Suburban Shift

Suburban Shift

Suburban sprawl or urban sprawl is used to describe the expansion of cities in the surrounding area, specifically without regard to urban planning or the idea of a society not centered around cars. The over-glorified suburban “American dream” is focused on the goal of an individual achieving happiness through privately owned real estate and methods of transportation but ignores the value that shared public spaces bring to an individual’s life. 

I hope to highlight these missing public “third places” in this project by creating an experience in which users see a suburban neighborhood shift from being centered on the needs of an individual to the needs of a community. I will be drawing from previous work from architects at the University of Arkansas who highlighted the potential for the fabric of suburbia to be transformed into a more urban space through simple modifications, as well as the work of other architects from around the world who focus on third places. The question I wish to ask in this piece is how can suburban neighborhoods be modified to better create a sense of community?

The experimental aspect of the project is in the format. In this project, the idea is that the player will feel as if they are within the planning process of the neighborhood itself, as it goes from sketch to realization. To that end, I will use 2D objects (especially people) in a 3D space to make it feel as if the user is inside of a sketch or mockup. The reason for this is to emphasize that the environment of the game demonstrates that these examples of communal spaces are not supposed to be a realistic solution to suburban sprawl but rather experiences to spark conversation and thought around how we can build more intentional communities.