PLAYING WITH URBAN COMPLEXITIES - Reflections on Spatial Knowledge Production, Capabilities and Gamified Participatory Artefacts in a Capacity Building Process

Abstract

In her book, The Death and Life of American Cities (1961), Jane Jacobs draws attention to the socio-economic ‘dynamics of decline’ cities are subject to, when ignoring the ‘social capital’ and the ‘locality knowledge’ of its people. Jacobs underlines this as the unpredictability factor of an ecosystem and makes detailed observations on the dynamics of urbanisation and economy and on ‘how cities and their economies work at the micro level’ (Gordon&Ikeda, 2011). The tacit knowledge and shared learning that is embedded in local networks is key to trace and understand socio-economic ecosystems, their relation to the urban planning processes (Ekynsmith, 2002; McRobbie, 2002), their impact on each other and gaining industry ‘know-how’(Conventz et al., 2014). Such a concept implies that it requires particular capacities from all actors involved to operate in said ecosystems. Further on, understanding such ecosystems requires a collective effort from the diversity of actors present in them (i.e. it requires a process of collective learning). This research addresses the up mentioned challenge guided by one overarching research question: How can gamifi ed participatory artefacts be used to increase the capacity of actors to operate in a socio-economic ecosystem? The research question of this PhD aligns with a theoretical call for the need to produce spatial knowledge around urban issues among the diversity of actors involved in a given ecosystem. This can be achieved via a capacity building process that employs gamifi ed participatory artefacts, with the condition that one should not reduce the process to standard procedures with delineated techniques, instruments, good practices, participation-professionals, and manuals. Instead, designing the steps, shape and output of such a process should be sensitive to the ecosystem it is to take place in. This will ensure that the capacity building process does not lose its potential to re-calibrate the common good transforming it into an irrelevant formality.

The objective of this PhD is to explore how spatial designers can use gamified participatory artefacts in a capacity building process to: (1) increase the capacity of actors (e.g. residents, local authorities, NGO’s) to operate in a socio-economic ecosystem and (2) support these actors in a mutual learning process about each other and their (different) points of view. An overview of the process of engaging with the socio-economic ecosystem of Vennestraat in Genk is portrayed in what follows. This work concludes with advancing a conceptual framework that adopts gamifi ed participatory artefacts to increase the capacities of people to understand and operate in the ecosystems they are part of.