Night time and the exterior of Belfast City Hill is lit up with pillars of gree, blue, purple, red and yellow light.

A playable city is a somewhere that encourages its citizens to interact with public spaces and street level infrastructure in ways that are fun and creative. Because only people, working together, can create the ideas and the actions which bring urban spaces to life and generate ideas for future human-centric design.

With playable LED lighting technology Belfast’s iconic City Hall has become a medium, through social media, for civic expression in ways that were undreamt of previously

Given its historical and cultural, significance City Hall was one of seven European buildings chosen to be part of the EU’s ILLUMINATE pilot project.

 

The building became a test bed for piloting a revolutionary new lighting system, created by Philips, to explore the possibilities of LED lighting technology, which has reduced energy costs and CO2 emissions.

City Hall now boasts 433 individual light fittings – all of which can be individually controlled – offering up to 16 million different colour options.

The system has used to mark such diverse cultural festivities such as Chinese New Year, Orange Fest, Gay Pride, Polish Day, St Valentine’s Day and St Patrick’s Day.

Over the coming months we plan to work with partners to expand on the idea of embedded technology in urban buildings and infrastructure to make Belfast a playable city.

Belfast Lord Mayor and Sejong Mayor shaking hands and holding copies of the Innovation Twins Roadmap.

Belfast and South Korean city of Sejong become innovation twins

Belfast has signed an Innovation Twins Roadmap with Sejong to harness urban innovation and support growth in both regions.

Older resident walking down street in Belfast neighbourhood

Homes for Healthy Ageing testbed in Belfast

A new healthy ageing testbed has been set up in Belfast to trial innovative approaches to tackling isolation and loneliness in older people as part of the £2.5 million Connected Places Catapult 'Homes for Healthy Ageing' Programme.

Translink Glider bus

Belfast Glider buses boost passenger numbers

The Belfast Rapid Transit Glider service has contributed to 1.67 million fewer car journeys in 2018-19, reducing congestion and enhancing city air quality.