Gaming as a disembodied experience of the city: from Assassin's Creed to 'Smart Learner'

Abstract

Τhis paper explores the role of gaming as a learning tool in the design disciplines, and suggests a methodology of work that bridges urban planning with virtually reconstructed environments. Building on the growing body of literature at the intersection of gaming, learning, and urban planning, the paper analyzes the simulation of the city of Rome in the video game Assassin's Creed and argues on the reliability of its morphology in relation to the real city. In this way, the paper confirms the didactic outcomes in the passage from the real city to the digital one, allowing for the creation of a theoretical and empirical reflection on the method to use it in an educational setting. As such, the paper builds on the idea of how gaming offers a disembodied experience of the city arguing about its didactic and social impact on a new generation of ‘smart learners’.