Mestometer

Mestometer is an interactive installation set within the context of Košice, designed to explain in an engaging way what a master plan is and why we need one – not only in Košice, but elsewhere as well. In doing so, it challenges the perception of a master plan as a document that "always prohibits something," and presents city planning as a process of balancing different interests and ideas about how to live well together.

Mestometer is an interdisciplinary work at the intersection of a computer game and a tabletop game, product design, and urban research. Through a playful and interactive format, it makes the complex relationships within spatial planning, which shape the everyday lives of city residents, easier to understand. Unlike other planning games, it is played from the perspective of residents rather than planners. The installation helps people better understand the abstract language of a master plan and encourages more informed and critical participation in public consultations. At the same time, it creates a space for dialogue between the public, local government, and professionals about the future direction of urban development.

To extend the project's educational reach, it is accompanied by the publication Playing Mestometer: Why Do Cities Need a Master Plan?. It is available in both Slovak and English, in print and digital formats, and includes texts by members of the creative team as well as external experts. The illustrations – which form the core of Mestometer – are woven together with texts that support a deeper understanding of the topic of spatial planning.

The content and operation of the Mestometer installation were developed by:

Lýdia Grešáková – sociologist, researcher, and consultant in participatory processes
Katarína Onderková – architect and civil engineer
Samuel Setényi – visual artist and programmer
Zuzana Tabačková – urban designer, researcher, and lecturer in urban design
Samuel Velebný – visual artist, designer, and originator of the project concept

Consultants (during focus groups and beyond): Peter Beňo, Pavol Fábry, Martin Jerguš, Terezie Lokšová, Alexandra Mareková, Jakub Marek, Pavol Mészáros, Viktória Mravčáková, Zuzana Révészová, Michal Šindelář.


The creation of the work was supported from public funds by the Slovak Arts Council. "MESTOMETER" is supported through the ACF – Slovakia programme, funded by the EEA Financial Mechanism 2014–2021. The programme operator is the Ekopolis Foundation in partnership with the Open Society Foundation Bratislava and the Carpathian Foundation.

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