EU Green Capital Valencia will host 2024 edition of European Urban Resilience Forum
Crucial aspects of resilience, sustainable development and recovery will be under the thematic spotlight
Students playing the Spirit of the Rainforest, Source: Korkeasaari Zoo on Flickr / Annika Sorjonen (2022)
The Finnish capital and Korkeasaari Zoo included schoolchildren in the game’s design process, asking them to devise the plot and characters
On 21 March, the Finnish City of Helsinki and the Korkeasaari Zoo announced that they have joined forces to launch an interactive learning game. Called ‘Spirit of the Rainforest’, the game uses Augmented Reality (AR) and invites players to learn about rainforests.
As its name suggests, the game revolves around the spirit of the rainforest and its two friends. By playing, users learn more and more about nature and the rainforest. In this way, they help save and strengthen the rainforest’s spirit, which can then continue protecting the surrounding nature.
The spirit of the rainforest (Source: Korkeasaari Zoo)
It is interesting to note that the design of the game began with workshops where primary school students could share their ideas and devise plots, characters, and concepts. Following this, a working group consisting of teachers and experts as well as members from the city’s business department and the virtual studio ZOAN continued designing the game.
Students have then consulted once again as they tested different versions to give their feedback and advice. In this way, the game was continuously tested and updated before being officially launched. Commenting on the importance of including pupils in the design process, teachers Teemu Einola, Topi Perälä and Teppo Manninen shared:
“Here was student engagement at its best: a real-world project where students’ own ideas end up in the final product. They got into different roles in working life as developers, product testers and evaluators and got a real feeling that what they and their opinions matter.”
Although the game’s target group is schoolchildren and young people, all of the zoo’s visitors can play the game for free after scanning a QR code on site. In the future, the designers hope that the game can become available in schools across Finland to help pupils learn about nature and rainforests.
The city was concerned about street noise and disturbances to residents
This, however, is likely to change soon
Crucial aspects of resilience, sustainable development and recovery will be under the thematic spotlight
This is city twinning for the 21st century
You can find it in the capital Sofia, where it was installed upon the initiative of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
People in both cities got to sit together both in person and virtually
The city was concerned about street noise and disturbances to residents
And the current administration plans to make Jardin del Turia Europe’s largest city green space by extending it to the sea
The aim is to have the public be able to admire the architectural design without distractions
The installation has been thought out with the concept of letting people “talk” to their dearly departed
It’s an urban space that has undergone several large-scale transformations throughout its existence
A US geologist claims to have solved the centuries-old mystery
Urban dwellers across the EU are having a say in making their surroundings friendlier to people and the environment.
Forests in the EU can help green the European construction industry and bolster a continent-wide push for architectural improvements.
Apply by 10 November and do your part for the transformation of European public spaces
Catch up with some recommendations for the 2024 European Capital of Culture programme from the mayor of Tartu
An interview with the ICLEI regional director for Europe аfter the close of COP28
An interview with a member of the No Hate Speech Network team