GAMING THE FUTURE OF FOOD IN EUROPE Joost Vervoort Assistant professor of Foresight for Environmental Governance Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford
Scenarios, models, games A long history of games in foresight • Games as scenarios : games represent dynamic • game worlds , game play creates narratives in such worlds. Games as models : system representations and • can be used to experiment with system behaviors and outcomes. Games focus on actor perspectives means that • game players can step into roles - interactions with others and game But: games mostly used for planning in an • analytical mode ‘foresight games’
Co-designing ‘futures games’ Games have pre-defined procedural rhetoric • Game co-design – a method of inquiry into • rules, roles, goals in complex systems Highlighting framing and boundary judgements • Ownership • Power gaps and empathy : Ugandan farmers • and policy makers (Ferrand et al.) Can be designed very close to policy – game • playing IS the impact
TRANSMANGO Game Jams The mission: ‘We are organizing a series of game jams throughout Europe for the EU TRANSMANGO project, using games to help spark the imagination of ordinary people, decision-makers, people working in the world of food, students, children and anyone else you can think of, about what food in Europe could be (whether we like it or not) or should be (if we work together to make it happen). We want to harness the unique potential of games to challenge, to inspire, to engage and help people explore and understand what food could mean in the future, and how it could work. ‘
The fantastic and terrifying futures of food in Europe What will Europeans eat in the future? • How will our preferences and worries about food develop? • Where will our food be coming from ? How will it be processed, transported and distributed? • Where and how will our food be grown in a changing • climate ? Will our food production still be recognizable as agriculture • as we used to know it? What happens to the rest of the world if we change our • food choices and our food system? What happens if some of us are no longer to be • considered Europeans in a political sense? What do we want our European food system to look like? •
Many games are possible • Food as politics • Food as personal • Food as technology • Food as landscape • Food as invention • Food as emergency • Food as culture • Food as controversy • Desirable futures, challenging or frightening futures, engaging mixes of both (strong player agency?)
GAME JAMS - RESULTS • Around 50 prototype games – each capturing a different perspective on (the future of) food in Europe • What do these games open up as new ways to think about European food futures?
Rhea: A very tense game about the need to take a food systems approach to feeding the planet
SsookSsook: game to connect children to healthy diets through taking care of a creature using real foods – influencing parents’ purchasing. Showcased at nutritionists’ conference
CowPow: VR game to make people aware of the feed requirements of livestock, played by a great number of people at Pukkelpop festival (BE)
Let’s Kyoto: A food systems game about the city of Kyoto, involving policy making between different local actors.
Games among futures methods: Kyoto Astrid Mangnus The game gave me a good idea of what it is like to be in a Food Policy Council 7 WS1 6 (n=8) 5 4 WS2 3 (n=12) 2 1 0
Yesterday!: Food Policy Council game + game storm
Play the games at lunch! Give feedback, come up with ideas for their use! Thanks! j.m.vervoort@uu.nl
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