Playroom.to - a designto exhibition

In January 2020, at a time when Toronto’s waterfront developments were under public scrutiny as a big tech company was brought in to build a smart community, people were looking to understand and contribute to the city’s developments. So, thirteen interdisciplinary designers put on an award-winning exhibition for DesignTO’s leading Canadian design festival. 

The challenge was to design an experience on the complex topic of Smart Cities that was educational but succinct and interactive to share a fresh perspective on community engagement’s potential when co-creating resilient, inclusive, Smart City  solutions. 

What better way to get folks engaged than with a game! Attendees were welcome to peruse the exhibit to learn about the shift from the first cities to smart cities to Ethical Smart Cities, a new term coined by the team, and see examples of how cities around the globe serve as precedents. Each person was given a gamecard to fill as they moved through PlayroomTO - picking a sticker for the value they held most dear, a smart technology that intrigued them, and a city challenge assigned to them by spinning a bespoke, handmade wheel. They were then challenged to innovate on a solution based on those three aspects of the Ethical Smart City.

With an audience of everyday people looking to learn about the complex, jargon-filled topic of Smart Cities, ensuring copy and communications were designed to effectively teach and inspire was top priority. Considerations in the design of user experience were also made in terms of accessibility and mobility. Insights and data from the exhibit were fed back into the conceptual reframing of the Ethical Smart City Project. 

This careful consideration towards the public and choice of hot topic are what landed PlayroomTO a Jurors’ Choice Award for Community Wellbeing amongst DesignTO’s 100+ exhibitions.