Re-interpreting Cities with Play Urban Semiotics and Gamification

Abstract

This paper aims to propose a semiotic perspective on how play can be used to change the citizens’ perception of the city. The paper propose a meaning-centered understanding both of play activities (seen as resemantisations of the surrounding environment) and of urban spaces (seen as complex meaning-making machines) and attempts to show how the first ones can be used to re-interpret the second ones. Finally, a few examples such as parkour and flash mobs are analyses in order to test the efficacy of the approach.