Gamifying the City: Pervasive Game Elements in the Urban Environment

After years using ICT to be connected with others, the world population average weight had tremendously increased. To face the rapid spread of obesity the World Health Organization (WHO) has leveraged the popularity of augmented reality games such as Pokémon go to force people out of their homes pushing them to walk. An application, namely Gamifying the City (GC), has been set up, immediately involving millions of users. Since then, the use of the application has pervaded many other aspects of people’s city life, going beyond its original aim of making people engage in healthier habits. This paper focuses on understanding how the use of this technology is affecting our behavior in society. Author