Mestometer
City planning is about balancing different interests and ideas of what makes a good city - ideas that a master plan captures through maps and text. Mestometer is an interactive installation set within the context of Košice, designed to engagingly explain what a master plan is and why we need one - not only in Košice, but elsewhere as well. The project also includes a publication that summarizes the research conducted during its development and makes the installation accessible to those who could not experience it in person. In this way, the project disseminates knowledge to the widest possible public.
Mestometer is an interdisciplinary work at the intersection of a computer and tabletop game, product design, and urban research. Through a playful and interactive format, it makes the complex relationships within spatial planning - which shape the everyday lives of city residents - easier to understand. Unlike other planning games, it is played from the perspective of residents rather than planners. The installation helps people better understand the abstract language of a master plan and encourages more informed and critical participation in public consultations. At the same time, it creates space for dialogue between the public, local government, and professionals about the future direction of urban development.
The publication Playing Mestometer: Why Do Cities Need a Master Plan? expands on the knowledge generated during the creation of the installation. It is available in both Slovak and English, in print and digital formats, and includes texts by members of the creative team as well as external experts. The illustrations - which form the core of Mestometer - complement the texts and support a deeper understanding of the topic. Mestometer is based on the belief that a good city does not have a single ideal form - it emerges through continuous negotiation between different visions, just like city planning itself.
The content and operation of the Mestometer 2.0 installation were developed by:
Lýdia Grešáková – sociologist, researcher, and consultant in participatory processes
Katarína Onderková – architect and civil engineer
Samuel Setényi – visual artist and programmer
Zuzana Tabačková – urban designer, researcher, and lecturer in urban design
Samuel Velebný – visual artist, designer, and originator of the project concept
Consultants (during focus groups and beyond):
Peter Beňo, Pavol Fábry, Martin Jerguš, Terezie Lokšová, Alexandra Mareková, Jakub Marek, Pavol Mészáros, Viktória Mravčáková, Zuzana Révészová, Michal Šindelář.
The creation of the work was supported from public funds by the Slovak Arts Council (Fond na podporu umenia). “MESTOMETER” is supported through the ACF – Slovakia programme, funded by the EEA Financial Mechanism 2014–2021. The programme operator is the Ekopolis Foundation in partnership with the Open Society Foundation Bratislava and the Carpathian Foundation.
