Trinitat Nova and Trinitat Vella Scavenger Hunt
Moving between the neighborhoods of Trinitat Nova and Trinitat Vella in Barcelona, and reaching natural landscapes nearby, like the Collserola hillside or the Besòs River, can already feel a bit like a scavenger hunt. Large highway infrastructures carve through the area, creating barriers that make simple trips longer, less intuitive, and sometimes difficult to navigate on foot.
Instead of ignoring this reality, we decided to play with it. Community Connections is a neighborhood scavenger hunt designed to turn everyday movement into a collective exploration of the area.
As participants search for clues across the two neighborhoods, the game anonymously and ethically records the routes people take to reach each location. These paths reveal how residents actually move through the landscape today. The collected data will help identify where new connections, such as pedestrian bridges, safer crossings, and green corridors, could make the biggest difference in linking Trinitat Nova, Trinitat Vella, the mountain, and the river.
Site Context
Our communities are located in the northwestern part of Barcelona, which has historically been fragmented physically by highway and car infrastructure.
The car infrastructure creates inequitable access to green spaces, such as the Collserola hillside or the Besòs River. Right now, there is no direct access point for pedestrians and cyclists to safely travel from the mountains to the river.
Game Overview
Our timeline to launch the scavenger hunt intentionally aligns with community and festival celebrations observed in the area between the late spring and summertime. We will flyer the scavenger hunt app QR code throughout the neighborhood,
Rules
To better engage the community and feed back resources into local businesses, the first 250 people to unlock 50 points (5 locations) will receive a 10 euro voucher to a local cafe. If someone unlocks all 8 locations, they will have the option to add their name to a lottery for a bike. The two tiers also help gather important data — are people engaging with the sites that are more inaccessible (i.e., the mountains and the river?).
Logistics
Mobile Interface
- By Scanning a QR code on the scavenger hunt flyer, players open a mobile web app
- They are prompted to fill in a few quick (anonymous) demographic questions.
- Then, the GAME BEGINS! They receive their first riddle and may choose to travel to the point immediately or pass to view other riddles.
- When players arrive at one of their points, they will receive a congratulatory notification in the app and will be prompter to upload a selfie.
- Once their selfie is uploaded, they will be able to see the selfies of their fellow community members who have made it to that point.
Riddles
Outcomes
During the 3 weeks of the scavenger hunt, participants walking routes are recorded anonymously through the app, along with an informed consent explanation. At the end, paths are layered together to reveal how people actually move through the Trinitat Nova and Trinitat Vella. The collected data helps identify the strongest opportunities for new connections such as pedestrian bridges and green corridors.
These movement patterns are then transformed into a community mural installed between the 2 neighborhoods as a way of visualizing the collective paths walked during the game and turning data into a shared story of connection.
At the closing event, everyone who participated will be invited to sign the mural, leaving a permanent mark on the project built from their own movement through the city.
We developed the scavenger hunt to be a fun and interactive way to gather data in order to better advocate for better pedestrian pathways and green corridors that connect to the mountains to the river. Let the games begin!
Data as on-the-ground knowledge to prioritize and design green corridors
Sources
“Idescat. Population and Housing Census. Catalonia.” n.d. https://www.idescat.cat/pub/?id=censph&lang=en.
“La Casa de l’Aigua de Trinitat Vella | Barcelona.Cat.” n.d. https://www.barcelona.cat/en/discoverbcn/pics/la-casa-de-laigua-de-trinitat-vella-99400265197.
“La Trinitat Nova i La Prosperitat Recibirán Más de 8 Millones Del Plan de Barrios Para Reducir Desigualdades | Info Barcelona | Ayuntamiento de Barcelona.” n.d. https://www.barcelona.cat/infobarcelona/es/tema/transformaciones-urbanas/la-trinitat-nova-i-la-prosperitat-rebran-mes-de-8-milions-del-pla-de-barris-per-reduir-desigualtats_1522218.html.
“Portal Barcelona Dades.” n.d. https://portaldades.ajuntament.barcelona.cat/es/estad%C3%ADsticas/yzlntdm2fs.
