Augmented and virtual reality for smart cities users' awareness

Users’ awareness is a highly influential topic within all European and National research projects funded respectively by the 7th Framework Programme and by the Italian Smart Communities Technology Cluster. The idea to bridge the gap between high level knowledge that characterizes people involved in the development of scientific projects and the knowledge of the main public is widely shared nowadays. The need of a “spread of knowledge” is related to the engagement of common users in the Smart Cities developing process, in order to stimulate them to change their behaviors towards sustainability. The gamification approach helps to achieve this objective, because it envisages the use of video game objects in non-games systems. This way, the users’ experience is amplified through new and interactive technologies that increase engagement and motivate changed behaviors. The experience of the District Information Modelling and Management for Energy Reduction (DIMMER) European project and the Zero Energy Buildings in Smart Urban Districts (EEB) Italian national cluster in the field of users’ involvement is related to the dissemination activities carried out during the development of both studies. The greatest challenge was to find the right gamification approach that could be applied to different contexts and that could be used for several topics, on the basis of specific needs. Although the demonstrators of the projects are characterized by different aspects, the objectives are alike in some respect; both projects are focused on energy and CO2 emission reduction and the realization of Building Information Models (BIMs) is the starting point. For this reason, games for children were realized within both projects as a step forward compared to “traditional” dissemination activities. They include both Virtual (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) and require knowledge about energy efficiency and smart city-related issues. The focal point of the games is a map where the districts case studies are represented; while the DIMMER District Board Game is mainly focused on the importance of the District Heating Network (DHN), trying to introduce children to energy-related issues, the 3D BIM Map is designed to enhance the main concept of how to realize a “Smart City”, giving children the chance to suggest their innovative proposals in this regard. To get the goal, the communication technologies have been introduced in order to involve people of all ages and make them aware of what a behavior towards energy efficiency and smart cities means and how new ways of data visualization can make demanding concepts more understandable.