City in Play: Conceptual Synergies Between Generative AI and Extended Reality for Urban Play

Abstract

Urban participation and civic engagement increasingly rely on digital tools that promise inclusivity and creativity, yet many existing approaches remain limited by static content, expert-driven authorship, or disengaged forms of interaction. This paper explores the conceptual synergies between Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) and Extended Reality (XR) as a means of rethinking urban play as a mode of participatory spatial authorship. Drawing on critical urbanism, from the Situationist dérive and Lefebvre’s Right to the City to the contemporary notion of the playable city, the study positions play as both an experiential and civic mode of re-appropriating urban space. Through a narrative literature review and conceptual synthesis, XR and GenAI are examined as complementary infrastructures: XR as the infrastructure of interaction and GenAI as the infrastructure of authorship. Their convergence enables citizens to both inhabit and co-create hybrid urban environments through embodied and generative engagement. The analysis identifies key affordances of immersion, agency, and contextual authorship while mapping potential synergies for sustained civic play. Limitations in current research, including evaluation metrics, accessibility, and cross-cultural variation, are discussed. The paper concludes by outlining pathways toward inclusive, and collectively authored hybrid cities.