WE, THE

CITY
By Teo Kai Xiang (knicknacks.substack.com / @teo_kai_xiang)
 ALL OF YOU ARE

THE CITY
The City is growing, changing, and each of you represent a different face of the
City, a yearning to be something else.
Through the years and seasons, what will we become?

Pick your soul (Glimmering, Neon, Rose, Grid, Utopia). Everyone starts with 3 tokens.
Determine the length of your game; how many seasons do you wish to experience together?
NIGEB EW EROFEB

PUTES

Select 3-5 of the following traits for your city: perpetually rainy, troubled by flocks, unusually
humid, island-bound, grimy, remote, cold and snow-covered, industrialised, vacation spot, harbour-
driven, mountainous, post-war, close to nature, space colony, underground, wretched hive, crime-
ridden, overly populous, ruled by megacorps, synthetic lower class.

Draw a map of the city, divided into as many Districts as there are players, plus one. Take
turns inscribing upon scraps or post-its their Names, adjectives to describe their Physicality
and the People who inhabit them—until each District has two scraps attached to it.

At the start of each season, one of you is in power; you are in ASCENT. More than anyone
YALPEMAG

else, you are the city and have the power to CHANGE US in accordance with your SPHERE by
SSAP SNOSAES EHT

spending tokens.

Everyone else is in DESCENT: they can RESIST your changes by imposing the costs of their
descent or COOPERATE by lending the power of their sphere. Choosing either earns you
tokens.

The season ends when whoever is in ascent runs out of tokens. They lose power and must
surrender it to someone else. The city needs a new energy, whoever has the most tokens is
now in ascent. Another season begins.

Play things out until you have finished the desired number of seasons;
or until everyone's tokens have run out.
DNE EHT
HTAMRETFA

Admire and reflect upon your handiwork.

What have we achieved together?
Would we live here, in the city that we are?
What changes do you regret making?
What changes do you wish you had made?
Do we renounce who we are, or embrace it?

Images via Unsplash

Designed by Teo Kai Xiang (knicknacks.substack.com)
by Ben O'Bro (New York), Swapnil Bapat (Singapore), Sean
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution
Foley (Hong Kong) Marcus Lenk (London), Piotr Chrobot
4.0 International License.
(Amsterdam), Nathan Surr (Vancouver)
 THE PASSING OF

A SEASON IN OUR LIFE

CHANGE US
You are in ascent. More than anyone else, you are the city. You can...

PAY 2 TOKENS: Describe how a District within us should change, following the guidance of
your SPHERE. As Glimmering, I think our lives would be improved with a new ridesharing startup to
the Core District. I write this upon a scrap of paper and attach it to the District.

RECOVER A TOKEN: You can recover a Token if you pay the price of your ASCENT.
As Glimmering, I pay the price by noting that the startup profits only a few; the Rapacious Oligarchs.

Everyone else (in descent) can choose to resist or cooperate.

RESIST COOPERATE
EARN A TOKEN: Impose your DESCENT upon EARN A TOKEN: Lend your SPHERE to the
the change sought. change sought.

As Rose, I believe ridesharing is erasing the As Grid, I believe the Rapacious Oligarchs would
community of cab drivers that have always made seek to profit by selling their clients' information
our roads distinct from others. I write this upon a to state's surveillance. I write this upon a scrap of
scrap of paper and attach it to the District. paper and attach it to the District.

A DAY IN OUR LIFE

Anyone in descent can describe how someone in the city reacts to the changes, by telling us a
story of a day in their life. The one in ascent awards a token to whoever they wish, by
whatever metric they desire. Any tokens past the first come from their own pocket.

Rose describes a meet-cute that occurs between a Rapacious Oligarch and a down-on-her-luck
driver because of the new app.
Neon describes a driver witnessing something he shouldn't have happen to one of his clients; and
must now decide what he does with this dangerous knowledge.
Utopia describes the growing sentiment among the drivers that they should unionise.

ENDING THE SEASON

Rinse and repeat the process of changing us until whoever is in ascent runs out of tokens.
Their time as the dominant energy within us is over; and it's someone else's time to be in
vogue and define us.

Whoever has the most tokens is now in ascent.

In the event of a tie, whoever was less recently in ascent gets to be.
 YOU ARE

GLIMMERING

You are every entrepreneur, every corpocrat and every scientist who wishes to
make this city more than what it was. To harness business and technology to
bring us into the inevitable future. You are the city which yearns for futurism,
start-ups, relentless growth without recession and gleaming skyscrapers.

SPHERE
The Market. Your power is limitless, brilliant and destructive.
What changes can we make to become more efficient? How can new technology
improve our lives? What should we privatise today?

ASCENT
You impose relentless growth, at the cost of stratification.
Pay the price by: deciding who is empowered by your change, and who loses out.

DESCENT
In your absence, we experience stagnation.
Point out the decay or regression which the change inflicts upon us by resisting
the inevitable and market-driven future.

INFLUENCES. The Fifth Element, Foundation, Westworld, Neoliberalism.

 YOU ARE

NEON

You are every lurker, every dispossessed soul and every abandoned kitten who
wishes for an endless downpour to wash away the grime of this city. We are our
struggles and our adversity. You are the city which yearns for vice, neon-lit raves
and nightlife, escapism and shadows.

SPHERE
Struggle. Your power is antagonistic, truthful and subversive.
What lies will we dispel today? Whom among the dispossessed and powerless
should we empower? What grime cannot be overcome?

ASCENT
You impose meaningful struggle, at the cost of hyper-urbanisation.
Pay the price by: populating this district with more people, beyond what is good
or reasonable.

DESCENT
In your absence, we experience NIMBY-ism and lose touch with reality.
Point out a simple yet unrealistic flaw we have overlooked, and now undermines
us all.

INFLUENCES. Ghost in the Shell, Blade Runner, Trainspotting, Altered Carbon, Existentialism.
 YOU ARE

ROSE

You are every lover, every house-cat and every artist who aches for this city to be
a place of romance. To have soul-bound connections under orange-streaked
skies. You are the city which yearns for romance, old town canals, museums and
heritage, and cosy brunches.

SPHERE
Bonds. Your power is intimate, mystical and charming.
What makes our city magical and how do we sustain it? What new connections
should we forge today? What gives us a sense of belonging?

ASCENT
You create enchantment, at the cost of gentrification.
Pay the price by: shifting some of the people in this district somewhere else, they
have been pushed out by others which crave your change.

DESCENT
In your absence, we experience colourlessness and isolation.
Point out the disenchantment or isolation that this change inflicts upon us.

INFLUENCES. Sex and the City, Looking, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Liberalism.

 YOU ARE

GRID

You are every bureaucrat, every politician and every follower who wishes us to be
part of a collective whole. To use the state and its laws to give us order and
harmony. You are the city which yearns for brutalism, bureaucracy, unity of
purpose, sprawling grids and concrete jungles.

SPHERE
Order. Your power is repressive, centralising and harmonious.
What new rules will we impose? What disorder will we eradicate? What
differences harm us rather than help us?

ASCENT
You impose order, at the cost of surveillance.
Pay the price by: introducing something to enforce your change, among those
who might disagree.

DESCENT
In your absence, we experience chaos and deviance.
Point out the price in social or physical violence that this change would inflict on us.

INFLUENCES. Brazil, The Matrix, A Clockwork Orange, Communitarianism.

 YOU ARE

UTOPIA

You are every dreamer, every NUMTOT and every urban activist who wishes to
make this city brighter. To harness our visions and optimism to realise utopia
today. You are the city which yearns for greenery, bike lanes, fauna and
accessible transport.

SPHERE
Progress. Your power is optimistic, post-material and youthful.
What achievable utopia can we make? How can we brighten someone’s day?
How can we reconnect with nature?

ASCENT
You impose achievable utopias, at the cost of de-industrialisation.
Pay the price by: removing an industrial element of the district which has
underpinned life and existence thus far.

DESCENT
In your absence, we experience sterility and choking smog.
Point out the damage we do to ourselves and our environment with this change.

INFLUENCES. Hunt for the Wilderpeople, NUMTOTs, Star Trek, Post-Materialism.