Urban Inferno: Confronting Urban Heat Islands
Experience the Arizona of 2053
An interactive VR case study on designing immersive experiences to educate and inspire action on climate change. This report details the journey of a collaborative project to make the future tangible today
Do you have what it takes?
The Challenge & concept
Climate change is an abstract concept with long-term consequences, making it difficult for people to feel a personal connection or a sense of urgency. Our core challenge was to design a virtual reality experience that could bridge this gap by simulating the future impacts of rising heat and engaging participants in making meaningful decisions to safeguard a city's future.
Project Outcomes
Enhanced Engagement
The immersive VR format led to significantly higher user participation and emotional investment compared to traditional media
Effective Awareness
Participants demonstrated a clearer understanding of climate change consequences and the impact of sustainable choices.
Successful Deployment
The final experience was successfully deployed in the specialized Dreamscape VR Labs, showcasing technical proficiency.
The VR Experience Flow
1
Cosmic Voyage
The experience begins with an immersive journey through space, guided by the AI assistant "Breeze." This sets a grand scale and prepares the user for landing in a new world.
2
Belmont Today
Participants land in the present-day fictional city of Belmont, Arizona. They can explore the environment and establish a baseline understanding of the city's current state.
3
The 2053 transformation
The city dramatically transforms into an unlivable 2053. High heat index effects are visualized, showing a ravaged landscape and communicating the dire consequences of inaction.
4
The power of Choice
Users are presented with a 3D model of the city and empowered to make sustainable changes using intuitive hand-tracking controls, seeing the direct impact of their decisions.
Meet
Breeze
Our AI narrator for the experience
Showcase Collection
Project Evaluation
Scenario:
User has to build sustainable city while preventing urban heat island effect
Expectations:
Collaboration
Good Decision Making
Gain Environmental Knowledge
Have Fun!
Stages
User Goals
Activities
Interactivity
Feeling
Expectation
Scene1
Scene 2
Scene 3
Scene 4
Scene 5
Scene6
Understand the situation
Learn the past heat levels and understand the concept of urban heat effect
Understand clearly what is the task and how to reduce heat level
Build the city which is having low heat levels
Build the city which is having low heat levels
Reflecting on what they learnt
Listening to information
Listening to the information about data points
Listening to the information about data points
Split into groups and start the activity
Viewing the resulting heat metrics
Watching people happily roaming around without worrying about the heat
Listening and looking at the environment
Listening and looking at the environment
Listening and looking at the environment
Reaching forward and selecting the components, talking with teammates
The winner lifts the trophy, celebrating with team
Listening and looking at the environment
Excited
Emoji
Curious
Emoji
Curious
Emoji
Thinking
emoji
Happy/Sad
Emoji
Satisfied
Emoji
Understanding the whole experience and expecting to do the task successfully
Trying to comprehend the data points and understand the increase levels
Trying to comprehend
Building a city with a low heat island effect
Learn how selecting materials to build city can influence heat index
Appreciating how materiality could influence temperatures in the city
User Journey Map
Asset Development
Scenes
Unity Pipeline
Asset integration
Scene Blockouts
Experience Timeline and Flow
Visual and Audio Polish
Deployment
Key components
Scene Development: Each scene was meticulously crafted to evoke specific emotions and actions from users.
Asset Generation: We used assets developed in unity, blender and other 3D softwares provided by the design team and Unity for creating a VR experience.
Narrative: Breeze's narrative serves as a guiding voice, providing context and motivation throughout the experience.
Heat Index Calculation: Discussed methods for integrating climate data into the simulation to adjust the visual and gameplay effects according to the heat index.
Hand to Button Interactions: Outlined approaches for making user interactions with buttons more intuitive and responsive in the VR environment.
Grid/Tile Spawning Functionality: Explored solutions for dynamically generating and managing tiles within the game space, crucial for the modularity of the city design.
Audio Feedback Implementation: Reviewed strategies for incorporating audio cues that enhance the immersive experience, reacting to user actions and environmental changes.
Integration of elements: Ambient sounds, music, and visual cues were integrated to immerse users in the narrative and facilitate engagement with the city-building task.
Animation: Develop timelines for animations to contribute the storytelling for the events.
Initially we planned on making a large scale cityscape, due to issues with technical compatibility we scaled it to a table sized view instead.So we went ahead with the concept of a 3D model of Belmont within the Dreamscape Grid, the team envisioned providing users with a tactile experience of city building and environmental intervention. This led to the idea of users manipulating its structures, fostering a sense of agency and responsibility in Virtual Reality.
Key issues
Technical Designer & Unity Developer
As part of the software development team, my role was to translate the project's design and narrative goals into a functional and immersive VR experience within the Unity engine.
✔
Spatial Design & Scene Building: Designed and constructed the core Unity scenes, arranged 3D assets to build the city of Belmont, and managed the technical implementation of the environment.
✔
3D Asset Integration: Utilized SketchUp and Blender to create and optimize 3D models for real-time VR performance, tackling technical challenges to ensure visual fidelity.
✔
Interaction & UI Implementation: Implemented the "Breeze" AI assistant and integrated the Dreamscape hand-tracking controls for intuitive object manipulation within the 3D space.
✔
Data Visualization Design: Designed the spatial graph that visually represented the outcomes of user choices, providing immediate, understandable feedback within the immersive environment.
Team Members
Design Team
Professors of ASU Mix Center
ASU Dreamscape Learn and ASU Meteor Studio
Storytellers
Software Dev Team
Audio Team
My role and contributions