs of the community (Simpson, 2015). Another critique of tactical urbanism involves the spatial scale of the movement: “small-scale action leading to long term change.” The concern of using
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Critique
“You can have top-down without bottom up, but bottom up needs top down – albeit with a different mind-set.” - NETWORKED URBANISM
a small-scale methodology to revitalise a town centre is in the method’s somewhat circumscribed scale – for instance usually limited to the park, building or street. Perhaps the method needs to be introduced to the discipline of systems-level thinking – where urban problems are perceived as part of an overall system, rather than interventions working in isolation in reaction to seeing urban issues as singularities. (Buck & Sayer, 2013).
In light of the above critique of tactical urbanism, this investigation proposes to test a similar iterative design process methodology for the urban renewal of Mt. Albert through game design. Game design, as a framework, develops the use of an open planning participatory platform which can combine both top-down and bottom-up system approaches in an attempt to secure more responsive design options for a place. 51
Gamifying Urban Design
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as a Methodology
“We are grooming our culture to watch space, rather than directly participate in it.” - JOHN BECKMANN
Gamification is the idea of applying traditional gaming elements (i.e scoring, rules of play) to
What is Gamification?
non-game contexts. Gamifying a system could be described as ‘serious’ gaming, as the main aim of a gamified system is not to entertain the players as per a traditional game, but rather the game elements are used as a means to an end. And the end is usually something more significant than merely entertainment. All game design utilises a bottom-up, or user-out, approach. The game designer begins by thinking about what actions the players will take in the game before designing a set of rules (or spaces) that could facilitate the possible actions a player may make. (Totten, 2009). 53
In the context of urban design, potential lies in a game design method where the notion of a game
Games + Urban Design
can be used:
1. For putting the designer within a
social system of project players
2. For accepting the informal and the
coincidental as equal project players
3. For revealing hidden relations
between social processes and spatial
practices. (Stratis, 2009).
Thus within this system, games are able to allow emergent behaviour to occur as the formal structures of rules facilitate the unpredictable experience of play - a crucial aspect of game play. Emergence is a prominent principle within game design (as with tactical urbanism), and if applying a game to an urban renewal context, emergence is able to occur at multiple levels: a) Within the local context of interaction between game units, producing context dependant results of the evolution of activity and spatial design at each site. b) Within the playersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; larger behaviour within the game â&#x20AC;&#x201C; citizens able to take home or share meaningful experiences and discoveries made 54
Emergence
in the Mt. Albert town centre throughout overall game play. Gaming theory often refers to the term â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;meaningful playâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; where the aim of any successful game is
Meaningful Play
the creation of such. Meaningful play is able to emerge from player interactions, and game systems or contexts. Authors of Rules of Play, Salen & Zimmerman, describe game play as making choices or taking actions. Therefore when a player makes a choice in a game, the action that results has an outcome which affects game play from thereon in. In order to facilitate meaningful play, activity occurring within the game system must be designed to support meaningful kinds of choicemaking. Game goal_ to develop a gaming framework for urban design, it is necessary to first set an
Game Framework
overall game goal. If players cannot judge how their actions are bringing them closer or further away from the game goal (for example, the aim of Monopoly is to collect as many properties as possible without going bankrupt in order to win) they cannot properly understand the significance of their actions and the game will likely collapse. 55
Narrative_ the real urban urgencies of a place define the narrative of the game. Players_ all stakeholders and any potential hidden change-makers of a project are invited to be involved as players. Interface_ simple rules are designed to allow ordinary players with limited urban design knowledge to comprehend the consequences of particular notions and actions. An interface also supports other typical game elements such as a game board, scoreboard, and game pieces. Process _ does not assume or impose an urban order (like masterplanning processes do) instead order is allowed to emerge from the urban orders the players themselves create. This is modeled as an incremental and open-ended process: Design > Playtest > Design. Outcomes_
purpose of gaming as a method
of urban design is to engage in direct public participation, while aiming to achieve the overall game goals for the renewal project.(Tan, 2014).
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Game Framework Cont.
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Case Study
Play the City: Ekim Tan, Amsterdam
Ekim Tan, creator of The Responsive City (http:// www.theresponsivecity.org/)
works
with
a
multidisciplinary group of designers who develop city games to generate design and planning scenarios. The framework they use considers game as a model - a simplified version of reality - where complex issues are able to be made accessible to a larger number of people, both experts and non-experts. The Responsive City experiments occur in a workshop setting and have proven successful in the planning of urban functions in places such as Amsterdam Noord. 58
Play the City Framework
STAKEHOLDERS
Identifying stakeholders and their powers or interests
GAME
Developing a tailored interactive â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;city gameâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; interface
ACTION PLAN
Using the playful platform for stakeholders to negotiate real urban decisions in a simplified model scenario. Analysis of gaming sessions result in the formation of strategies and ation plans to be implemented in real life.
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DESIGN
PLAYTEST
DESIGN Game Design: Salen + Zimmermann
There are a few obvious parallels between game design and Tactical Urbanism, while both also provide dissimilarity to traditionally normal urban processes. Traditional urban design processes have a clear end and outcome (as discussed in the beginning phases of this report), but game design and tactical urbanism are designed to work incrementally, relying on regular stakeholder feedback to keep up to date and run continuously, encouraging emergence. 60
Tactical vs. Game
Build Ideas Learn Data
Measure Project
Tactical Urbanism: Mike Lydon
Both ideas facilitate the placing of resources which can allow for emergent narrative to occur, as props, spaces and activities can be tested and changed within the design process to better meet the needs of users. While tactical urbanism was previously critiqued as allowing only portions of a community to be represented within the design implementation, game design can offer a formalised open participatory planning platform through the developed interface of an urban game system. It is discussed through Tanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s experiments that the more interaction the interface can support, the more it learns and the more flexible it becomes (Tan, 2014). 61
How to Play?
62
The Mt. Albert Game
Community building is a team sport.
Game Goal
The overall game goal for this research is to facilitate immediate diversification and activation of space in Mt Albert.
63
Spatial Designer [Game Master] Political Governance
Social + Cultural Structures
Players
By formalising all project stakeholders and changemakers as a game element, the use of players has the potential to allow a trans-disciplinary condition where politcal governance, social and cultural structures, and the spatial designer are able to engage in problem solving the urban issues of Mt. Albert to mutually benefit one another. Games are environments in which multiple players co-exist, compete, and learn that if they collaborate with one another, they can better advance their own goals (Tan, 2014). Games can also be designed to entice players to play for the social capital (community) developed as a result of the game, in addition to the formal play experiene a game would usually provide (Salen & Zimmermann). Mt Albert players can be broken down as follows: Political governance: Auckland Council, Auckland Transport, Albert-Eden Local Board. Social + cultural structures: Business Association and shop owners, Mt. Albert community and engaged inhabitants, transit users, Unitec students and other general public. Spatial designer: or landscape architect (in this case also the game master) 65
Game Board
A game board is traditionally a pre-marked surface upon which the play takes place. In terms of simulating this project, the adjoining board imagery is shown here only as a graphic representation of the true game board, which was the Mt. Albert town centre. + marks the location of the 5 catalyst sites for public space renewal. 66
67
68
Rules
Simple rules are designed to allow an ordinary player, with limited knowledge, to comprehend the consequences of particular actions and advances within game play. Developing game rules for Mt. Albert was tricky, as in some ways the game master would have to adhere to initial rules more than the players themselves. To be able to ground the game in an urban design context, the initial set of rules was informed by adjoining site analysis - using the opportunities and constraints of each site to frame what could occur as subsequent design moves. An example of holistic opportunities and contraints apparent in the town centre are outlined below.
Opportunities
Constraints
Underutilised spaces and vacant storefronts. Postioning of dynamic transport hub, capitalising on making transit users linger in town centre (economic gain + liveliness). Connectivity between sites. Renewal budget issues, implementation of future policies, access and ownership issues. 69
Scoreboard
A scoreboard is used to record the outcomes of game play and keep track of the players advances. In this project’s context, the scoreboard becomes a feedback loop system which can allow playtesting to be implemented as emergent narrative occurs with each move, at each site. The scoreboard was set up on a vacant building on the corner of the town centre’s intersection. The façade was painted black and became a blackboard upon which players could ‘submit’ their feed-back, needs or wants for the town centre back to the game master, in order to plug responses back into the loop and inform the next phase of design in the incremental process. 70
71
PLAZA how to play? Site 03: Tell us what you think about this space and what you would like to see using the score board.
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Game Pieces
The development of game pieces as a palette of colours and materials occurred during the playtesting phase of the 5 sites. Game pieces were used as a resource to ensure design cohesion could be initiated across all of the sites in order to form holistic spaces at a town centre scale, and avoid isolation of the sites. The pieces were typically made from upcycled and readily available materials i.e old wooden pallets, plywood and recycled tires which are low cost and low maintenance, while the structure of the pieces was simple enough to allow players to build it themselves in some instances. 73
Playtesting
Playtesting is the incremental process which has the ability to prototype a design for a particular audience, and then based on player actions and feedback, the design can be adapted to better suit a spaceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s intended function if and when it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t fit (Totten, 2009). The playtesting design interventions in Mt Albert used a feedback loop (scoreboard) and the outcomes of the players emergent behaviour to inform each wave of design moves at the identified sites in the town centre. 74
Playtesting
Game ‘Buy-in’
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H ow cou l d we re -ima g ine the use o f this spa c e ?
01 The initial design move to kick-off the play-testing phase was the installation of low-tech ‘augmented reality’ pieces that were affixed to existing infrastructure at each of the 5 sites. This phase was essentially the ‘game buy-in’, where the installation alerted the public to the fact that change was slowly occurring, and the idea was that the pieces would provoke a social dialogue between the users of the town centre on the topic of their public space. Made from perspex, each piece offered a different diagrammatic view of the site beyond, asking users a question to get them thinking about the permeability of that space. These pieces worked as a tool for engagement that could allow users to visualise any conflicts and boundaries, and responses to the questions were the first wave of feedback submissions to the scoreboard. 76
As a pedestrian do you feel you have the right to your town centre? “Not particularly.” “Yes and no. Cars dominate the space but I still feel comfortable enough to walk around.” “A wider footpath or bicycle lane to break the traffic would help me feel safer as a pedestrian.”
02
As a p e d e str i a n d o yo u fe e l yo u h av e t he right t o y our t own c e nt re ?
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03
Cars or Peopl e: who appro priates public space in Mt. Albert?
The responses to each of the questions ultimately revealed the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;real urban urgenciesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of the different sites. This then informed narratives for 3 of the sites, each of which fit into its surrounding context and identified social needs: PLAY, PLAZA, PRODUCE (sites 01, 03 and 05 respectively).
04
I s t h e re s p a t i a l c o n f l i c t h e re b e t w e e n c a r s a n d p e o p l e ?
D o e s t h i s s p a c e s e rv e k e y s o c i a l f u n c t i o n s ?
05
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Playtesting
Site 01
N
N
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NARRATIVE: PLAY
A_ the existing site. A sloped carpark at the southern end of the town centre, framed by boundary fences, New North Rd, and the Mt Albert tennis club. B_ temporary closure of the carpark over a weekend to host a skate event. C_ following on from the success of the first PLAY event, a second one was implemented on site for a longer duration, a pop-up mini golf course over several weekends. D_ a third event (obstacle course) was then also temporarily tested, and the potential for similar family-based events could occur throughout the summer.
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A
B
C
D
83
The temporary events encourage community activity and give the site a sense of place and livelines. Being temporary, materials to create each event are mobile thus donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t alter the ground in any significant way, and are hired from local companies offering such activities.
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Temporary family minigolf event<<
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>>Temporary skate competition
existing car park spaces re-imagined over the course of temporary PLAY events
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C
984 New North Road Carpark
Current site infrastructure remains intact
Findings
site boundary
This site successfully evolved incrementally from user feedback right from the initial game buy-in intervention. Responses to the low tech augmented reality question: â&#x20AC;&#x153;how could we re-imagine use of this space?â&#x20AC;? included capitalising on the gradient nature of the carpark by offering a formalised skate event, to appease current skaters in the space and encourage other inhabitants to partake in activities. This response lead to the establishment of the PLAY narrative. User feedback dictated that the permanent closure of the carpark for cars was an unrealistic advance, as during the week town centre users required somewhere to leave their cars and the cost of using hired activities would quickly outweigh the demand of users wanting to participate in the space during weekdays, thus playtesing remained at an ephemeral scale. 87
Playtesting
Site 02
N
N
89
A
B
C
D
E
A_ existing site. A sliplane that catered to service vehicles and on-street carparking. Scarcely planted berm divides lane from main traffic fow. B_ addition of bicycle lane, implemented with traffic tape. Cars still able to parkin the lane to give way to cyclists. C_ trial closure of the lane to all cars allowing expansion of pedestrian thoroughfare from the existing footpath. Addition of mobile street furniture to encourage people to linger. D_ closure so far successful, users called for creation of a pedestrian â&#x20AC;&#x153;laneway.â&#x20AC;? This was implemented with pop-up shop shipping containers. Pop-up shop because of the success of the scheme being similtaneously trialled at 892 New North Rd (see Playtesting: Pop-up Shop). E_ further formalisation of the laneway with parklet structures and depaving taking place as an extension along the berm - creating a stronger/ safer barrier betweeen the road and the laneway.
91
92
Creation of laneway using pop-up shops in upcycled shipping containers
93
pop-up shops translate back to a successful trial shop at site 04
New North Rd
94
service lane + carparking transformed into an act pedestrian la
existing shops
tive aneway with containers as pop-up shops
Findings
This site also evolved from user feedback starting with the low tech installations. The question: â&#x20AC;&#x153;as a pedestrian do you feel you have the right to your own town centre?â&#x20AC;? raised a number of user thoughts regarding the limitations of pedestrian thoroughfare currently existing in the centre. While the use of large shipping containers is costly and will require a huge haul to set in place, the benefits of having a reusable structure in place to adapt to changing needs or urban processes in the centre is invaluable, and proved popular in heling to provide variety of activities and experiences for the users of the space.
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Playtesting
Site 03
N
N
97
A
B
C
D
E
F
98
NARRATIVE: PLAZA A_ existing site. The carpark is adjacent to the train station platform and is bound by a wall and toilet block on the street side. B_ station platform connection to site undertaken by Auckland Transport. Installation of game signage to inform people of the sites specific narrative and instructions of play. Removal of the wall between the carpark and the street. C_ plaza painting to upgrade asphalt surface D_ addition of mobile street furniture to encourage transit and plaza users to linger in the space E_ installation of lights to provide security in the site at night, and allow the space to be reprogrammed at different times of the day. F_ introduction of a weekly oriental night food market. ** This design move is in response to the unsuccessful farmers market which was playtested at site 05.
G
G_ construction of a stage to accomodate the emergence of community organised public events, the first sort of event being a monthly oriental culinary demonstration as accompaniment to the food market.
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Imagery depicts a huge focus on community and player involvment in shaping the narrative of this site, with the public taking control of designing and then painting the plazaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s giant mural.
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<<Community day painting the plaza
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>>Introduction of seating, inviting transit users to linger
Night food markets with Asian culinary demonstrations + oriental foodstalls
Video Ezy Carpark Lights which create ambience and security at night
mobile street furniture transferrable from site 02
Railway
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community-driven PLAZA transformation, using accessible materials to create a re-programmable space
Findings
New North Road
While responses to the initial question posed at the carpark agreed that cars dominate the town centre, it was also the political governing players who dictated the PLAZA narrative for this particular site, in an attempt to maintain a focal point for the entire town centre where transit users arrived or departed and activities could facilitate community interaction with the new â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;formalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; public space. Community involvement with the actual on ground implementation of the various interventions was much stronger at this site than the previous two. 105
Playtesting
Site 04
N
N
107
A_ existing site. A left-turning slip lane with onstreet carparking B_ painting of pedestrian crossing on the ground C_ trial closure of the lane to cars. Addition of street furniture to fill the space. Pop-up shop scheme being trialled at nearby vacant store (892 New North Road). D_ owners and users of the underground carpark building (framing the site) object to the closure of the lane to cars, thus one lane is reopened solely for building access. Removal of the old bus stop and its replacement with an Urban Living Room. E_ eventual implementation of fruit tree planting along the sidewalk to hide the empty building wall.
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A
B
C
D
E
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Urban Living Room replaces old bus stop and expands the public space available to
Urban Living Room sets up the space as both an interesting bustop for transit users and as destination public space in the town centre. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Furnitureâ&#x20AC;? includes a wooden shelter structure, armchair, couches and a coffee table, made from the same recycled pallet wood as the street furniture used across the other sites. The fruit trees are a direct connection to site 05, and are thus planted in the same modular style wooden frames as seen in the next playtested move. pedestrians
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shops
Plywood fruit tree planters from site 05
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renewed bus stop in the form of an urban living room which re-activates public space for transit users and gen
neral public alike
Findings
bus lane
New North Road
The question posed for this site during the game buy-in asked â&#x20AC;&#x153;is there spatial conflict here between cars and people?â&#x20AC;? While responses to this direct question were mixed, player desire to see an updated urban envrionment here was overwhelming. Community worked together to construct the Urban Living Room and make a space available for a broad range of users (transformed the bustop into usable space for non-transit users too). The overlapping of materials and colours pulled from other sites reinforced the space as part of an overall system occuring in the town centre. 113
Playtesting
Site 05
N
N
115
A
B
C
D
E
F
116
G
NARRATIVE: PRODUCE
A_ existing site. Underutilised carpark at the back of the New North Rd shops and next to the railway. B_ temporary hanging herb gardens go up as a wayfinding tool down to the carpark (prelude to PRODUCE narrative. C_ implementation of small community gardens as a trial. Moss wall replaces hanging herbs with a thought provoking image which still provides way finding to the site. D_ expansion of the gardens via modular planter beds. Establishment of a make-shift workspace where construction workshops undertaken by Unitec building students help the community construct the beds. E_ player ability to shift the garden around to fit needs F_ establishment of a Sunday farmers market to sell fresh produce grown in the garden. G_ market was unsuccessful thus relocated to the PLAZA (site 03) as a Friday night food market instead. 117
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Hanging herb wall
as way-finding resource and advertisement for subsequent productive garden in back carpark
This narrative begins with the implementation of small, garden beds made from plywood and metal fasteners. Easy to construct and modular so the structures can be added to, eliminated and adapted as needed within the expansion successes of the garden. 120
Initial stages of community building productive garden<<
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>>Moss grafitti marking New North Rd entrance to the garden
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Expansion of planter modules transforming space into a formal garden
123
produce grown is used + sold at markets in site 03
Railway
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re-imagining the underutilised carpark as a community hub for growing fresh
Service lane PRODUCE Mt Albert Shopping Centre Carpark
Findings
The narrative for this site was determined by the spatial designer in response to an urban element missing from the town centre. The envisioned aim was to foster community spirit and sense of achievement through the successful growth of the PRODUCE site. Player interaction lead to the establishment of a farmers market, however other feedback submitted by the apartment residents (markets too noisy), and the privately organised Saturday Sprout Market down the road required change to be made to the market event as a result of going through the motions of playtesting.
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Playtesting
Pop-up Shop
There is a small number of vacant “for lease” shops in the town centre which have remained empty for the past year, and detract from the overall economic functionality of the local centre, as well as discourage variety of activities available for residents. Renew Newcastle (Australia; see http:// renewnewcastle.org/about/) resolved a similar issue in the city’s cbd through the establishment of an initiative that seeks to find short and medium term uses for vacant stores. The initiative aims to find artists, cultural projects and community groups to use and maintain the vacant buildings until they become commercially viable or are redeveloped. The use of the ‘Pop-up Shop’ idea was playtested in Mt Albert at a vacant store located at 892 New North Rd.
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The pop-up shops work on a rolling 30 day scheme, where a new entrepreneur, local artist or community group sets up shop in the vacant building for just 30 days - before another entrepreneur takes over for the next 30 days, until the ‘for lease’ building manages to sell. Testing this scheme out in the town centre proved successful; the novelty of a specialty store which would only be around temporarily increased economic activity in the centre and added variety to the number of shops on offer for residents. At the same time, the entrepreneurs able to set up their shop, at no rent cost for the month, gained valuable exposure and experience to be able to continue their endeavours elsewhere confidently.
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“Pop-up Shop”, vacant store 892 New North Rd, first two months
129
Conclusion
130
Real learning happens when things go live.
This investigation focuses on how game design methodology can be applied to leverage social structures and prototype a design for a particular audience. The research began with a critique of what constitutes a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;normativeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; approach to urban design, while suggesting that the study of an alternative approach or framework, based around game design and other tactical approaches would direct more responsive interventions for urban renewal. Declining high streets and town centres is currently an ongoing urban issue caused by larger retail precinct investments and a deficiency of social capital and pride in local town centres. As illustrated by theorists in earlier discussion (Corner, Koolhaus, Deluze), the practice of landscape architecture can be used to explore sites in terms of temporality, working flows and forces, a layering of information through mapping and extraction, and the speculation of scenarios through different modes of testing and conceptualisation.â&#x20AC;Ż
131
This practice however is difficult to implement under the current structure of master planning. Thus this report has explored how these methods could be used as a mechanism for rethinking urban conditions, specifically concerning the function and renewal of urban and social fabrics within inner suburbs. The variety of current urban theories, ideals and practises in discourse within contemporary landscape architecture suggests a platform from which urban strategy and responsive design moves can be fathomed. And because “there can be no going back [to the traditional city], nor a headlong flight towards a colossal and shapeless agglomeration” (Lefebvre, 1991), it could be argued that perhaps the solution to successfully renewing inner town centres lies not in the normative method applied through council framework, but in the investigation of a different landscape approach to contemporary urbanisation. Using some of these techniques the landscape architect in this case is better able to understand how a landscape is working; “there is far too much emphasis on the ‘design’, and not enough of an understanding of the ‘urban.’ Attempting to design a city as one designs a building is clearly misleading and dangerous, because unlike individual buildings that tend to be objects, cities are highly complex, large scale, active entities - containing a bewildering multiplicity of communities.”
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The idea of applying game design as the framework on which to sit an urban renewal process creates a hybrid method: where instead of solely deriving design interventions from formal solutions for a site, design is also derived from the actions the players will take, potentially paving the way in which open source planning can occur. Opposed to traditional urban design process with a clear end and outcome, game design works incrementally: relying on regular stakeholder feedback to keep up to date and run continuously, encouraging emergence. Which could allow design to happen through viewing a space from the user’s perspective as a way of producing a more meaningful user experience, while also being able to factor in the real world considerations landscape architects, urban designers and governments face. This research posits that a methodology based in game design might decrease the number of implemented projects that quickly become irrelevant for its users due to the single-track masterplan process used - which generally doesn’t consider design through authentic community participation, but rather involves ‘pseudoparticipation.’ The cyclical process of game design is very similar to today’s widely discussed Tactical Urbanism movement. Both methodologies use
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STATISTICS
TOP-DOWN_
PLANNER
demolition
MASTERPLAN social segregation
RULES FROM A BOOK
+
FINDING LAND
BOTTOM-UP_
CITIZENS
no infrastructure
SELF-BUILD no services
UNSANCTIONED PROJECTS
= PLANNER
OPEN PLANNING PLATFORM_ (COMBINATORY)
OPEN PLANNING PLATFORM
INTERACTIVE PLAN CITIZENS
an incremental design approach to allow real user feedback to emerge as information that can responsively modify the cycle of design that happens next. However as discussed previously, a critique of how tactical urbanism works found the method to be lacking in its ability to work as an open participatory planning interface combining both top-down and bottom-up systems. Also, barriers to authentic participation were revealed, for example participatory approaches to tactical projects often tend to be implemented by one specific social group, creating a gap to be addressed about what under-represented groups are doing to shape their urban environment. Whereas the purpose of gaming as a method of urban design is to try and foster a combination between the two systems, 134
coherency+ community
social capital
<< Potential benefits of using an open planning platform to combine top- down with bottom up
where outcomes have the potential to include a revelation of scenarios to be considered by policy makers, and hidden urgencies identified by inhabitants which need to be placed on important urban agendas. Utilising this game method suggests a way that a tactical approach could be implemented at a town centre scale rather than at a typically small, isolated scale. Narratives and sites can also intersect over time, further solidifying cohesion between public spaces. However, questions arise around if this method truly does allow a community to engage with the design process. Does the interactive multiplayer platform really work? It would be unrealistic to 135
claim that the use of a game method could even out the power levels held by different players i.e Auckland Council policy and rules versus local residents, but the fact that it puts both powers on the same page - broadening the levels of influence occurring on urban systems - is a step in the right direction towards engaging an open participatory planning platform. So while there is no guarantee that public participation as part of the design process will result in a successful outcome, Mt Albert inhabitants have been very vocal about needing change in their backyards. The use of a game method has the capability of thus becoming a mechanism whereby Mt Albert inhabitants can continue to have a voice in the shaping of their public spaces, while the landscape architect is able to successfully set up â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;step 1â&#x20AC;&#x2122; of the game and potentially allow a flow on of conditions to blossom. In terms of applying a game framework to other types of urban design projects or renewal, there is 136
opportunity for this method to be utilized as a more standard approach to participation. A theoretical workshop could be set up and participants playtest with models to achieve the overall goal within the session, before the final outcome is implemented on the ground in reality. However, this situation only allows for one design iteration to actually be playtested on the ground and within a real context, which could be argued to be end-state in some ways whilst also excluding part of the community as realisitically an entire suburb cannot partake in a single workshop session. Landscape architects have the ability to do more than just act as object designers. We can be initiators, negotiators, co-managers, and enablers of processes and agencies that strengthen existing civic resilience and initiatives. Ultimately, landscape is about people AND place. This report has revealed that the primary role of the landscape architect is not limited to solely upgrading urban environs, but in fact promotes community empowerment and the creation of social capital as well. 137
References
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Polnick, H., & Yap, C. (2013). Tactical Urbanism in Cumnock. (Master’s dissertation) University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK. Retrieved from: http://issuu.com/carrieyap/docs/final_thesis Quinby, R. (2009). Time, Space, City and Resistance. (Master’s thesis) Massey University Auckland, New Zealand. Salen, K., & Zimmerman, E. (2004) Rules of Play – Game Design Fundamentals. London, England: MIT Press Cambrigde. Scott, D. (1983). In Old Mt. Albert. New Zealand: Southern Cross Books. Shane, G. (2006). The Emergence of Landscape Urbanism in The Landscape Urbanism Reader. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. Simpson, C. (2015). An Overview and Analysis of Tactical Urbanism in Los Angeles. Retrieved from: http://www.oxy.edu/sites/default/files/assets/UEP/Comps/Simpson%20Final%20-%20 Copy.pdf Statistics New Zealand. (2015). Subnational Population Predictions: 2013-2043. Retrieved from: http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/population/estimates_and_ projections/SubnationalPopulationProjections_HOTP2013base.aspx Stratis, S. (2009). The Notion of Game as Part of Urban Design Practices. Design Principles & Practices: An International Journal. Australia: Common Ground Publishing Pty Ltd. Tan, E. (2014). Negotiation and Design for the Self-Organizing City. Architecture and the Built Environment, Issue 11. Netherlands: TU Delft Faculty of Architecture. Totten, C. (2009). Game Design and Architecture. (Unpublished master’s thesis) The Catholic University of America, Washington D.C. Traffic Design Group. (2014). Unitec Carrington Road – Strategic Transport Commentary. Memorandum Document. Retrieved from: www.tdg.co.nz
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Acknowledgments
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First and foremost I would like to acknowledge the amazing continued support of my family throughout my studies. C. Pete Griffiths, a sincere thank you for all your patience and encouragement not only as a supervisor this year, but as a lecturer for the last four years. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been an incredible journey and without you challenging me to perceive landscape architecture outside of its normal scope, this project would certainly not have been possible. To my supportive classmates; in particular Rachel Butler, Aynsley Cisaria, Carlos Charlton, Russell Cooper, Jonathan Cristal, Tim Richardson and Fiona Ting; your laughs, tears, competitiveness and incessant love of caffeine have also made this final haul possible. And finally, to all faculty staff and students who have undoubtedly played a part throughout my time at Unitec. Thank you all for enriching my life. 143