urban experience ruhr - exploring the ruhr area through urban games!

We’re back from our winter break and kicking off the year with a new project: Urban Experience Ruhr!

lala.ruhr is working with its partners, Urbanisten and Bande für Gestaltung, to develop new forms of participation and urban research in the Ruhr region. The focus is on Urban Games: games for public spaces that invite people to perceive the city differently and shape it together. Digital elements meet real-world locations, and movement and play intersect with urban development.

Our focus is particularly on ecological issues surrounding the “Green City” and how knowledge about the environment and urban nature can be conveyed in a playful way. Players move through a real neighborhood and explore it using designated game areas and points of interest. At these locations, they solve tasks and answer questions to earn points. The games are developed and adapted as prototypes, with the goal of using them long-term as tools for citizen participation and research.

On January 29, Urban Experience Ruhr kicked off! Together with our partners and curious minds from urban development, culture, and civil society, we celebrated the launch of our new project with the Urbanisten and Bande der Gestaltung.

To kick things off, we got active with the participants during a round of Street Art Bingo through the Unionviertel in Dortmund. This was followed by a welcome reception and presentations by various speakers in the Werkhalle.

Vera Herberholt introduced #stadtsache – an app that invites citizens to explore and experience their city through themes such as “Greenery,” “Poetry,” or “Technology.”

Daniel Parlow from Urbanisten spoke about the potential of urban games to turn the city into a playground and shared his experience with developing games in urban spaces.

Gabi Linde from #HiddenCampus provided insight into her work with participatory formats for urban design and social interaction in public spaces.

Thank you to all speakers and participants for a successful start! The kick-off provided space for discussions, initial ideas, and an open outlook on the coming two years. Urban Experience Ruhr will soon continue with new formats such as Innovation Labs.

Urban Experience Ruhr is funded as part of the NEXT.IN.NRW innovation competition with funds from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).