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Urban Play: Make-Believe, Technology, and Space

Fábio Duarte

Arts, design, architecture & planning

Urban Play: Make-Believe, Technology, and Space

By Fábio Duarte, principal research scientist at the MIT Senseable City Lab, lecturer in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, and professor at PUCPR in Brazil; and Ricardo Álvarez PhD '20

MIT Press · 2021

In "Urban Play," Duarte and Álvarez argue that technology is powerful not when it becomes optimally functional, but while it is still playful and open to experimentation. It is through play that we explore new territories, create new devices and languages, and transform ourselves. Only then can innovative spatial design create resonant spaces that go beyond functionalism to evoke an emotional response in those who use them.

From Summer 2022 recommended reading from MIT (MIT News). Cover image via Google Books.