Hub2 is a pilot initiative funded by the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) that employs emerging 3D virtual world technologies to enhance community engagement in the urban planning process. It is designed to work alongside the BRA’s current community outreach methods, while providing residents with a deeper engagement with the design process and greater accessibility to the ideas emerging from within the community. While there are numerous projects that seek to create digital public forums, the unique contribution of Hub2 is its use of 3D virtual worlds as a new “language” for public discourse. Hub2 enables people to communicate their passion for public spaces in a collaborative setting. Participants don’t just talk through ideas – they build their vision in a realistic 3D world. Unlike a 2D or 3D representation, a 3D virtual world allows individuals to inhabit spaces as virtual representations of people who can move through and interact with that space. Hub2 employs the 3D virtual world Second Life to achieve this functionality. It is inexpensive to maintain and has a relatively gentle learning curve for people unfamiliar with 3D interfaces. The first iteration of the Hub2 program consisted of two courses at Emerson College during the Fall 2007 semester. Students and residents created three-dimensional immersive models of sites in the Greater Boston Area to be used by the City of Boston to assist in future development plans. In December 2007, the virtual key to the city was handed to Mayor Menino’s office.
