Block Party

Today, a top-down prescription to urban housing has resulted in dry, monotonous masterplans which treats all individuals as equal variables for calculation. Hence, most of today’s cities including London fail to reflect the needs or wants of the inhabitants and are callous to the social changes due to their outdated formula. Without room for adjustments, the city subdivides in an unhealthy manner within a caged framework, resulting in tiny rooms of poor quality. One of the models that inspired us to improve this situation is the evolution of blocks in Barcelona. After Cerda’s original plan l’Eixample in 1859, the blocks expanded and shrank over the years, reflecting the residents’ occupancy, commercial activity, and community gatherings in a flexible framework, while maintaining an orderly organization and hierarchy. This motivated us to propose housing and block typologies which are socially sustainable through a shift of balance between freedom and regulation. In our game, users get to make their own decisions about what to share, who to share with, or to not share any space at all, and engage in tactical negotiations with other players. This builds community, both physically and socially. The communities come together to form blocks, which are no longer static entities, but evolving clusters that respond to socio-economic dynamics.