Participatory card game for collegial and reasoned decision-making
In order to give voice to all those involved in urban decision-making, Ecopoly card-game works a similar way as games such as Magic® or Once Upon a Time®. In the latter, each player has a card with the end of the story on it. Based on the cards they have in hand, other players can transform the story to achieve their own ending. The result is therefore a story written by several hands.
Local democratic initiatives are much more realistic than global democracy
Raimon Pannikar
The expected outcome is decision-making about the future of a predetermined neighborhood in Amsterdam. The key themes of our game are:
- a better living environment (consumption, nature, interaction, shipping)
- a reassessment of places and their history (restructuring, relocating, reusing)
- better citizen participation and, consequently, better distribution of powers
The game consists of different types of cards, each representing the complexity and ingredients of each decision making (details)
- places/objects (park, hospital, fire department, artists’ studios, playground, street, water tower, etc.)
- actions/events (demolish, build, move, replant, protect, bomb attack, more space for children aged 0-4, houses adapted for the elderly…)
- human attitude/behavior (tolerant, easy-going, involved in local life, sensitive to environmental issues, open to innovation, withdrawn, etc.)
- interests (history, politics, integration, etc.)
- actors (citizens, children, elderly people, municipality, farmers, activists…)
Each player can navigate the construction process and influence the final decision using the cards in their possession: propose, stop, force. The end result is therefore a combination of different interests. It is a game where each player takes a position and the end result is a common product (utopia). There is no winner, everything must arise through discussion!
in collaboration with Aura Luz Melis and Ed Caffin, for the project « Groepsportretten » : Stad-Speel-Ruimte , City of Amsterdam
