In May 2016 I ran a 2 week Urban Games design workshop for 15 Manchester School of Architecture students. The workshop created site specific games which highlighted and disrupted habitual patterns of the city and brought players and spectators alike, closer to their surrounding landscape and community. Below are some game examples:
In ‘Snake’ a stepped seating area in Exchange Square becomes a game board in which 2 or more teams weave through the pathways to collect apples and pears. The physical engagement with these pathways gives the players and spectators a better understanding of the space, and questions the rules implied by the streetscape – do we have to be quietly seated in this space?
‘Don’t Wake The Line Walkers’ is played in an unused public space devoid of shops and of no interest to consumers. Waving around bags of commerce, the Line Walkers blindly shuffle up and down their thick lines to the cyclic chant of “GUCCI-GUCCI! ARR-MARNI! SPORTS DI-RECT!!!” Two open-eyed Line Crossers aim to cut through the mob of Line Walkers, stepping only on the thin lines, and avoiding infection by contact with the Line Walkers or their bags. When the chant stops, Line Walkers open their eye and step forward to the next line. In this time the Line Crossers must freeze, or face consumption.
In 'Pole to Pole' 2 teams race up Market Street, making connections
between street furniture, and requiring the involvement of passers
by to bridge the larger gaps. The game interrupts the consumers’ routined movements, and highlights how this retail landscape ushers them into unobstructed lanes and herds them towards the shops.