Project R-5416

Playing with urban complexity : using co-located serious games to reduce the urban carbon footprint among young adults (Research)

The project goal is to research how co-located serious games can support participatory processes addressing complex urban problems. This goal is in itself is not truly innovative, as there already exist a number of research projects with similar goals. However, these projects generally start from existing participatory planning procedures and research how games could improve these. In contrast, our approach is to start from existing games and to research how these could foster (novel) participatory processes. We argue that this approach is more effectual to find and develop the game mechanics capable of addressing returning participatory challenges such as motivation, long-term engagement and exclusion. The research will generate the following results: 1. A toolbox specifying, for a series of prototypical participatory objectives: a) relevant game mechanics; b) relevant system components; & c) best practices, 2. A number of newly developed games, assessed in living labs. These games will illustrate the potential of co-located serious gaming within the context of an actual complex urban issue 3. A method for validating the impact of games within participatory processes addressing complex urban issues

01 October 2014 - 30 September 2017