In the latest Protein Journal, as part of the Play Report, we looked at how city planners are turning up the fun with audaciously imaginative attempts to improve urban environments and promote civic engagement. One city that has particularly embraced the idea of adding an element of cheer to its streets is Bristol.

Bristol’s Playable City Award (imagined as a counterpoint to a ‘Smart City’) aims to inspire creatives to invent ways that encourage people to support, explore and enjoy the city. Last year’s prize went to Hello Lamp Post, a collaborative project from PAN studio, artist Gyorgyi Galick and designer Tom Armitage.

This year's title goes to Canadian interaction designer Jonathan Chomko and British designer Matthew Rosier for their Shadowing project. At night, if you walk under certain street lights, the shadow of a previous visitor walks beside you. While you interact, or react, to the shadow, your movements and actions are recorded, becoming the shadow for the next visitor. If a visitor remains under the lamp, the lamp reaches further back in time, playing back the shadows of other passersby.

“Shadowing offers an exploration of the disconnectedness that technology can create between strangers, the role of light in creating a city’s character, and the unseen data layers and surveillance culture that pervades our contemporary urban spaces,” says Watershed, one of the partners behind the Playable City Award.