In a groundbreaking exploration of urban sustainability decision-making, researchers have developed a novel serious game (SG) designed to illuminate the complex trade-offs and transformative governance options facing cities today. This innovative tool not only invites participants to engage deeply with the pressing challenges of urban sustainability but also functions as a powerful learning platform that actively shapes perceptions and strategies for environmental and social resilience. By integrating advanced simulation techniques with stakeholder dialogue, the serious game offers unique insights into policy prioritization and fosters a shared understanding of the multifaceted nature of urban transformations.
At the heart of this initiative lies the concept of serious games as mechanisms for “active sensing,” a process where gameplay becomes a dynamic forum for testing hypotheses about sustainability goals, constraints, and opportunities. The design stresses an interactive and iterative approach where players assume decision-making roles akin to city council members, navigating through four rounds representing council terms. Through this immersive experience, participants confront inevitable trade-offs—such as balancing economic growth with ecological preservation—and deliberate upon emerging transformative policies that push the boundaries of conventional governance.
To ensure robustness in its active sensing function, each gaming session is meticulously facilitated by a team of two to three experts. Their roles are strategically delineated to maintain the flow of discussion and to enhance the depth of understanding. One facilitator focuses intently on the evolving in-game conversation, probing players to articulate the rationale behind their choices. Another serves as a legal and policy advisor, clarifying the often intricate boundary conditions that frame urban decision-making. A third facilitator handles all technical aspects of the game platform, relieving players from operational distractions and allowing them to focus fully on strategy and negotiation.
The game platform plays a pivotal role by systematically capturing decision pathways and player preferences across multiple rounds. This comprehensive data collection sheds light on how participants weigh competing priorities, manage negative impacts accepted as part of trade-offs, and respond to offered transformative governance options. By meticulously tracking these decision maps, researchers can unravel the cognitive and strategic processes that underlie urban sustainability negotiations, thereby offering empirical foundations for policy recommendations.
Beyond active sensing, the serious game functions as a potent learning intervention. It simulates the complexities of real-world urban governance environments—characterized by dynamic, often unpredictable factors—and immerses players in scenarios that require adaptive thinking and collaboration. A rich arsenal of background materials, covering existing policies and innovative goals, equips participants with the necessary knowledge to engage effectively. These resources are provided both digitally through the game platform and in printed form, ensuring accessibility and facilitating pre-game preparation.
The facilitation team not only guides the gameplay but actively intervenes to correct misconceptions and clarify assumptions, enhancing the quality of learning. This real-time educational support helps players develop a nuanced understanding of the delicate balances that define sustainability decisions. By confronting constraints such as policy limitations and legal frameworks, participants experience firsthand the challenges experts face, making the gaming experience a microcosm of actual governance.
One particularly innovative element of the game is the provision of visual and textual feedback between rounds. Players receive intuitive reinforcement signals—such as emojis—that indicate their progress toward sustainability goals like biodiversity, greening, and climate adaptation. For example, positive feedback is visually represented by red dots surpassing goal pillars on the scoreboard, thereby illustrating achievements beyond initial benchmarks. Conversely, the game also highlights areas requiring improvement, especially in domains like mitigation and economic growth, prompting players to reassess their strategies independently and collaboratively.
Players have access to their performance scores during each round and can monitor progress as often as allowed, encouraging iterative learning and adaptive decision-making. This continuous feedback loop embodies a simulation of governance processes where policy effectiveness is regularly evaluated and strategies refined accordingly. At the game’s conclusion, facilitators offer detailed analysis of final scores, fostering reflection and in-depth discussion about the implications of choices made throughout the gameplay.
To rigorously assess the game’s impact on participant perceptions and learning outcomes, researchers implemented a controlled survey regimen. Administered both five days before and one to two days after the gaming sessions, the survey probed shifts in views concerning the prioritization and urgency of urban sustainability issues specific to Helsinki. Participants were asked to rank sustainability goals within the city’s planning context and indicate their levels of agreement or disagreement with statements addressing the city’s sustainability and growth objectives. This pre- and post-game measurement provides quantitative evidence on the serious game’s effectiveness in broadening perspectives and influencing policy attitudes.
Supplementary post-surveys probed participants’ experiences and sought qualitative feedback on how the gaming intervention affected their knowledge and capacity regarding urban sustainability transformations. Open-ended questions allowed for personalized insights, revealing not only shifts in conceptual understanding but also reflections on the game’s relevance and potential to catalyze collaborative decision-making in real-world contexts.
The serious game approach pioneered in this study represents a paradigm shift in urban governance training and stakeholder engagement. Traditional policy processes often struggle with the complexity and multidimensionality inherent in sustainable city planning. By contrast, the SG methodology harnesses the power of simulation and interaction to reveal hidden trade-offs and foster empathy between diverse policy actors. This interactive presence of competing goals and constraints within a safe, experimental space enables more informed, transparent, and democratic decision-making.
Moreover, the game’s dual function as a sensing mechanism and an educational tool underscores its versatility. It not only supports immediate, context-specific deliberations but also cultivates longer-term learning trajectories among urban planners, policymakers, and community leaders. Through this, the serious game emerges as a critical bridge between theoretical sustainability frameworks and the practical exigencies of policy enactment, holding promise for driving more resilient and adaptive urban futures.
The integration of advanced data collection within the platform is another standout feature, providing researchers with granular insights into decision dynamics. This aspect enables nuanced analysis of preferences, conflicts, and governance innovations utilized or ignored by players, generating a rich evidence base to inform policy innovations beyond the game sessions. Such empirical grounding elevates the utility of SGs from mere training tools to vehicles for impactful research and evidence-informed policy development.
In applying this serious game to Helsinki, the research taps into a rich urban context characterized by specific sustainability challenges and opportunities. The city’s sustainability goals, including nature positivity in greening efforts, biodiversity protection, mitigation of climate impacts, and balanced economic growth, serve as tangible targets within the gameplay. This context-specific tailoring enhances the game’s relevance and potency, offering a replicable model adaptable to other urban settings facing similar sustainability dilemmas.
The thoughtful facilitation framework employed during game sessions equally contributes to a polished and effective experience. By balancing expertise in legal, policy, and technical domains, the facilitation team ensures that the game remains focused on substantive governance issues rather than technical hurdles or misunderstandings. This creates an enabling environment for candid discussions and critical reflections, essential for achieving both the active sensing and learning intervention functions.
Ultimately, this research showcases how serious games can transcend traditional educational or recreational boundaries to become essential instruments in shaping future urban sustainability pathways. It exemplifies an innovative synthesis of participatory engagement, systems thinking, and technology-enhanced learning into a cohesive tool that supports policy-relevant transformation. As cities worldwide grapple with rapid environmental change and social complexity, approaches like this serious game offer a beacon of hope, demonstrating how interactive platforms can catalyze more reflective, inclusive, and effective governance.
Subject of Research:
The research focuses on the development and application of a serious game designed to enhance decision-making and learning concerning urban sustainability transformations, particularly in Helsinki City. It investigates how such a game can serve as an active sensing tool for exploring policy trade-offs and as a learning intervention to broaden stakeholders’ perspectives on sustainability governance.
Article Title:
A policy-relevant serious game to guide urban sustainability transformation.
Article References:
Käyhkö, J., Venuti, F., Partinen, H. et al. A policy-relevant serious game to guide urban sustainability transformation. npj Urban Sustain 5, 109 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-025-00296-8
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-025-00296-8
