Participatory Chinatown seeks to transform the planning practices shaping Boston's Chinatown from disjointed transactions between developers and communities to a persistent conversation shaped by participatory learning. Marrying physical deliberation, virtual interaction and web-input, Participatory Chinatown encourages residents of all ages without prior urban planning experience to participate in the collaborative design and development of their own public spaces.
Participants sit side-by-side in physical space and simultaneously co-inhabit a 3D virtual space where they engage in rapid prototyping and testing of urban design proposals. Participatory Chinatown enables communities to articulate their vision and strengthen their internal and external bonds to produce better neighborhoods. Participatory Chinatown is a collaborative effort of the Asian Community Development Corporation, Emerson College New Media faculty, and the Boston Metropolitan Area Planning Council.
Participatory Chinatown in the news:
- Can Violent Games Promote Peace?
- Games for Change 2011: The Best New Green Apps & Video Games
- Susana Ruiz and her take on our top games of 2010Gordon uses new media to hone the community-planning process
- Professors’ Video Game Awarded
- Asian Community Development Corporation
- Shareable Cities: Participatory Chinatown
- HASTAC/MacArthur project Participatory Chinatown selected as #3 social impact game of 2010 by Games for Change!
- Metropolitan Area Planning Council: Participatory Chinatown
- MacDC: Asian CDC Launches Participatory Chinatown as a New Community Tool
- Goodspeed Update: Urban Planning as Computer Game in Boston’s Chinatown
- Participatory Research as Path to Equitable Transportation
- Boston's Chinatown Goes Sim City
- Serious Games Engaging Next Gen in Community Planning
- Using a video game to help chart Chinatown’s future
- Chinatown, the video game
- Shaping the Future of Chinatown with a Game
- Chinatown planners hope game pulls crowd
Research and Participatory Chinatown
- Gordon, E. and Schirra, S. (2011) “Playing with Empathy: Digital Role-Playing Games in Public Meetings.” Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Communities & Technologies.
- Gordon, E. & Manosevitch, E. (2011) “Augmented Deliberation: Merging Physical and Virtual Interaction to Engage Communities in Urban Planning.” 13 (1), 75–95.
- Gordon, E. & Koo, G. (2008) “Placeworlds: Using Virtual Worlds to Foster Civic Engagement.” Space and Culture 11(3), 204–221.
View videos of Particpatory Chinatown here.
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