01
Programme
What happens here?
Housing, culture, education…CITY × PLAY × CHANCE
URBIetDADA.
The city has no single answer.
Try asking it a different question.
MOVE.
3–6 players, ideally
45–90 minutes to explore
3 + 1 dice of possibilities
No single right answer.
01 / About the game
CHANCE AS A CREATIVE METHOD
No single
right answer.
What if we saw the city differently?
Urbi et Dada is an analogue urban scenario generator. It brings urbanism, landscape and chance together in a game that opens up unexpected questions and new possibilities.
A roll of the dice is just the beginning. The real game happens through thinking, making and discussion: how to change a place, why to change it that way, and what the city, its people and nature stand to gain.
02
Context
Where does it happen?
City centre, outskirts, brownfield…03
Intervention
How do we change it?
Adaptation, community, vegetation…04 / OPTIONAL
Biotope
What brings it to life?
Trees, wildlife, a water feature…Urbi — to the city. Dada — play, chance and creative freedom.
02 / How to play
Roll.
Create.
Question.
From a random combination to a considered scenario. Through a drawing, a model, a map sketch or a conversation.
01A chance combination
Roll each of the three dice once: programme, context and intervention. To add a living element to the environment, include the fourth die — biotope.
Even a seemingly impossible combination is part of the game. Do not re-roll the dice for the same proposal.
02Explore the context
Choose a specific place and locate your brief on a map. What do you know about it? What is missing? Which spatial, social and ecological relationships matter?
03Create a scenario
Form a design hypothesis: what change could happen, and why? Develop it through a drawing, a physical model or words. Show how your intervention changes the chosen context.
04Explain and discuss
Present your proposal to the others and explain your decisions. What spatial, social and ecological effects could it have? Divide the 45–90 minutes between creating and presenting as you see fit.
03 / A little taste of the game
CHANCE IS JUST THE BEGINNING.What will you roll?
The city is in your hands.
READY FOR A NEW PERSPECTIVE?
01 / PROGRAMME
What?
What happens here?02 / CONTEXT
Where?
Where does it happen?03 / INTERVENTION
How?
How do we change it?04 / BIOTOPE
Life?
What brings it to life?Each die, once. Every combination is a challenge.
YOUR DESIGN HYPOTHESIS
What change could happen in this place — and why?
04 / Who it is for
MORE PERSPECTIVES. MORE POSSIBILITIES.For everyone
thinking about the city.
Students
and explorers
For students of urbanism, architecture and landscape architecture. Develop spatial thinking, explore alternative scenarios and learn to explain your design decisions.
FROM A QUESTION TO YOUR OWN PROPOSALEducators
and facilitators
A tool for active learning, discussion and experimentation in the studio. It creates a space where dialogue matters as much as the proposal itself.
AN OPEN STUDIO, A LIVELY DISCUSSIONPeople
in practice
For urban planners, architects and landscape architects. A fresh starting point for exploring urban development and transformation, and for involving wider communities.
FRESH IDEAS FOR REAL PLACES05 / The physical game
3D-PRINTED EDITIONA game to
hold in your hands.
Urbi et Dada is also available as a physical, 3D-printed game. Bring chance and fresh questions into the studio, a workshop or a shared space.
A hands-on experience
Working with physical pieces can encourage spatial thinking and help turn a first idea into a sketch or model.
More perspectives at one table
Playing together can help people take part and open up a conversation around a shared urban design brief.
Room for screen-free play
Time for drawing, model-making and face-to-face discussion. Your own pace, a shared focus and space to experiment.
06 / Now it is your turn
There is no
wrong result.
The value is in the process. In daring to try,
explaining your thinking and being willing to listen.