Tenstaland: where you play is where you belong
TENSTALAND is an inclusive and collaborative board game for helping Tensta (Stockholm, Sweden) to identify social inequalities and problems among its neighbours and propose a future vision for the neighbourhood.
As a collaborative game, it sets roles, objectives and initial and flexible rules to conduct a collaborative process. The aim of the game will be to achieve social cohesion among its neighbours, to decide collaboratively the future of the neighbourhood and to rethink it as a place full of possibilities for coming generations.
This action will use a ‘gamification’ strategy, “the use of game design elements in non-game contexts” (Deterding et al., 2011). Since games are designed for entertaining, turning public participation into a game can motivate people to participate and engage with the process of reimagining the neighbourhood collectively.
The first intervention will be the installation of a landmark that invites to play in Tenstaland and works as the point of departure of the game. This landmark will be a gate with an illuminated sign that welcomes residents and visitors.
TENSTA AS A BOARD GAME
During the installation of Tenstaland, Tensta will become a collaborative game and the floor plan of the neighbourhood will become the board for the game. The first workshop that will take place will be an initial contact with the neighbourhood. The aim of this initial contact will be getting to now the area with the support of the neighbours, identifying collectively which are the the landmarks and places of interest in the neighbourhood—such as the Centrum, the Konsthall, the schools, the cemetery, the water tower—and also those vacant or underused spaces. Through this workshop, it will be possible to identify which are the spots that need intervention and how the neighbourhood can be adapted to the needs of the residents.
THE CHALLENGES
A third workshop will outline flexible and initial rules of the game. This rules will set up objectives related to identity, social exclusion, cultural and socio-economic aspects. Tensta is a neighbourhood with a large migrant or migrant descendent population. A high percentage of them descend from refugees who came to the neighbourhood dreaming about a better future. These aspirations are lost since Tensta has become a marginalised area that keeps its inhabitants isolated. Many of them do not feel neither Swedish nor from their country of origin. Once settled, they face a great number of obstacles and lack of economic resources that can originate problems of access to education, employment and crime. In Tensta, there is a high unemployment rate and a great economic gap with other areas of the city. The neighbourhood is also stigmatised due the the bad reputation of youth criminality, which has a very negative effect on the local economy of the neighbourhood. In addition to this the state support to the socio-economic problems of the area is not enough. Through this analysis, we will identify with are the obstacle that the neighbours of Tensta are suffering because of the lack of support of the Swedish State and they obstacles that come from the local population itself. This workshop will also set up the objectives to achieve common ground and motivate a sense of community and belonging that empower citizens to take action collectively for the good of the neighbourhood.
LET’S PLAY!
Once analysed the context, established the roles, initial rules of the game and objectives… Let’s Play TENSTALAND! In Oslo, our installation will consist on producing a game on a big scale, with 1:1 scale roles and a big model on the ground with landmarks and relevant places in 3D. For playing, it is necessary to submerge on the neighbourhood and become for some minutes part of the Tensta community. Let’s start the game!
LUGADERO TEAM
JAVIER MARTÍNEZ
MARTA MORERA
PABLO SENDRA
Collaborators
ELISA MONGE
ANTONIO FIGUEROA
JOSÉ MARÍA VILOCA
JOSE MIGUEL HERNÁNDEZ
ESTEFANÍA MARTÍN ROJAS
Project developed within the framework of the call for proposals for the Oslo Architecture Triennale 2016, whose theme was ‘After Belonging’.
