Facilitating communication between designers and the public

Summary

“Another project using VR is London Boulevard, which traces a potential two-mile cycle route along London’s congested and polluted Old Street. The London Cycling Campaign enlisted engineering consultancy Witteveen + Bos UK to use VR to bring their bike lane proposal to life and to “allow people to immediately grasp the difference between what is now, and what could be”.
Amanda Gregor, an urban designer at Witteveen + Bos, says she was initially sceptical but has been convinced that VR can be an effective tool for facilitating communication between designers and the public. The company has used VR at community engagement events in the Netherlands to highlight alternative street designs. On one occasion, she says, the regular 2D plans were met with a muted response – but “with VR, suddenly the public were like ‘Oh, this is what you were talking about in terms of the parking. I just didn’t understand the plans’.””
Quote from: www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/may/26/empathy-machine-vr-bad-city-developments-virtual-reality