Photo: Hub2, used by permission
From Berkman Fellow Gene Koo's blog:
...Hub2 has won one of this year’s MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning prizes, alongside our partners the Asian Community Development Corporation and Metropolitan Area Planning Council. Hub2 offers a robust process for community constituents to participate meaningfully in the design of their public spaces. Read more about Hub2’s previous work.
Hub2 uses virtual 3D technology to enable community members to experience, not just look at, architectural designs. The project strives to augment typical community deliberation about neighborhood planning, recognizing that few laypeople possess the technical skills needed to translate inert design documents into vivid spaces. Instead of just looking at and verbally talking about design proposals, participants manipulate avatars through 3D simulations of the proposal, removing the need to translate from design to words and back again. We think of this process as providing a different language for community deliberation.
(Also, for more, check out Gene Koo and Emerson Prof. Eric Gordon's Hub2 luncheon talk.)
Congrats to the Asian Community Development Corporation, Metropolitan Area Planning Council, Hub2, and all the MacArthur Digital Media and Learning winners!