The use of Big Data has been a new urban trend in recent years — data collection and its management have given rise to new platforms and tools. Big data has had a fundamental influence on the processes and methodologies of urban analysis, ​creating new resources to understand, evaluate, and manage the evolution of cities. However, not everything in cities is easily measurable — our emotions, memories, senses, playfulness, those qualitative elements of cities. How can we make the unmeasurable measurable, and turn that data into a playful tool to make more just, livable cities?

Urban planning, design, participation, and decision-making processes in urban development have increasingly been defined by quantitative data. New data collection technology and its application to urban design have been an interest to big corporations, such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon — all of which have attempted to create a 21-century version of company towns, creating new urban trends known commonly as silicon valley urbanism or Google urbanism. Their respective data sets, collected from millions of users, are used to create comprehensive planning scenarios, including zoning regulations, smart transportation and walkability, density, and greenery.

However, with rising awareness of privacy and data ownership, we'd love to seek alternative data that could become a tool for more sustainable urban design. How can we include what is commonly believed as non-measurable, such as people's emotions, memories, and those qualitative elements of cities into the urban process? This campaign seeks for ideas that incorporate qualitative data into the design process.