This week is Melbourne International Games Week, and in this episode of Playopolis we hear from urban designer Quentin Stevens about his concept of the ludic city. He has been studying urban play in Melbourne before and during the pandemic, and is interested in the ways in which the city is being reshaped and reimagined.

In the second half of the program, we travel back to Japan with research and artist Hugh Davies, to continue exploring the pre-history of the hit augmented reality game Pokémon GO. He takes us back to the practice of shrine pilgrimage in feudal Japan, connecting it with the super popular ‘stamp rallies’ that happen across the national rail network.

Episode 4 show notes

Quentin Stevens is a full-time researcher in urban design, with strong connections to landscape architecture, public art, urban planning, urban geography, sociology and history.

Hugh Davies is a researcher and artist working with location-based games both analog and digital. Find out more about the prehistory of Pokémon GO in his article about Japanese Seasonal Play.

00:24 Welcome back
02:33 What is a Ludic City?
03:10 Relation to Playable Cities
05:25 Children’s play
05:52 Urban planning
08:11 Memorials
10:03 Fun follows function
11:45 Pathways
13:20 The Gruen transfer
15:10 Level design
16:37 Tactical urbanism
20:10 Play in Melbourne

24:00 Clair Korobacz – one step at a time like this

35:10 The Pre- History of Pokémon GO Pt 2
36:34 Goshuin stamps
39:00 Proliferation through rail networks
41:00 Eki station stamps
44:40 Stamp rallies
46:27 Pokémon GO

52:19 Credit