Mid Cornwall Metro

Mid Cornwall Metro Partnership: the UK Government, Cornwall Council, Network Rail, Great Western Railway and the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership.

Our brief

Partner with multiple stakeholders to develop engaging immersive experiences to communicate the enormity of the investment into travel plans across the whole county. Previous consultations had drawn feedback from over 40s and the council was determined to engage a wider age demographic.

Digital Urban delivered

The team delivered a hot air balloon experience which flew locals above the entire train line from Newquay to Penryn where they could explore the proposed changes which would revolutionise train journeys within the county.

We pushed the boundaries of VR on this project because of the scale of the area we mapped in conjunction with the degree of reality we modelled to, the fact it was interactive and because participants are flying up high – so they see a massive area of it which means it has heavy processing requirements. Even on a small scale VR can be very demanding and optimising the project was a fantastic challenge for the talented team.

We also delivered an urban explorer quest-based experience allowing people to explore local active travel changes on foot or by bike in Penryn and Newquay and a media table experience showing the landscape before and after the investment.

We also delivered schools sessions to engage young people in the plans. Our Youth Engagement team created bespoke lesson plans to link the changes with the curriculum which led pupils to call it the best lesson they had ever had!

The Digital Urban Difference

The use of digital for consultations succeded in drawing both a new and a younger demographic. 36% of attendees had not attended a consultation before. The council noted a nearly 10% increase in responses from people under 40. 75% of people felt positive about the use of VR to communicate change compared to 51% feeling positive about the use of display boards.