As part of a research project funded by the Cyprus National Foundation for Research and Innovation, titled Sustainable Urban Governance through Augmented Reality (SUGAR), our team from the Cyprus University of Technology along with our partners from the University of Cyprus and Harvard University have carried out a 3-day sprint aiming to develop a prototype for a system to encourage public participation in the urban planning process.
The Cyprus Interaction Lab was approached by the Youth Board of Cyprus to organise and facilitate a workshop activity aiming to rethink the online counseling service it currently offers to young people. CIL, having implemented various adaptations of Google Ventures’ inspired Design Sprint in the past, adjusted the method to a one-day sprint that took 3 multidisciplinary teams of young creatives through understanding the problem to proposing solutions.
A two-day design sprint workshop explored, proposed solutions and developed prototypes (applications and systems) with a goal of providing useful information for responsible gaming, as well as information for the risks posed by non-responsible participation. The prototypes developed by the teams followed the theme of the Responsible Gaming campaign as part of the Responsible Gaming Awareness Week of the National Betting Authority that commissioned this workshop.
Within the framework of the Youth Leadership Summer School, young people had the opportunity to get in touch with innovative design thinking techniques and tools for developing innovative products, services, and processes. The participants identified challenges and created proposals for positive change to the real problems of Platres villages and the mountain region of Troodos, which they presented to the residents, who will decide on their further exploitation and implementation.