Play the City

How can we use games to increase citizen involvement, make informed decisions about climate adaptation and give everyone a voice? For the last decade, game developers, geographers and governments have created games to involve everyone in co-design session of our actual living spaces.

Since 2010, 4000+ participants have joined 42 city games through a total of 185 Play the City game sessions. Tonight we reflect on those sessions. What can be learned? How can we involve more citizens (especially the ones not reached yet) and which cities could be part of this playification of collaborative decision making?

Tonight two experts in the field of play and citygames will discuss the merits of design and implementation of these studies. Café Fokus will host us, like any other GameDevCafés, in an informal setting. Grab a stool, order a drink, introduce yourself to the person next to you and enjoy a friendly night out.

During this informal mixer, we will talk about the ways games have fostered these practices.

Game Dev Cafe is organised by  Dutch Games Association, Menno Deen and Nelen & Schuurmans

Program

• 18:00 Walk in – Grab a bite (bring your own)
• 19:00 Panel discussion hosted by Dr. Menno Deen with: 
  • • Dr. Ekim Tan
    • Dr. ir. Floris Boogaard
    • Dr. Ben Schouten
• 19:30 Q&A – ask the speaker anything!
• 19:45 Informal mixer.
  Bring your own video game or board game and playtest!
• 23:00 End of event.

Dr. Ekim Tan

Dr. Tan is the driving force behind Play the City, where collaborative decision making by a bottom up – game approach is explored. With multiple projects successfully finished and implemented in today’s decision making process of municipalities and government, Dr. Tan is the ‘go-to-professional’ for innovations in urban planning, urban sustainable development and sustainable architecture. 

Dr. ir. Floris Boogaard [twitter]

With over 25 years of experience in urban drainage and water management, you can basically ask dr. Boogaard everything about climate adaptation. His work extends from academics to actual implementation of complex system-knowledge into dynamic monitoring systems that advance the field of water management and urban planning towards a more sustainable design. He was involved in the development of one of the earliest international games on climate adaptation: ‘Watertown‘.

Dr. Ben Schouten

As a creative academic, dr. Schouten explores everything playful in today’s society. He focuses on play and design for social innovations, citizen empowerment and culture. His design and research practice includes play, games, participatory design and citizen empowerment. With this knowledge in his pocket, he can offer innovative insights into empowering citizens to let their voices not only be heard but also acknowledged in design practices.