CityBuildAR: Enhancing Community Engagement in Placemaking Through Mobile Augmented Reality

Daneesha Ranasinghe, Nayomi Kankanamge, Chathura De Silva, Nuwani Kangana, Rifat Mahamood and Tan Yigitcanlar ()
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Daneesha Ranasinghe: Department of Town & Country Planning, University of Moratuwa, Katubedda 10400, Sri Lanka
Nayomi Kankanamge: School of Law and Society, University of the Sunshine Coast, Moreton Bay, QLD 4502, Australia
Chathura De Silva: Department of Town & Country Planning, University of Moratuwa, Katubedda 10400, Sri Lanka
Nuwani Kangana: Department of Town & Country Planning, University of Moratuwa, Katubedda 10400, Sri Lanka
Rifat Mahamood: Department of Town & Country Planning, University of Moratuwa, Katubedda 10400, Sri Lanka
Tan Yigitcanlar: QUT Urban AI Hub, School of Architecture and Built Environment, Queensland University of Technology, 2 George Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia

Future Internet, 2025, vol. 17, issue 3, 1-36

Abstract: Mostly, public places are planned and designed by professionals rather engaging the community in the design process. Even if the community engaged, the engagement process was limited to hand drawings, manual mappings, or public discussions, which limited the general public to visualize and well-communicate their aspirations with the professionals. Against this backdrop, this study intends to develop a mobile application called “CityBuildAR”, which uses Augmented Reality technology that allows the end user to visualize their public spaces in a way they want. CityBuildAR was developed by the authors using the Unity Real-Time Development Platform, and the app was developed for an Android Operating System. The app was used to assess community interests in designing open spaces by categorizing participants into three groups: those with limited, average, and professional knowledge of space design. The open cafeteria of the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka served as the testbed for this study. The study findings revealed that: (a) Mobile Augmented Reality is an effective way to engage people with limited knowledge in space design to express their design thinking, (b) Compared to professionals, the general public wanted to have more green elements in the public space; (c) Compared to the professionals, the general public who were not conversant with the designing skills found the app more useful to express their ideas. The study guides urban authorities in their placemaking efforts by introducing a novel approach to effectively capture community ideas for creating inclusive public spaces.

Keywords: mobile augmented reality; placemaking; public spaces; participatory planning; community engagement; smart city; urban technology; artificial intelligence (AI); generative AI (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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