CEUs

1 LU/HSW

Cost

Free

Full-time students

$5

Associate AIA Members

$10

Members of AIA, 2030 District, AFC, ASHRE, CNU, Green Umbrella, NOMA, ULI, or USGBC

$25

Non-Members

Location

ARCO

Program Overview

Ryan Swanson, Assoc. AIA, will discuss design through play, community engagement, and neighborhood installations. Lecture starts promptly at 6.

Play is our natural driver as humans to discover, explore, and empathize with others. It is universal and can be invoked as a powerful tool for developing more equitable, healthy, and social spaces and places within our cities and communities. And yet, the term “play” is often absent from the dialogue around urban development and city change.

This conversation is meant to spark a dialogue around the value of creating more “Playable Cities” as an ecosystem of inclusive multiscale playable opportunities for all demographics that are intertwined within existing urban infrastructure and begins to add to our daily lives. Encouraging stakeholders to reinvestigate spaces that could become ‘PLAY’ces: like public park benches, bus stops, street lights, alleyways, or just the everyday spaces in-between. Exploring how these often once overlooked or underutilized situations can turn into inclusive, stimulating, creative outlets for communal connection through the utilization of play methodologies within architecture and design practices. 

Presented by the AIA Cincinnati VISION program.

Learning Objectives

• Identify how play can positively impact the development of our cities and communities.

• Discover unique ways open-ended play opportunities can be implemented at various scales for all demographics within a variety of spaces and places.

• A look into ways of navigating systems to implement play methodologies into everyday design to evoke more equitable and inclusive cities and communities.

• Understand the value of utilizing play methodologies within participatory design processes to develop further ownership and impact within communities you are working within.

Keynote Speaker

Ryan Swanson, Assoc. AIA

Ryan Swanson is the founder and creative director of The Urban Conga, an award-winning multidisciplinary design studio based in Brooklyn, NY. His practice consists of a collective group of creatives focused on sparking community activity and social interaction through open-ended play. The studio explores the idea of creating more “Playable Cities” as an ecosystem of multiscale playable opportunities for all demographics intertwined within our existing urban fabric. Their work investigates how these often once overlooked or underutilized situations can turn into inclusive, stimulating creative outlets sparking more equitable, healthy, social, and economic cities and communities. To achieve this, they utilize a variety of play methodologies as a critical component both within the functions of their physical work and community design processes. 

Through his work, Ryan has collaborated worldwide with municipal agencies, communities, institutions, private businesses, NGOs, and more, delivering a wide variety of work from permanent spatial interventions, temporary activations, workshops, lectures, development plans, and public policy recommendations.

Continuing Education Details

Course Number: VL2023.b

Instructional Delivery Method: live

AIA CES Program Approval Expiration Date: 2.22.2025

Prerequisites: none

Program Level: beginner

Advance Learner Preparation: none

AIA CES Provider Statement

AIA Cincinnati is a registered provider of AIA-approved continuing education under Provider Number 088. All registered AIA CES Providers must comply with the AIA Standards for Continuing Education Programs. Any questions or concerns about this provider or this learning program may be sent to AIA CES (cessupport@aia.org or (800) AIA 3837, Option 3).

This learning program is registered with AIA CES for continuing professional education. As such, it does not include content that may be deemed or construed to be an approval or endorsement by the AIA of any material of construction or any method or manner of handling, using, distributing, or dealing in any material or product.

AIA continuing education credit has been reviewed and approved by AIA CES. Learners must complete the entire learning program to receive continuing education credit. AIA continuing education Learning Units earned upon completion of this course will be reported to AIA CES for AIA members. Certificates of Completion for both AIA members and non-AIA members are available upon request.