Serious Gaming for Climate Adaptation—Assessing the Potential and Challenges of a Digital Serious Game for Urban Climate Adaptation

Tina-Simone Neset, Lotta Andersson, Ola Uhrqvist and Carlo Navarra
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Tina-Simone Neset: Department of Thematic Studies–Environmental Change, Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research, Linköping University, 58183 Linköping, Sweden
Lotta Andersson: Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, 601 76 Norrköping, Sweden
Ola Uhrqvist: Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, Linköping University 58183 Linköping, Sweden
Carlo Navarra: Department of Thematic Studies–Environmental Change, Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research, Linköping University, 58183 Linköping, Sweden

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 5, 1-18

Abstract: Serious gaming has gained increasing prominence in climate change communication, and provides opportunity to engage new audiences and new platforms for knowledge co-creation and dialogues. This paper presents the design and evaluation of a serious game on climate adaptation, primarily targeted towards high school students, practitioners and politicians. The game aims to provide an experience of the impact of climate adaptation measures, and illustrates links with selected Agenda 2030 goals, which the player has to consider, while limiting impacts of hazardous climate events. The game design builds on the key goals in Education for Sustainable Development combining comprehensive views, action competence, learner engagement and pluralism. This study draws on game sessions and surveys with high school students in Sweden, and aims to assess to what extent different aspects of the game can support an increased understanding of the needs and benefits of adaptation actions. The results of this study indicate that the game can engage players to reflect upon challenges related to climate adaptation decision making, but also point towards the challenge of including a high degree of complexity which can make it difficult to grasp consequences of individual measures, as well as to link these to the natural variability of the occurrence of extreme climatic events.

Keywords: serious gaming; computer-based; climate adaptation; Agenda 2030; Education for Sustainable Development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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