Bristol's street furniture is waking up - and it wants to talk to you.

As the first commission of Bristol’s Playable City Award, produced by Watershed, Hello Lamp Post invites you to try a new way of communicating through lamp posts, post boxes and other familiar street furniture, by texting the unique codes found on each object to a Bristol number. It offers a unique opportunity to share your memories of the city and uncover the stories that other people leave behind.

Since its launch in July, thousands of people around Bristol have been taking part in the game: families playing together, people on their way to work, teenagers hanging out around the city. It encourages a sense of ownership of the streets we walk through every day, and provides a fun and playful way of looking at the city with fresh eyes.

Read a selection of the public's responses to the questions asked by bins, billboards and bridges here. Find out more about how to play here.

The concept of a Playable City was devised by Watershed in response to the emergence of the term 'smart cities'. It's a more human take on the idea, encouraging light-hearted hacks into the life of a city. Watershed ran a Playable City Sprint in February 2012 to explore the playful possibilities with creative technologists and artists from around the world.

Hello Lamp Post was devised and delivered by PAN Studio.

The Playable City Award is co-funded by a network of organisations who exemplify Bristol's strength in Creative Technologies. This unusual approach to sponsorship and support reflects the collaborative nature of a city where companies are well networked, open and sharing. The partners are Toshiba, BDH, University of Bristol, Bristol SETsquared Centre, Aardman, University of the West of England, IBM, Team Rubber, ThirtyThree, Bristol City Council, TLT, Sift, HP Labs,and IMDb. Hello Lamp Post is powered by Twilio.

The Playable City Award is produced by Watershed with support from Arts Council England.

 

Posted on Mon 15 July 2013.

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