Civic participation is nowadays becoming a vital part in many urban planning projects. But most people have never really thought about their urban environment and do not know what changes to suggest. "Stadt.Mensch" (german: Human.City) aims to visualise the potential in a way that is as informative as it is impactful through the use of an immersive 360° film.

„Stadt.Mensch“ is a 360° fi lm made with Cinema 4D, Otoy Octane and various Adobe products. The content is based on the works of Danish architect and city planner Jan Gehl (www.gehlpeople.com), mainly his book „Cities for people“ from 2010. His main thesis is that city planning should be focused on what he calls human dimensions. A well planned city has to be interesting at walking speed and cities made for cars should be a thing of the past. Through the 360° approach the film aims to highlight the key point of human dimensions. Especially when viewed on a VR headset, the idea behind it becomes quite clear. This film is the practical part of my bachelor project on the potential of film based content in participative urban planning processes. Before the actual production started, extensive research was put into the content of the film. The results did not only influence the script but were used in the design of the objects and environments as well. Multiple real urban planning projects from all over the world are referenced within the film. Those projects can be classifi ed in three main categories: Rethinking of traffi c infrastructure, re-purposing of public spaces and revitalisation of urban centers. A major challenge was the number of objects that had to be build to create a believable cityscape. Multiple buildings, cars, trees, a tram and the main studio environment were all made within five weeks. All in all around 100 objects were used to crate a city layout that had to feature close to real-world dimensions and provide enough space to visualize all the main content points.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCjBebQ0UN8&t=2s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7P9U2W3tY0

https://www.behance.net/gallery/98469595/StadtMensch-%28HumanCity%29

Details

Team members : Philipp Quast

Supervisor : Prof. Verena Kraemer, Prof. Gora Jain

Institution : UE Germany Art&Design Hamburg

Descriptions

Technical Concept : Modern city planning deals a lot with dimensions and the effect the urban environment has on us. Because virtual reality (VR) can convey spaces in a more impactful way than normal film, it was an obvious choice for a short but meaningful introduction to some concepts of city planning. A true VR app comes with one severe drawback though: Special VR headsets are needed to experience the application. That goes against the intention to provide an easy-to-access medium that can be used to provide people that have never dealt with urban planning before with a basic knowledge to participate. The solution was simple: A 360° film would convey the same sense of size and proportion as a true VR application but it could also be watched on a normal smartphone with the use of VR goggles made out of cardboard. The film itself is 3D animated and rendered with a spherical camera to create the immersion.

Visual Concept : „Stadt.Mensch“ makes use of an environment that constantly evolves around the viewer. He or she can can immediately see the effects of the topics that are explained by the narrator. Observing the difference is a key point of the film because it aims to show the viewer what happens when we change a cityscape to better fit human needs. The first part of the film dealing with abstract concepts like dimensions is designed to look and behave like an architectural model even though the proportions are real when compared to the viewer. The depiction of actual changes to the cityscape are shown in a stylized but more or less realistic city. Existing parts of the city are in different shades of blue and grey while changes are shown in more vibrant colors.

Credits

Philipp Quast

Philipp Quast

Philipp Quast

Philipp Quast

Philipp Quast

Philipp Quast

Philipp Quast