Digital Challenges in Architecture and Urbanism: Video Games and Pedagogical Praxis

Abstract

This paper presents a transdisciplinary methodology applied to the teaching of Architecture and Urbanism, which uses video games as a didactic tool to promote the incorporation of sensory and interpretative aspects of space, enhancing conceptual design instances. The research was developed within an experimental course in the Architecture and Urbanism program at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and proposes a new pedagogical praxis to build sensitive and ethical knowledge. The methodology articulates design practices with the interactive dynamics of digital games, anchored in the concept of Ambiances, and seeks to foster dialogues among different modes of knowledge production. The research objectives include describing the didactic experience, detailing the methodological procedures, and presenting the main results. The following results stand out: the affective reconnection of students with design practice; the development of a sensitive perspective on the subjective elements of places; the reaffirmation of architecture as a field of mediation of meanings; and the restructuring of ethical and moral thinking. By proposing a critical, multilateral approach, the paper contributes to the debate on praxis, dialogue, and confrontation in higher education, fostering social and academic transformation in architecture.