VALENCIA 360° DYSTOPIAN / UTOPIAN VISIONS OF THE FUTURE CITY IN VR

[ / Full VR 360 Experience // you can view it with or without VR Glasess]

A digital photo contest for students to contribute to ESPON EU-funded project

PROJECT: Gamified Co-creation
YEAR: 2021 – 2022
DURATION: 24 months
COMMISSIONER: Ayuntamiento de Valencia, Las Naves, World Design Capital 2022
LEADING PARTNER: Generalitat Valenciana, Ivace Internacional

Valencia was chosen as the World Design Capital in 2022, and the city’s innovation center, Las Naves, teamed up with Non Architecture to create a format that would bring citizens closer to the Climate Mission 2030. To do this, Non Architecture selected five teams from its community, three from Valencia and two from other countries, and worked with them to develop five virtual reality scenarios through a gamified design process.

These scenarios depicted the potential consequences of climate-related issues in both dystopian and utopian ways, using iconic locations in the city as their backdrop. The results were presented on a VR website, allowing citizens to access the VR artworks and be transported to a climate-changed future using their smartphones at the selected locations. The results of the process were also displayed live at Las Naves and presented at a public symposium.

Through this project, Las Naves was able to raise significant public awareness about climate-related issues in the city and bring the climate agenda to the attention of many people who might not normally engage with it, thanks in part to the powerful images and extensive press coverage generated by the project.