Burcu Olgen

The increasing complexity of the built environment—encompassing three-dimensional spatial dynamics, environmental footprints, and socio-cultural dimensions—necessitates innovative educational tools. Serious games have emerged as immersive platforms bridging theoretical knowledge and practical application in this domain. This narrative literature review examines the extent to which serious games effectively integrate and reflect sustainability principles within the context of the built environment, as well as their strategies for engaging learners. A comprehensive search was conducted across multiple databases using keywords such as “serious games,” “built environment,” and “sustainability.” The review identifies that while many games address tangible challenges like retrofitting simulations and resource management, their incorporation of sustainability concepts is often superficial. Critical aspects such as inclusivity, stakeholder engagement, and alignment with SDGs are frequently underrepresented. Furthermore, a lack of a common language among stakeholders and the tendency to focus on isolated aspects of sustainability, rather than adopting a holistic approach, were noted. Despite these limitations, the engaging nature of these games that are based on real scenarios offers potential for impactful learning experiences. However, challenges persist, including technical constraints, pedagogical limitations, and deeper epistemological and ethical tensions in game design. The findings underscore the need for a more integrated and comprehensive approach to embedding sustainability in serious games, along with more effective engagement strategies to ensure they function as impactful tools for education and learning in the built environment domain.

Artificial Intelligence for Eco-Didactic Installations through Interactive Museological Experience to Encourage Sustainable Action

Sustainable communication is a concept that is frequently used today and affects a broader area day by day. Many different applications and technologies are in development to use this concept effectively in daily life, and even public spaces are starting to be designed in this way. When the concept of sustainable communication is examined, not only the message but also how the message is conveyed is important. In this study, we developed a model regarding the design of the message given and how the designs are displayed in the public space. While developing this model, we examined the Parallel Reality technology, in the context of sustainable communication and associated it with eco-didactic contents. Parallel Reality allows a large number of people to have personalized digital experiences simultaneously on a single screen without using equipment. This technology qualifies communication systems to produce diverse content continuously with less screen usage. This unique and sustainable format creates a potential for the public spaces to be a “place of change” that constructs community dialogues resulting in eco-didactic environments. This study aims to use Parallel Reality technology to create eco-didactic environments that could serve the UN’s Global Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs), regarding sustainable cities and communities. Parallel Reality could provide economically and technologically sustainable communication in public space while spreading ecological awareness and encouraging citizens to adopt sustainability in daily life. We ask how to transform public spaces people encounter the most into eco-didactic environments using Parallel Reality.

The positioning of high structures creates important effects on the city silhouette; even sometimes it is created by them. This silhouette could be in close relationship with the historical regions as well as developing outside the city. It was observed that tall buildings developed in two different ways in London and Paris. This study aims to examine the urban texture of tall building areas in two cities in terms of architectural and urban design aspects. The historical development of London and Paris, and the role of tall buildings in this process were compared. High buildings in London developed alongside with the historical texture, while in Paris they located in an especially reserved area outside the city. These different situations have developed with the city dwellers’ lifestyles, as well as created spatially different effects on them. In this context, the relationship of tall buildings with urban fabric is examined, and an example of a high building selected from each city is discussed. These examples are The Leadenhall from London and Tour First from Paris. It was concluded that the locations of the high buildings have an important role in the urban texture, and it also depends on politics to make decisions.