These documents describe various "micro-interventions" - small, low-cost design solutions intended to change people's perceptions and use of public spaces. Examples include installing a piano staircase that allowed steps to play music, collaborative art installations, adding swings to bus stops, painting lines to designate pop-up soccer fields, and playing unexpected sounds from garbage bins to motivate littering. The interventions aimed to create novel, playful, or interactive experiences through unexpected, strange, or affordance-inviting triggers to encourage social interaction and new engagements with overlooked public areas.

1. micro.interventions
super- minimum interventions (micro-actions) able to change the perception of a public place that we
usually don't care about; precise and hyper local design solutions to enable the creation of what we call
"urban situations".

2. piano staircase
rolighetsteorin + VW | Stoccolma, 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=2lXh2n0aPyw&feature=player_embedded
they provided a simulation of a piano within the staircase,
the singular steps really could play,
people had fun,
interact with other people to compose melodies,
and they realized that people actually used more
staircase than mobile escalators.
Why did it work?
What do they use as a trigger element?
_something unexpected,
_something strange
_something plyaful,
_or also something really “affordable”
(affordance is the property of things of naturally invite you in)

3. wallpeople
collaborative project, 2010
http://wallpeople.org/
http://www.arkinet.com/articles/wallpeople-the-largest-
photo-mural-in-town
Wallpeople simultaneously in 10 cities of the world, asked
people to collaborate in an art installation collective
project in public spaces, each person has to just bring a
picture and place it in a position on the wall, near to what
they decided.
then, after a while (1 hour) every citizen coul pick a
pictures (of other people) and bring a piece of the
installation home
Why did it work?
What do they use as a trigger element?
_the willing to complete and collaborate to the opera
_the possibility of participating at something collective
_the possibility of interacting with people
What happens to the perception of the space?
_form a place that I usually don’t carea boute, they was able to
create a “memory” about the place, they attached a meaning to
the place...

4. play or rewind
cliostraat, Siena 2001
http://www.cliostraat.com/show.php?baby=131
a series of temporary and very very simple “invitation to
use”, a shift from a public plaza to a public playground
something that can be easily rewinded
Why did it work?
What do they use as a trigger element?
_something unexpected,
_something strange
_something plyaful,
_mis-use / completely change the meaning of the place

5. muro di Sormano
IFdesign, Sormano 2006
http://www.ifdesign.it/ifweb.pdf
it was a cycling path, and they just put some informations
about distances, history... in the path physically.
So that bikers coul in a way enjoy more the travel
Why did it work?
What do they use as a trigger element?
_providing informations
_inviting to read them
_invitation to enjoy
_making the place more beautiful

6. risorgimento square
Ma0, piazza Risorgimento Bari 2006
http://www.ma0.it/load_bari_piazza.swf
a series of bences in the plaza that could be rotated
around, just i,
you can choose where to sit and how to face the sun, how
to become distant or close to someone else in the
square...
Why did it work?
What do they use as a trigger element?
_the willing to modify and customize
_the possibility of participating at something collective
_the possibility of interacting with people
What happens to the perception of the space?
_a place that now I can use!

7. field party
Kazuyo Sejima | Tokyo, 2010
A workshop to requalificate a Tokyo suburbs where
neighborhoods usually don’t go and don’t interact.
They organized an event: a barbecue, with 100
barbecues, spread in the space, each barbecue served
just 1 part of the meal, so that people has to walk around,
travel the space and interact with other people while
cooking their own dinner.
“The party looks disconnected, but people share the
coming dusk together, and they were happy”.
Why did it work?
What do they use as a trigger element?

8. dead drops
Aran Bartholl | New York, 2010
http://deaddrops.com/
dead-drops originally are secret places to leave
informations in spy language.
Now there’s a digital dead-drops.
Aram Bartholl put a lot of usb keys coming out from
urban walls.
What would you do it?
Wouldn’t you be curious to hang your laptop?
It’s really becoming a hip.
it’s the contemporary “bookcrossing”, would you leave
any message?
Why did it work?
What do they use as a trigger element?

9. before I die wall
Chandy Chang | lots of cities, 2009
http://civiccenter.cc/beforeidie/
Candy Chang repeated in several wall this unfinished
exhibition, simply asking people to complete
“before i die i want” ____________
In a few days citizens filled the wall up!
Why did it work?
What do they use as a trigger element?

10. pagina bianca
art kitchen | Bo, Mi, Fi, Na, Vr, Fe, 2009
http://www.artkitchen.it/portfolio/la-pagina-bianca/
plazas like white paper.
with a lot of tools availabe to write and draw.
plazas like conceptually places to be written, places on
which providing a personal story, a personal contribution
Why did it work?
What do they use as a trigger element?

11. intermedio
mader lopez / Cordoba 2008
http://www.maiderlopez.com/portfolio/intermedio-2008/?
lang=en
The lines painted on a plot represent the future houses
that will be built there. Intervention on a pot. Córdoba City
Hall, Spain, 2008.
anticipation / preview of what will be in an empty plot
Why did it work?
What do they use as a trigger element?

12. bus stop derby
Goodby Silverstein & Partners | San Francisco, 2010
http://folliacreativa.com/2010/12/06/guerrilla-yahoo-bus-
stop-derby/
San Francisco / intra-neighboorhood game competiont at
the bus stop,
Citizens can contribute to the score of their neighborhood
playing while waiting the bus (boring activity).
at the end of 10 weeks the neighborhood with the highest
score won a hhuge party organized by the muicipality
Why did it work?
What do they use as a trigger element?

13. tokyo manner
aa.vv | Tokyo, 1976-1982
http://pinktentacle.com/2010/08/vintage-tokyo-subway-
manner-posters/
A project from 70s, posters that in a funny way remind to
underground useres some basic good manners (like
dont’ sleep on the metro, don’t occupy too much
space, ....)
Why did it work?
What do they use as a trigger element?

14. Pink Puffs Roll Instant
Playground
topotek, 2004
http://cca-actions.org/actions/pink-puffs-roll-instant-
playground
Twenty-four inflatable pink rubber objects and fifteen foam
cubes were installed in a temporary playground beside a
horse pasture in Wolfsburg, Germany, for the 2004 State
Garden Show.
The pink landscape created by the structures was
designed to evoke childrens’ toys and contrast with the
natural surroundings.
There are no fixed uses for the objects in the Temporary
Playground: they are both shelter and surface, capable of
being rolled into any space, transforming a sidewalk
corner or a vacant lot into a beguiling and playful garden.
Why did it work?
What do they use as a trigger element?

15. swinging
Bruno Taylor | London, 2008
http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/3682/
playful-spaces-by-bruno-taylor.html
As part of Bruno Taylor’s series “Playful Spaces,” he
installed a swing at a London bust stop.
this project is a study into different ways of bringing play
back into public space.
it focuses on ways of incorporating incidental play in the
public realm by not so much as having separate play
equipment that dictates the users but by using existing
furniture and architectural elements that indicate playful
behavior for all.’
Why did it work?
What do they use as a trigger element?

16. play me I’m yours
Luke Jerram | various cities, 2008
http://www.streetpianos.com/
Street pianos are appearing in cities across the world.
Located in parks, squares, bus shelters and train stations,
outside galleries, markets and on bridges and ferries, the
pianos are for any member of the public to enjoy and
claim ownership of.
Reaching an audience of over 1,000,000 people
worldwide, Jerram has installed over 300 pianos in 16
different cities so far.
Who plays them and how long they remain is up to each
community. Each piano acts as sculptural, musical, blank
canvas that becomes a reflection of the communities it is
embedded into. Many pianos are personalised and
decorated.
Why did it work?
What do they use as a trigger element?

17. subway opening
improve everywhere | Manhattan, 2009
http://improveverywhere.com/2009/03/18/subway-art-
gallery-opening/
A temporary evening party with waiters and music players
in the underground?
Why did it work?
What do they use as a trigger element?

18. free hugs
free hugs campaign | London, from 2006
http://www.freehugscampaign.org/
Free hugs is a real life controversial story of Juan Mann,
A man whos sole mission was to reach out and hug a
stranger to brighten up their lives.
In the Spirit of the free hugs campaign, PASS THIS TO A
FRIEND and HUG A STRANGER! After all, If you can
reach just one person
Why did it work?
What do they use as a trigger element?

19. home sweet bus stop home
Mark A. Reigelman II | various cities, 2010
http://www.markreigelman.com/
“Home Sweet (Bus Stop) Home” an art installation that re-
create a home environent in bus-stops
Why did it work?
What do they use as a trigger element?

20. paint grow soccer field
Maider Lopez | United Arab Emirates, 2007
http://cca-actions.org/actions/paint-grows-soccer-field
As part of the Sharjah Biennial, artist Maider López
painted the lines of a soccer field red in a public square of
Sharjah, adding goals on either end. Because pre-
existing features such as benches and streetlamps were
not altered, the square became a strange new site for
football matches where spectators relaxed on benches
inside the pitch at all hours. The project suggests a model
for easy and relaxed integration of different activities.
Maider López works on interrupting conventional space
and architecture.
Why did it work?
What do they use as a trigger element?

21. starwars subway cars
improv everywhere | NY subway, 2010
http://improveverywhere.com/2010/07/14/star-wars-
subway-car/
For our latest mission, we staged a reenactment of the
first Princess Leia / Darth Vader scene from Star Wars on
a New York City subway car. The white walls and sliding
doors on the train reminded us of the rebel ship from the
movie, and we thought it would be fun to see how people
would react to a surprise appearance by the iconic
characters. We spread out the actors along the train line,
staging it so they would enter the right car at the right
time. Enjoy the video first and then go behind- the-scenes
with the photos and report below.
Why did it work?
What do they use as a trigger element?

22. pixel notes
Duncan Wilson, 2007
http://www.multilinkmagazine.com/2007/12/19/pixel-notes/
Notes of different kinds make up the wallpaper, Pixelnotes
from artist and graphic designer Duncan Wilson.
The wallpaper is made up of four layers divided into
individual squares resembling sticky notes.
The notes can even be written upon and detached,
exposing a different colored note from the layer beneath.
As notes are removed, a pattern begins to reveal itself.
Why did it work?
What do they use as a trigger element?

23. the world deepest bin
the fun theory | 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=cbEKAwCoCKw&feature=player_embedded
To throw rubbish in the bin instead of onto the floor
shouldn’t really be so hard. Many people still fail to do so.
Can we get more people to throw rubbish into the bin,
rather than onto the ground, by making it fun to do?
(a strange sound comes out from the bin when you throw
the paper away)
Why did it work?
What do they use as a trigger element?