Abstract:

Users’ awareness is a highly influential topic within all European and National research projects funded respectively by the 7th Framework Programme and by the Italian Smart Communities Technology Cluster. The idea to bridge the gap between high level knowledge that characterizes people involved in the development of scientific projects and the knowledge of the main public is widely shared nowadays. The need of a “spread of knowledge” is related to the engagement of common users in the process of developing Smart Cities, in order to stimulate them to change their behaviours towards sustainability. The gamification approach helps in this objective, because it envisages the use of video game objects in non-games systems. This way, the users’ experience is amplified through new and interactive technologies that increase engagement and motivate changed behaviours.

The experience of the District Information Modelling and Management for Energy Reduction (DIMMER) European project and the Zero Energy Buildings in Smart Urban Districts (EEB) Italian national cluster in the field of users’ involvement is related to the dissemination activities carried out during the development of both projects.

The greatest challenge was to find the right gamification approach that could have been applicable to different contexts and that could have enhanced several topics, on the basis of specific needs. Although the pilots of the projects are characterized by different aspects, the objectives are alike in some respect; both projects focus on energy and CO2 emission reduction and start from the realization of Building Information Models (BIMs).

For this reason, within both projects a game for children was realized as a step forward compared to “traditional” dissemination activities; it includes both Virtual (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) and requires knowledge about energy efficiency-related issues and smart cities. The starting point of the games is a map where the districts case studies are drawn; in this case while the DIMMER District Board Game is mainly focused on the importance of the District Heating Network, trying to introduce children to energy-related issues, the 3D BIM Map is designed to enhance the main concept of how to realize a smart city, giving children the chance to prepare their “proposals” in this regard.

The games are structured around several tasks, each of them allows players to experience several technologies.

The first task allows children to experience Virtual Reality using customized cardboard, while in the second task the aim is to make children reflect on energy-related topics. Finally, the last task allows children to experience Augmented Reality, not only at building level, but at district scale too, combining traditional jigsaws and AR. In this case the solver has to think outside the traditional puzzle; if the player approaches these technologies for the first time, memory is not considerably helpful, because the user does not have previous experiences, so only imaginative association and other “external mental activities” affect the way the player solves the jigsaw puzzle.

These communication technologies have been developed in order to involve people of all ages and make them aware of what a behaviour towards energy efficiency and smart cities means and how new ways of data visualization can make demanding concepts more understandable.

Keywords:

BIM, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Smart cities, energy reduction.