URBANIMAS is a prototyping project that aims to gamify and transmedia the public space and architecture to learn how a city functions, using streets, squares, and parks as elements of an exploration map. It is an attempt to bring the souls of the city to life (URBE + ÁNIMAS). Just as many stories and fables speak of “the spirit of the forest,” URBÁNIMAS refers to the spirits that inhabit the city and shape it. By utilizing the potential of storytelling, we can give personality to the elements that compose public space (traffic, lights, sidewalks, parks, buildings...). By bringing them to life and endowing them with stories, we can gain a new perspective on them, make them visible, understand how they interact with each other, how they affect our daily lives, or even how to think of new solutions.
You can read more about this project here (in spanish).
The challenge presented to Urbanimas' players is quite simple: learn to find the right place in the city to release each type of Urbanima. Through this simple idea, our mobile phones will transform into devices that enhance how we explore and observe the city.
The Urbánimas represent the spirits of the elements that make up the city; some are easy to understand, such as trash or graffiti, while others are less obvious, like the shape of the urban grid or the mobility system. Players will progressively learn about all these elements and become more observant as they release these spirits into their respective places.
In this sense, Urbanimas can be seen as a kind of reverse Pokémon game. In this famous game, players capture different types of Pokémon to gain information about them. Urbanimas proposes the reverse process: players learn about each type of city spirit and then seek the right place to release them, ensuring they will thrive. This action is performed by taking augmented reality photos at the location where the Urbanima is to be released.
