Our Changing City
An interactive climate change installation helping Wellington residents visualise local environmental impacts.
Case Study
In collaboration with Wellington City Council, we developed Our Changing City.
This interactive pop-up installation educates Wellington residents about climate change impacts and adaptation strategies. Hosted at several Wellington locations, the installation uses interactive visuals to help communities understand the specific climate disruptions—such as flooding, landslides, and coastal inundation—that affect their city and to explore proactive adaptation measures.
We created a visually rich, public interactive experience in Unreal Engine.
Leveraging the Wellington Digital City model, our large touchscreen installation is ideal for community events and public spaces. Users can see how different climate events may affect various areas and learn about strategies for increasing resilience. This pop-up event marks the beginning of a community-focused initiative to foster safety, resilience, and a shared vision for Wellington’s future.
Advanced technical components brought the application to life.
A robust hazard data ingestion tool was developed to incorporate real-world hazard data, ensuring the scenarios reflect accurate information. To display hazard areas accurately, we built a custom polygon generation tool that overlays zone data onto the city model. A landscape morphing system enabled the simulation of terrain changes due to major events like earthquakes. Additionally, a data-driven state and UI system ensures smooth interaction and flow throughout the experience, providing an intuitive user experience as visitors explore various climate impacts and adaptations.
Key Features
Client Experience
“We engaged Prismatic to help us with the build of Our Changing City, a touchscreen tool that uses Unreal Engine to show the past, present and future in a Digital City Model and engage Wellingtonians in climate adaptation planning. They became a part of our build team, and helped us significantly accelerate our progress. The Prismatic team are responsive, reliable and a pleasure a work with. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with them on future projects.”
Kelly Henderson
Team Leader Digital Innovation
