Public Lecture – 02.05.2020: Gaming Our Futures on Pathways to Sustainability

Designing for sustainable futures under uncertain and constantly changing conditions requires the democratic, informed participation of all ages and sectors of society – from business executives to restaurant workers, from academic researchers to government ministers. Simply providing information and expert opinions has been clearly shown to be ineffective in building needed capacity for decision- making and commitment to change. However, games in electronic and physical forms can engage people of all ages and sectors of society in important individual and group experiences relevant to their sustainable futures. A growing number of innovative games explore the core ideas needed to make sense and take informed actions in the complex social-ecological systems in which we all live. I will outline the essential characteristics of games used for this purpose in different cultures and contexts and illustrate them with a few examples, including the low-tech Frozen Bubble Box, the augmented reality Kreyon City LEGO game, and the Expedition N energy demand game.

Ilan Chabay is Head of Strategic Science Initiatives and Scientific Project Leader of the Global Sustainability Strategy Forum and KLASICA (Knowledge, Learning, and Societal Change) projects at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) in Potsdam Germany. He is also Adjunct Professor in the Global Futures Lab of Arizona State University in Washington, DC. Between his first career in laser physics and his current career in social science, he was associate director of The Exploratorium Science Museum and for 18 years subsequently founder and president of an interactive museum exhibition design and production company that designed and produced exhibitions for 230 museums around the world, including Disney, Smithsonian, and NASA. In addition to leading two global research projects on sustainability, he continues to design games to engage and inspire people across ages and cultures with authentic processes of scientific inquiry to enhance agency and commitment in moving to sustainable practice and policy.