Uploaded on 2017-08-03 by Rafaela Pavlou

Last February, I had the chance to visit a really interesting project in my home town, Limassol, called ‘’the Parallel Cities’’ and was designed by freelanced Architect Antonis Stylianou and Urban Designer Andreas Papallas. The project was about an interactive spatial experience installation that questioned the recent development boost of Limassol. This project gave the opportunity to the visitors to choose between construction and renovation, by questioning whether the new seafront developments have improved the city or have overshadowed its culture and history. In my opinion, it was a very well-organized project, since it location was strategic and the way that made people get involved was direct and clear. Firstly, the project took place in a traditional building in a walk path in the centre of the town, where it was easily accessible to everybody. It approached the locals, the tourists, families and kids, business people and many more. In a few words, anyone who would be affected of any development in the city, could have the access to the project only because of its location. Secondly, the nature of the project helped the visitors to easily get involved. There were two interactive maps which the one showed the different developments that already took place in the city of Limassol, and the other showed the developments that were discussed by the municipality about getting built in the future. The visitors’ positions were interacted with the maps, and made them show the history of each development. This made visitors realize the impact those developments had to the city and simultaneously, realized the impact they had to them. At the same time, visitors had the chance to choose if they agreed or disagreed about the new and old developments. They were feeling that they had a voice and they could tell their opinion to somebody who cared. In that way, the designers could easily understand the impact those developments had to the city and to its users (locals, tourists, people with different identities). The outcome that came out of this project could be a really useful material for the municipality or he government. The results of such a project could show which developments or areas have a huge impact to people or see the recommendations that people have for new and better developments.