Here on Pop-Up City, we are big fans of urban games. We love urban games because they change our perception of routine spaces, they invite us as citizens to take over public spaces, they encourage interactions with strangers, and because most of them are just fun! Berlin’s Invisible Playground collective makes Street Games, Audio Adventures and Playful Theater that turn the city into a giant playground.

A pair of weeks ago, in the context of a workshop organized by Design Hub Barcelona, I had the chance to talk a bit with Jan Vormann, Berlin-based artist whom I already knew because of his project Dispatchwork, which consists in filling holes in the walls with lego bricks. I really appreciate the practice as…

Speaking about a city that has to become more exciting, online applications can do a job that’s worth a million. I recently stumbled upon this website called Drop Spots, which is not very new, but definitely interesting. Drop Spots is a simple online application for exchanging secret urban spaces. Hidden micro spots all over the…

The New York Times and Bright report about a new, free, smartphone application by Dennis Crowley called Foursquare. Foursquare seeks to turn the urban nightlife into a game by letting you earn points and unlock badges for discovering new places, doing new things and meeting new people. It’s one of those apps which demonstrate that…

During the last days we have written about the phenomenon of urban gaming, coming with beautiful examples of youngsters chasing each other in the streets of today’s world cities. Those urban games are not just games; they certainly make a statement or show a profound fascination towards our social realm and public space. ‘Pacmanhattan’ already showed how interesting and weird urban games can get when you combine the digital with the physical.

Yesterday we wrote about a two great urban games: ‘Capture the Flag’ in Toronto and ‘Idiotarod’, taking place in many American cities. We found out about another one, which is simply fantastic: Pacmanhattan.

After the sudden rise and immediate fall of the flash mob, a more profound phenomenon in urban areas has set its roots: urban gaming.