SDG Playful Benches: scaling global goals to everyday action

A playful urban installation that translates the UN Sustainable Development Goals into tangible, individual actions through interaction in public space.

Turning public space into a playground for sustainable action

Cities are increasingly shaped through citizen participation.

The challenge is to translate this approach into everyday public space through meaningful and didactic interaction, enabling people to actively configure their environment while connecting their actions to the Sustainable Development Goals.

A system of playful artefacts to trigger awareness

Three complementary elements that can be used independently or combined to create different levels of interaction and engagement.

The SDG Playful Benches
The SDG Playful Benches are a set of four urban benches inspired by the visual language of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In their initial configuration — a circular “ring” — the system measures 2 × 2 meters and 0.50 meters high.
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The SDG Playful Benches​
The benches are designed as a reconfigurable system that invites users to explore different spatial arrangements. By moving and combining the pieces, users can transform the space, adjusting levels of openness, proximity, and privacy. Through this interaction, the installation turns public space into an active environment where people can engage, reflect, and relate to global challenges through physical experience.
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How can the ambitious SDGs be more tangible and operational for the average citizen?
“Scale the Change” is a public space installation developed for the Nordes 2021 exhibition in Kolding, Denmark. The project invites citizens to playfully reflect on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), encouraging individual action and increasing engagement with global challenges.
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The SDG Playful Benches

The global scale of the SDGs can feel overwhelming, often making them appear unreachable from an individual perspective and leading to passive attitudes. “Scale the Change” proposes an inverse approach: to look at the SDGs through the small actions that people already perform in their daily lives.

By scaling down global goals, the installation reveals and highlights what citizens are already contributing to — consciously or unconsciously — increasing awareness, motivation, and the willingness to take further action.