The ‘Participatory Urbanism’ installation by ZHA responds to the ‘Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.’ theme curated by Carlo Ratti for the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025. Presenting multiple collaborative research projects, ‘Participatory Urbanism’ demonstrates the untapped potential of video game technologies in architectural research and practice.

As societies rapidly transform and urbanise, development processes and standards must also adapt and progress. Led by Patrik Schumacher and ZHA's Computation and Design research team (ZHA CODE), the ‘Participatory Urbanism’ installation explores how low-risk sandboxes and testbeds are crucial for architecture to accomodate future requirements.

Schumacher explains: “The installation demonstrates how emerging technologies and gaming platforms enable architects to co-design the built environment with communities and stakeholders, drawing out the needs and aspirations of future end-users to redefine urban environments and improve quality of life.”

Through visual storytelling and architectural models from multiple projects, the installation by ZHA in collaboration with The Block by Block Foundation and BlockWorks, highlights projects where bespoke co-design tools are advancing the emerging field of video game urbanism, creating spaces for designers, developers, communities, and other stakeholders to test, simulate, learn, and explore scenarios together in an immersive 3D environment. 

The ‘Participatory Urbanism’ installation is featured within the experimental and immersive exhibitions of this year's Venice Architecture Biennale. Visitors to the Arsenale traverse three thematic worlds: Natural Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence, and Collective Intelligence. Located in the liminal zone between “artificial” and “collective”, ‘Participatory Urbanism’ demonstrates possibilities for permeability and collaboration between these two forms of intelligence.

The “artificial” section of the exhibition extends beyond large language models (LLMs) to robotics, engineering, and data science, demonstrating how technology affects our built environment and social systems. The “collective” section turns visitors’ attention to building and learning collectively through local wisdom, economies, and networks.

Played in Fortnite, Re:Imagine London is a collaboration between ZHA and Epic Games that empowers participants to reimagine an iconic section of London.

Metrotopia Metaverse is a virtual city designed for creative collaboration across design disciplines, simulating spatial interaction in real time to explore urban futures.

The Roatán Residences are digitally-designed timber houses tailored to climate and user needs. The digital architectural platform enables buyers to configure modular building components in real time using a web-based application to create the home best suited for their needs.

Additionally, a joint programme by Mojang and UN-Habitat,The Block by Block Foundation uses the video game Minecraft to empower people who don’t typically have a voice in the conversations about their community to help shape the city around them. In Kosovo, children used Minecraft as a participatory tool to redesign a neglected public space. Local architects and city planners then turned these digital concepts into a tangible reality. Their design studio BlockWorks also shares The Uncensored Library, which uses Minecraft to create an unrestricted open library.