Play Tirana is a serious game for urban design. It was developed by ‘Play the City’ for the Tirana Architecture week 2012 (TAW) and it was organised and managed by Suzan Christiaanse.  

In Play Tirana we simulated two scenarios for the development of a multimodal train and bus station. The first was in line with the grandiose plans of the contest winners, the second explored what would happen if there were not enough investors. There were 10 participants that each played a role, from investor, mayor to activist. The public could vote for favorite projects after each round. However, immediately after we started there was an unexpected contribution from the audience: the game was hijacked by a "mafia boss" with a "chinese investor"! They did not follow the rules of the game and just put random buildings on the game board. As a game leader you have to respond well to situations like this. I decided to go along with it but keep it in control and within the structure of the game. It turned out to be an interesting meeting. Afterwards we evaluated that in reality these unexpected things happen in the Balkan. Not everything can be planned and you have to take corruption into account. The participants thought that our original set-up was too "goody-goody", but were very pleased with how I, as the game leader, managed the flow. It was an educational experience!