Portmanteau worlds: hosting multiple worldviews in virtual environments.

Abstract

Intending to persuade (or sell), conventional architectural representation often hides conflicting opinions, discourages participation and culls possible futures. Dissatisfied with this situation, I consider an approach that aims to emphasize co-presence of multiple voices, disclose power relationships, demonstrate lines of resistance and present existing or possible places as politically charged networks of enacted relationships. Motivated by the capabilities of interactive narrative, the paper considers polyphonic potentials of virtual environments. In spite of their interactive characteristics, virtual environments can impose preconceived worldviews as forcefully as any others. However, generative capabilities of computational media can also support construction of multiple interpretations that emerge simultaneously.