1. The City of Limerick Experience
Info
For my final project, I am going to focus on an interactive experience in the city of
Limerick. !
How can an interactive installation improve the experience of the city of Limerick?
! !
Background
In this chapter, I will research the factors that influence the experience of Limerick. I will also
research the possibilities of interactive installations.
Limerick City
Since I arrived in Limerick, I have been interested in the city. How do people who live in the city
experience it, how do tourists / students experience the city? And what is the image the city has
nationally or even internationally?
In the infographic below, you will see everyone and everything that is influencing the wat
people experience Limerick as a city and image of Limerick .

2. 1. The financial crisis in Ireland
The financial crisis also has its effects on Limerick city: the closing of the Dell factory, closing of
shops and gas stations and a higher unemployment rate.
2. The national media
People in Limerick have the opinion that national journalists report inaccurately about Limerick.
Willy O’Dea, TD of Limerick city, says about this: “Since the late 1970s, some of the Dublin media
tended to assume that the city has a certain reputation and stuck to that ever since.”
3. Closing of Dell factory
In 2009, the Dell factory in Limerick closed and 1,900 people lost their jobs. Because Dell was
outsourcing work to a lot of local companies, the knock-on effect could lead up to around 6,000
people losing their job in the Limerick region.

3. 4. High unemployment rates
The financial crisis also caused a rapid grow of unemployment in Limerick city. In some areas of
Limerick, the unemployment rate is 4 times the nationals average. In one of the areas, St. Mary’s
Park, more than half of the adults are unemployed.
5. Empty stores / gas stations
As it is in most cities in Europe and the United States, the financial crisis has caused that a lot of
stores go bankrupt or can’t afford paying the rent anymore and move to a cheaper place. In
Limerick, this is not only the case with stores, but also with a lot of gas stations. The empty stores
and abandoned gas stations, give a negative vibe to the city.
6. Tourists
Visiting Limerick is usually not a top priority for tourists visiting Ireland. This is partially because of
the bad reputation is Limerick and partially because people don’t know much about the city and the
things to do and see in Limerick.
7. Local journalists
There are several national journalists based in Limerick. In the article in the Limerick Leader, Laura
Ryan said that they try to do their best to give an honest and complete view on the events in the
city. They try to provide a context of the stories so that not only the negative stories are highlighted.
8. Limerick newspapers
There are 2 local newspapers in Limerick, that write about everything that is happening in the city:
The Limerick Post and the Limerick Leader.
9. University of Limerick
The University of Limerick has a possitive effect to Limerick city. he university is only 40 years old
now, but is growing fast and already has 12,000 students. The university is constantly growing,
partially due to funding from the European Union.23
10. The I Love Limerick initiative
Love Limerick is a group of creative people that make videos, write about and take pictures of
things happening in Limerick. Their goal is to focus on the positive things going on in Limerick to
create a pride and wider respect for the city. They cover artists, new enterprises, organisations and
charities with video on their YouTube channel and with articles and pictures on their website. “I
Love Limerick shows a positive side of Limerick to the world.”
11. The Rubberbandits
The Rubberbandits is a comedy / hip hop duo from Limerick. They received national fame in 2010
when they performed at the Electric Picnic festival and spoke at Trinity College, following up for
example Nelson Mandela. Because of their national fame and the fact that they are proud of their
origins Limerick, they make people see Limerick from a more positive point of view.7
12. Citizens of Limerick
The population of the city of Limerick in April 2011 is 57,106. If you include the suburbs of the city,
a total of 91,454 people live in the city. In a focus group with citizens of Limerick, organised by
Willie O’Dea, the participants talked about the national and international reputation.3 One of the
participants said: “The media has a negative gloss on Limerick city, the only thing the media
reports on is when someone is killed or how bad the housing situation is, for example.”
But the participants agree that Limerick is not as bad as the reputation it has. “It is not like Limerick
is South Africa or something, where you don’t want to stop for traffic lights because you will get
stabbed”.

4. Interactive Installation
For my final project, I am going to focus on Urban Interactive Installations.
What are interactive installations?
Interactive installations are a sub-category of installation art. An important part of an interactive
installation is that is involved the users acting on the work and the installation responding to what
the user does. There are several forms of interactive installations: web-based installations, gallery-
based installations, digital-based installations, electronic-based installations and mobile-based
installations.
How can interactive installations be used?
I did a brainstorm about this:

5. Inspiring previous projects
There are a couple of previous projects that inspire me to create an Urban Interactive Installation.
LEDs Urban Carpet (Bath, United Kingdom)
http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/7459/1/7459.pdf
By: London City College
The LEDs Urban Carpet is an urban interactive installation, tested in the city of Bath. It is a
horizontal carpet, which users can interact with, using their body-input. When pedestrians walk on
the carpet, a pattern of lights is following the pedestrians footsteps. People can work together to
create the lighting effects. In this study, strangers started talking with each other about this
installation. Installations like this one, can improve the casual interactions that people have with
each other, which can lead to more social awareness and engagement in a city.
I wish this was...
http://candychang.com/i-wish-this-was/
By: Candy Chang
This project does not involve technical aspects and is completely based on stickers. Stickers with
the text ‘I wish this was’ and an empty space to write something, were distributed in the city of New
Orleans. People could stick the stickers on vacant storefronts, and write down what they like to see
in that building. Answers were for example: a cheap farmers market, a taco stand, a place to sit
and talk ect. This was project was such a huge success in New Orleans and other cities, that a
website was created where everyone can enter an idea about their neighborhood: https://
neighborland.com/
Before I die (New Orleans, Florida, United States)
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-03/09/candy-chang-new-orleans-art-project
http://candychang.com/before-i-die-in-nola/
By: Candy Chang
This interactive art piece let’s pedestrians that walk by write down their dreams on a big of
chalkboard. People can finish the sentence: ‘Before I die, I want to:’. This chalkboard is attached to
an abandoned building. Before, the building gave a bad vibe to the neighborhood: it was a place
people wanted to avoid. The goal of the designer was to make this a nicer space in the
neighborhood. With her different projects, she wants to change the way people use public space.

6. Concept sketches
I made some sketches of different concept ideas. I have not yet decided which concept I am going
to develop for my final project.
Concept 1: This is my Limerick
Make a picture of something that you like in Limerick and send it to the interactive installation
together with a little text. On this screen of the installation, you will see what everyone likes about
the city and their pictures. This screen will be hanging in the city centre of Limerick, so that
everyone who is in the city, can see it.
Technology needed
For this installation, I can use Twitter as an application for people to send their texts and images to
the screen. When they use a certain hashtag, the screen will recognize it. The photos on the
screen will appear at a random position, size and rotation (between 315 and 45 degrees). The
same with the text, but this will also appear in a random font and color. Text and images that
belong together, will be shown next to each other, of course. I can do this in Processing.
Concept 2: The hidden pearls
“Find the hidden pearls of Limerick city”. This is an interactive installation in the city centre of
Limerick. The goal for people is to try to find the hidden pearls of the city. They can do this by
moving the, in this case, leafs that hide the pearls. The hidden pearls are locations that other
people really like but are not that well known, for example a restaurant, pub, park, shop or street.
When someone finds a hidden pearl, you can click on it to read more about the tip and the
location.
People can add their own hidden pearls on the associated website. If a pearl gets enough votes, it
will be added to the installation.

7. Technologies needed
For this installation, I need to use the Kindle technology, so that the installation recognizes where
someone is moving their hands. This way it is possible to use the installation without touching it.
Another option is using a touch screen, where the users touch the screen to move the leafs. I also
need a website with a database where people can add new pearls to. Other people need to be
able to vote for a pearl.
Concept 3: Work together to save the city!
In this game, a catastrophe is coming to distroy the city. This could be anything (hurricane,
dangerous animals, rain..) and people can only save the city by working together. This way, people
are talking with each other, maybe even strangers will do this together.

8. Technology needed
Depending on the type of game, different software can be used. For the people to interact with the
game, I will most likely use a Kinect.