Colloquia

Samenvatting

Collaboration dynamics among members of the scientific community has had a long evolution, each way of working presents their own challenges and opportunities when it comes to reaching an understanding among the stakeholders. Smart city collaborations, addressing complex societal challenges, are used as a case study to understand how the multitude of stakeholder perspectives frame the research process. Integrating perspectives, from academic and non-academic stakeholders, and discussing their interconnected values and worldviews has been identified as a design opportunity for serious games. The qualities of this medium can contribute to creating a sense of safety where to make values explicit for further negotiation. 

‘NewEarth’, a multiplayer serious game, presents an approach to design smart cities that embraces the multitude of worldviews, allows to make values explicit, and engages in controversy. Players, in their roles, will embark on the journey towards ‘NewEarth’, a new planet building smart cities that address environmental challenges currently affecting those still living on Earth. In different game phases, players need to discuss and negotiate what kind of city they want to create and the role of technology. Throughout the game players will need to advocate for their values as they co-create the new city where they will be living in. 

This serious game can contribute to exploring complex societal challenges addressed by transdisciplinary (TD) research by having a productive discussion of values. TD research, a more socially responsible way of doing science, needs to incorporate the perspectives of academic and non-academic stakeholders into the research process and the solution space. The research conducted and the insights gained provide important information about intervening in a socio-technical context through physical collaboration tools by creating an intervention that promotes a new way of communication between scientific and societal practice.