Betaville

International Cooperation Project

http://betaville.net/

http://bxmc.poly.edu/betaville

http://www.masterdigitalmedia.hs-bremen.de/index.html

Duration contract: 2009-2012

Betaville is a cooperation project of the M2C Institute, the Gotham Innovation Greenhouse New York, the University of Applied Sciences Bremen and the Brooklyn Experimental Media Center of New York University with the support and cooperation of:

Think BETA

M2C Institute for Media Technology and Culture Bremen

BxmC Brooklyn Experimental Media Center at Polytechnic Institute of New York University

Institute for Informatic and Automation of the University of Applied Sciences Bremen

Bilkent University Ankara

Academy of Humanities and Economics Lodz

Polytechnic Department of Civil Engineering der New York University

Urban Infrastructure Institute of New York City

Office of Emergency Management der Stadt New York

Greenmap, NY

The Sustainable Urban Environments Program New York

Senator für Umwelt, Bau, Verkehr und Europa der Freien Hansestadt Bremen

Kunstprojekt REMEMBERTI Bremen

Bremer Initiative "Kulturdesign Überseestadt"

Betaville is an open-source multiplayer environment for real cities, in which ideas for new works of public art, architecture, urban design, and development can be shared, discussed, tweaked, and brought to maturity in context, with the kind of broad participation people take for granted in open source software development...

The Betaville platform is designed to be deployable by individuals, small groups (say, a project class or a neighborhood association), all the way up to professional design firms and planning offices of major cities: any group that is serious about offering a proposal in the spirit of a programmer's RFC (request for comment). Anyone with access to a web browser can contribute, and every contribution remains accessible.

In essence, we set out to create an effective platform for the parts of the design and planning process where it has become practical for broad participation and engagement to be most effective: as a matter of course and in a spirit of creative collaboration in the times between and before the formal/ professional/ really expensive design development process kicks in.

Skills developed while playing online games or planning trips for leisure can be leveraged as skills for creative expression and social empowerment, e.g. by students and their own communities, embedded in and serving local issues and desires.

Geographically, the project focuses primarily on the two conversion areas “Überseestadt” in Bremen and the Brooklyn Old Navy Yard in New York to find out how adequate local medial infrastructures enriches and changes previous approaches of infrastructural development. Integration of further partners and locations is envisaged.