StartPark was born from a simple intuition: public spaces have the potential to become the core of climate change adaptation, but only if people are part of the process.
This is the starting point of the new StartPark video, released within the Urwan project. Through the voices of those who created the tool, the video retraces the origins of StartPark and the ideas behind a co-design process that uses play, imagination and collective learning to rethink public spaces.
Created by Codesign Toscana, with the contribution of IRIDRA, StartPark takes the form of a cooperative serious game. It is designed to help participants express their imagination and design abilities around sustainable innovations, while promoting a cooperative culture and shared responsibility. By stepping into different roles and perspectives, players collectively explore how green spaces can support social life, community building and climate resilience.
As explained in the video, involving people directly in the design of public spaces helps move away from top-down approaches. “Rather than telling people that climate change exists, we co-design a space. In doing so, people become aware of issues such as drought, flooding and how these challenges can be addressed,” says Anacleto Rizzo (IRIDRA). Participation becomes a way to learn together, through concrete choices and dialogue.
The game structure encourages this collective learning. Nature-based Solutions (NbS), green and blue infrastructures, activities and furnishings are discussed and selected through a process of comparison and compromise. “Finding a balance between different solutions is interesting because it activates a cooperative learning process,” explains Marco Berni (Codesign Toscana). Role-playing, in particular, helps participants design from someone else’s point of view, fostering empathy and care for the community as a whole.
Within Urwan, StartPark is currently being “tested” in different local contexts: Cuba (Portugal), Ferla (Italy), Ptuj (Slovenia), Rome (Italy) and Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina). These experiences take place in territories with very different characteristics, highlighting one of StartPark’s key strengths: its ability to be replicated and adapted to diverse social, environmental and institutional settings.
Across these contexts, StartPark helps communities see how a single public space can respond to multiple needs at once. Climate adaptation, environmental quality and social life are addressed together, turning the design process into an opportunity for learning and raising awareness around sustainable development.
Watch the video here and subscribe to the Urwan channel!
