This collection of articles contains contributions to the research project ‘From Prevention to Resilience’ (FPtP). In this project, the research team has generated insights and tools for designers, policymakers, and other professionals to contribute to more resilient cities and neighborhoods. The point of departure was public space as a site for intervention, while learning from the ongoing developments revolving around the Covid-19 pandemic. During the early phases of the pandemic, governments initially focused on preventing the virus from spreading. Public spaces came to be seen as potential places for contamination. In response, fences, markings, and barrier tapes were put into place to orchestrate people’s movement and promote physical distance. With our research project, we explored the role that public space could play besides such often ad hoc preventive measures. What other challenges can public space tackle with regard to the various shocks and stressors that hit cities and neighborhoods, now and in the future? And how to tackle these challenges in an integral way? An integral approach to designing public spaces involves many disciplines, and it is to a great extent dependent on local governments’ take on public spaces. To this end, we asked relevant experts to share their disciplinary reflections on a design perspective we have developed in the FPtP project, called Human / Non-Human Public Spaces. An earlier version of this design perspective was handed over to experts to provide feedback from an urban climate adaptation perspective and from a governance and cultural change perspective. Stephanie Erwin and Jeroen Kluck provide concrete feedback on the design perspective and offer a discussion in relation to the field of urban climate resilience. Alex Straathof offers an essayistic text in which he reflects on some of the key notions of the design perspective, reflecting on some of the key notions of the design perspective based on cultural theory and his experience with interventions on the neighborhood level. In parallel, we commissioned two independent experts in the field of spatial development and governance to make a preliminary analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on the government perspectives on public spaces. Both experts were given the same question, but they applied different methods. Hugo Verschoor Plug conducted an analysis on two national policy documents and six ‘omgevingsvisies’ – i.e., strategies on spatial planning and the environment – of large and middle-sized cities: Amsterdam, Breda, The Hague, Groningen, Rotterdam and Zwolle. Denise Vrolijk was asked to interview professionals from a cross-section of Dutch Cities in order to obtain their perspectives on how local governments viewed the role of public spaces in relation to resilience. Together, these analyses provide an overview of the current state of affairs in public space and urban resilience. We thank the authors for sharing their expertise and insights and thereby contribute to the FPtR project. This project is funded by The Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw), part of the subsidy round ‘COVID 19: Maatschappelijke Dynamiek’, project nr. 10430032010029.
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Postdoc research project Transformation through Interactive Narrative DesignMedia psychologist dr. Christian Roth's postdoc project Transformation through Interactive Narrative Design (TIND) is part of the Professorship Performative Creative Processes, the school Games & Interaction, and the Expertisecentrum Onderzoek, Innovatie en Internationalisering (OOI). Here, Christian interweaves education and practice-oriented research. He studies the artistic, pedagogical and academic perspectives regarding the power of transformation through applied Interactive Narrative Design (IND).Within the two-year postdoc research project TIND, Christian studies the training of interactive narrative designers with the goal of developing teaching methods and learning tools for artists and designers, such as game and interaction designers, to enable them to create more effective artefacts.Why interactive narrative design?IND offers agency, defined as the ability to influence narrative progression and outcomes in a meaningful way. As such, it carries the potential to create and emotional impact and spark transformative change. This enables interactors to explore different points of view and to feel the weight of their own choices and consequences. This, in turn, allows for a more thorough understanding of complex multi-stakeholder issues, which could have a significant impact on the success of emerging artistic, and learning applications.The TIND project will enable designers through an interdisciplinary approach, including applied game design, immersive theatre, behavioral and cognitive psychology, and the learning sciences.A good example for offering different perspectives on a complex topic is the narrative simulation Mission Zhobia: Winning the Peace, which is used for the training of peacekeepers. Or the news game, I am Mosul, which aims to raise awareness around the effects of war by bringing it close to home: choose your Dutch city and make choices on how to survive if the war was there. And the interactive story Adventures with Anxiety offers a new understanding by letting interactors play anxiety embodied within a wolf. IND is a complex and challenging interdisciplinary field in which design knowledge from other media can often not be directly transferred. As a new medium, it introduces new affordances in technique and user experience. This requires practice-based research for further development of the educational format, demonstrating its potential while identifying and overcoming common learners’ challenges. This project aims to develop a framework for the design and evaluation of meaningful interactive narrative experiences that effectively stimulate a variety of cognitive and emotional responses such as reflection, insight, understanding, and potential behavior change. It provides tools, methods and activities to enable aspiring or practicing narrative designers through an interdisciplinary approach, including game design, immersive theatre, behavioral and cognitive psychology, and the learning sciences.HKU education means to prepare students for success in the creative industries and IND plays an important role for current and future jobs in education, arts and entertainment. IND has the potential to create an emotional impact and spark transformative change by offering agency, defined as the ability to influence narrative progression and outcomes in a meaningful way. This enables interactors to feel the weight of their own choices and their consequences, to explore different perspectives, and to more thoroughly understand complex multi-stakeholder issues, which could have significant impact on the success of emerging artistic, and learning applications.The planned output is a collection of design tools and methods for interdisciplinary workshops and courses, which can be integrated into different curricula at the HKU, thereby enhancing existing programs while enabling the refinement of training methods. Once completed, this postdoc project delivers a training method with multiple applications designed to harness the power of interactive storytelling for transformative personal and societal impact.ColloborationsThe research project is directly embedded in the curriculum of the HKU schoolGames & Interaction with annual educational offerings such as the Minor Interactive Narrative Design (MIND) and HKU wide broad seminars. Course evaluation and literature research will be used to create new and adjusted training for different HKU schools and the industry.More informationAre you interested to learn more about the postdoc research project Transformation through Interactive Narrative Design? Get in touch with Christian Roth: christian.roth@hku.nl
