A woman in a black top and long skirt enthusiastically greets another in a neon vest and jeans on a busy street, with a dog nearby and a tram in the background..
A woman in denim jumps mid-step next to another woman in a neon vest as they cross a road marked with
Two people have a conversation near a street mirror, reflecting them and another individual in a neon vest..
Three people are gathered on the ground playing with colorful geometric blocks and shapes..
Four people sit together under an overpass, smiling and conversing, with a red brick building and traffic visible in the background.

Playing Future Naarm Together

+ Add to Itinerary

Description

Join an urban role-playing game set on the streets of Naarm Melbourne in 2050. Artist and academic Troy Innocent leads your party through a two-hour journey through the inner-city, working together to imagine a Naarm of the future. Along the way, take part in encounters with urban play with future characters and mixed realities.

City North is the most densely populated area in Australia, with 31,100+ people per square kilometre, setting the scene for Naarm Melbourne in 2050 when the urban population is projected to reach 8 million, making it Australia’s first megacity. In the second edition of this scenario, you travel with a customised Crumpler bag kitted out for urban play.

Crumpler gave us bags to play with, we transformed them into characters you can play. You carry the bag but can't keep it. Each bag of tricks holds play materials for social innovation, urban codes, eco literacies, Indigenous knowledges, regenerative design, tactical urbanism, sensory play and more.

Reworlding is playful and imaginative, speculative and relational world-building that embraces actions for collective change, do-it-together skills and speculative design to answer the question: when one world collapses, how do we build the next?

What's On

Up to sixteen people can join a two hour journey hosted and led by an experienced gamemaster through an urban adventure set in Naarm Melbourne 2050. Moving through the City North Social Innovation Precinct, key waypoints include RMIT University, Cardigan Street, State Library Station, Queen Victoria Market, Science Gallery Melbourne, and the labyrinth of streets in between. Along the way, Naarm is the main character as it makes offers to players and draws upon its complex, living systems to live well together. Through playful encounters, the party work together to solve puzzles and make decisions that regenerate the city through crisis and complexity.

Children's Activities

The journey is not specifically created for young people but they are very welcome.

Images: (1-5) Reworlding Naarm. All photos: Kit Edwards.

Important Details

Tour/event summary information

Friday 25 July
2pm–4pm

Saturday 26 July
11am–1pm + 2pm–4pm

Sunday 27 July
2pm–4pm

Tours run for 2 hours in groups of 16

Bookings

Bookings required—$7 booking fee applies
First release tickets: 12pm Wednesday 1 July
Second release tickets: 10am Saturday 4 July

Book

Meeting Point

Meet at the Queen Victoria Market on the corner of Queen + Victoria Street

Accessibility

Ramp or level (step free) entry, Accessible bathrooms, All-gender bathrooms, Level access tram stop, Accessible parking, All ages

The walk involves moving through unpredictable urban spaces so not all challenges may be anticipated, although encountering unexpected challenges and working through them is also part of the journey.

Location

Cnr of Queen & Victoria St, Melbourne VIC 3000

Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country

What's on nearby

Explore Precinct
A crowd gathered around a smoking dish in Melbourne's City Square. Wurundjeri artist and emerging elder Craig Murphy sits in the foreground with a possum skin cloak and clapsticks.
Connection to Country: Melbourne Metro Tunnel and beyond

Sunday 26 July

The first image shows a building facade with signage that reads
Drill Hall: A Case Study and Conversation on Heritage Buildings

Sunday 26 July

A group of people standing and talking on a city street near a brick building with tall buildings in the background
City North Social Innovation Precinct Guided Walking Tour

Saturday 25 July, Sunday 26 July

Over head footage showing the size of the complex. Both the Heiritage complex and the sixties addition can be seen. Solar panels are visible on the north wing and the Solidaity Hall roof.
Trades Hall and Literary Institute

Saturday 25 July, Sunday 26 July

Stay in the loop