A year ago, the members of the practice DoTank DC and the founder of Greater Places, decided to adapt the already widely known game Cards Against Humanity to a urbanism themed version. Thus, the new phrases written on the letters, whereas in the original game can be about any topic, now focus toward town planning and urbanism. The initiative, funded by a Kickstarter campaign has reached 28,800$.
The game, based on the combination of two types of cards (black and white), is simple: a given number of white cards is given to each player. Then, a sentence written in a black card is read aloud. This statement will have a gap that must be filled by one of the white letters' text. Each player offers a complete final sentence, formed by from the witty combination of the common black letter with everyones' chosen white card. The winner of the round is the participant whose sentence the group considers funnier. At the end of the game, the ultimate winner is the one who has scored the most points.
In either case, this new game is not limited to simply adapt the card's statements, but pretends to expand its usefulness. It seeks to entertain while educating the players on urbanism issues. An effort has been made so that each card contains at least one technical term, a concept of urban planning, etc. for players to expand their knowledge on urban planning in a friendly and collaborative way.
Professional use that can also be given to cards. They can be used as reference patchwork in the initial town planning phase, where the cards can serve as a visual reminder to the planner of all the options available when designing a new urban space . They can also be useful as a mean of streamlining communication, seeking to be as immediate and effective as possible when late integrations into the work team occur in the design process.
The project, with a year of life, is still very young to determine whether the set of cards will get beyond its first application as a game and is able to become a tool helpful for city planning. However, its own existence demonstrates a willingness to adapt the traditional urbanism to the new times, where an effective interdisciplinary communication is crucial to the success of the project.
