Content uploaded by Elena Todella
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Elena Todella on Jul 05, 2023
Content may be subject to copyright.
Learning Urban Sustainability by Playing
Isabella M. Lami ,FrancescaAbastante ,MarikaGaballo ,BeatriceMecca
(B),
and Elena Todella
Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (DIST), Politecnico di Torino,
Viale Mattioli 39, 10125 Turin, Italy
beatrice.mecca@polito.it
Abstract. Sustainability and the concept of sustainable development are currently
adopted as a founding paradigm of global, national and regional development
strategies. As such, they necessarily permeate new visions of urban development
as well, leading to reflections of economic, environmental and social sustainability
in urban planning and design practices. In this context, the paper aims to reflect
on the capability and usefulness of Serious Games in conveying knowledge with
respect to the development of sustainable cities to students, as future planners
and architects in urban areas. Such games are part of the several participatory
approaches and models of urban innovation and planning and have an explic-
itly educational purpose with respect to tackling complex problems. Given their
increasing application in the field of sustainability, but their limited use in the
context of sustainable cities, this paper explores two serious games (Urbax and
urbEN), developed in urban and territorial settings within two different European
projects, to reflect on their potential capability to convey specific ways of action
and knowledge with respect to the issues considered in Sustainable Development
Goal 11 (SDG11) of Agenda 2030. The analysis allows observing that although
the two games were not initially designed to align with specific SDG11 targets or
convey information on sustainable cities, both demonstrate the potential capability
in spreading specific knowledge for urban sustainability.
Keywords: Serious Game ·urban sustainability ·Sustainable Development
Goal 11
1 Introduction
Urban transformation can be considered a wicked problem [1,2], namely a complex
problem for which there is no simple method of solution. Indeed, they do not foresee a
single right strategy for resolution, due to the fact that every attempt can affect different
stakeholders, and there are no clear stopping rules. All urban transformations see the
interfacing of different actors, who have different interests – economic, environmental
and social – which often prove to be misaligned and unrelated. In this sense, each of
them stands up for their own interests following peculiar strategies thus often leading to
conflicting situations with implications on the transformation. Nowadays, this situation
is more complexified by the sustainability issues that closely affect our cities. Indeed,
©TheAuthor(s),underexclusivelicensetoSpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG2023
O. Gervasi et al. (Eds.): ICCSA 2023 Workshops, LNCS 14108, pp. 468–482, 2023.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37117-2_32
Learning Urban Sustainability by Playing 469
sustainability and the 2030 Agenda have become the founding paradigm of global,
national, and regional development strategies [3–6]andofurbaninterventions.
Traditionally, real estate development processes see as their main driver the creation
of economic value [7]andconsequently,asamainyardstickforobservingtheirfea-
sibility, their economic sustainability is verified. However, in the current context, the
sustainable development approach applied to urban planning and design brings with it
implications of broadening reasoning on how to operate on cities and on which values
are to be created in addition to the economic value.
In this context, conveying information, knowledge and possible ways of action turns
out to be fundamental in undergraduate courses in architecture and territorial planning,
whose students will be the future architects and planners of our cities and therefore
may represent the end users of these games. In this regard, Serious Games prove to be
ausefultoolforconveyingthecomplexityofurbantransformationstofutureplanners
and architects by involving them in a process of “learning by playing” [8]. Serious
Games represent one of the emerging participatory models of urban innovation and
planning [9]andtheirapplicationappearstobegrowingconsideringthesustainability
context [10]. As reported by [10]SeriousGamescansupportmakingplayersawareof
the challenges associated with sustainability, provide knowledge and understanding of
sustainability, and encourage players to implement environmentally, economically, and
socially balanced solutions. Indeed, in simulating urban transformation processes, the
play in the role of specific stakeholders, the outline of possible transformation strategies
and the interaction with other actors enable students to understand real urban problems.
However, their use in the field of urban planning and sustainable city development still
appears to be limited. Thus, this paper intends to fit into this gap and aims to address the
following research question: can Serious Games developed in urban settings be a useful
tool to convey specific knowledge with respect to the development of sustainable cities?
To answer this question, a comparison of two Serious Games developed in urban
and territorial settings is provided, to observe in which way they can support in spread-
ing knowledge with respect to the Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG11). The
2030 Agenda represents an internationally recognized framework of goals that provides
strategic guidance on sustainable development [3]; within this framework, SDG11 con-
stitutes the goal of urban relevance “to make cities and human settlements inclusive,
safe, resilient and sustainable”. The intent, therefore, is to cross-reference the reading
of the two games with the different SDG11 Targets, to observe on which specific points
they may be useful. It is worth noticing that the two Serious Games are not specifically
originated from the SDG11 of the urban Agenda 2030, however the comparison pro-
vided allows us to observe how these models can differently convey specific knowledge
or ways of action regarding urban sustainability, and more in detail with respect to some
SDG11 Targets. The two Serious Games considered in this paper, in whose development
the first author has been, respectively, the scientific coordinator of the whole project and
the scientific coordinator for Politecnico di Torino, and the second authors of this paper
were actively involved in the most recent project, are the following:
i. URBAX2 (Urban Planning System in Europe), developed as part of the European
Leonardo da Vinci project, a European Union action program for the improvement
and development of vocational training in Europe;
470 I. M. Lami et al.
ii. urbEN (Urban Energy Management Game), developed within the framework of the
Erasmus +project “Locally Organized Transition of Urban Sustainable Spaces”
(LOTUS) that involves a consortium of partners from different European countries,
including universities, research centres, and community organizations.
The paper is organized as follows: Sect. 2briefly defines Serious Games and outlines
the two pedagogical tools URBAX2 and urbEN. Section 3provides the design of the
research and Sect. 4identifies the sustainability lessons that can be learned by playing.
Lastly, Sect. 5summarizes the conclusion.
2 Serious Games as a Learning Tool in Urban Complex
Decision-Making
Serious Games are part of the participatory approaches and models of urban innovation
and planning and are games with explicitly educational purpose. These are carefully
designed to be played “seriously” to highlight complex problems [11]. Serious Games
were developed in the military field in 1948 [9]andthenimplementedinvariousdisci-
plines to support learning, knowledge transfer, and management of research and practice
problems [12,13]. Indeed, the scientific community recognizes such games as motivating
and supportive of distributed learning [8,10,12,13].
Serious Games prove to be useful from a learning perspective since [14]: i) tell stories
of real-world contexts; ii) offer new ways of communication; iii) stimulate interaction
between players/actors; iv) set specific goals and help the achievement of these through
the definition of reasoned strategies; v) stimulate problem-solving and allow for effective
support of decision-making processes.
Starting from the recent literature review conducted by [15], which proposes a clas-
sification of existing Serious Games with respect to their links with the SDGs, some
elements can be highlighted concerning their potential with respect to the context of
urban sustainability and the parallel limitedness of application in this context. The anal-
ysis [15]reviews67currentlyfunctioningSeriousGamesrelatedtotheSDGscontext
and notes that some of them are developed as board games, thus according to traditional
methods, and some are developed online according to more innovative methods. These
are used by allowing interaction between the different players involved, encouraging
playful public participation aimed at teaching on the one hand and entertaining those
involved in the game on the other. In this sense, the use of such games in the urban
context to improve virtuous behaviour turns out to be feasible. In parallel, the literature
review in [15]notesthatmostofthegamesweredesignedprimarilywithrespecttothe
themes of sustainable environmental actions, climate change, water management, and
sustainable urban development. Concerning the latter, it can be observed that 27 of the
analyzed games refer to SDG11, thus 40 percent of the sample, however, only 13, thus 19
percent, deal with the topic of sustainable urban development; in the other cases SDG11
is crossed but the topic dealt with is more specific than other SDGs. In this sense, it
can be seen that the field of application of Serious Games to the context of SDG11 still
appears to be currently limited.
Learning Urban Sustainability by Playing 471
2.1 URBAX2 (Urban Planning System in Europe 2)
URBAX2 is a pedagogical tool that aims to represent the relationships between urban
markets and public policies in the field of urban planning, with a focus on the definition
of land uses and supported by a software [16]. This was created as an evolution of
the previous URBAX pedagogical tool, developed and used within the French system,
in order to adapt its use to other European systems (Italy, UK, Germany, Sweden and
Spain). The broader context in which the development of URBAX is set considers the
incessant restructuring and planning transformations dictated by contingent situations,
which cities have undergone in recent decades [16]: actors define and manage urban
space, so to diminish developments that are not fully foreseen, there is a need for tools
that support the understanding of how planning activities work within the urban market
framework.
Accordingly, professional training in the field of urban planning and development
should clarify not only the technical-administrative mechanisms characteristic of plan-
ning interventions, but also the dynamics that develop between the different actors
involved [16].
From this perspective, URBAX2 is designed to enhance students’ understanding of
the effects of private actors’ actions and public policies on the market and private land
ownership. What characterizes URBAX2 is its ability to provide support by representing
in a sufficiently realistic way the dynamics of the urban context and the derived effects
at the socio-economic level of the actions implemented by local actors.
The educational objective of this serious game is threefold [17]: i) to foster an
understanding of the strategies of urban actors; ii) to convey knowledge of the urban
planning system in order to propose comprehensive urban planning strategies; and iii)
to disseminate the ability to use planning tools and methods related to a historic district,
new neighbourhoods and areas of economic activity.
Accordingly, URBAX2 considers the following four roles corresponding to the four
main functions typical of local urban planning scenarios: the city government, the organi-
zation building low-income housing projects, economic operators (industrial investors)
and real estate operators (construction companies). The simulation considers a theoret-
ical city of 8,000 inhabitants in a declining situation: the city’s buildings are in poor
condition, there are brown areas in the surroundings, economic activities are declining,
and the population is decreasing. In this context, game players are required to develop
the city with few resources through acquisitions, transactions, building permits and con-
struction, while the socioeconomic effects of their actions are automatically simulated
by the software [18].
Through the game, players learn about social interactions, which is one of the key
elements of local planning [19]: negotiations and agreements are one of the ways in which
relationships develop between subjects and between subjects and plan. Also, during the
game, actions of buying and selling land and buildings, applying for building permits,
construction work by developers, investment by industrial operators, and management
of the master plan by municipal administrators come into play.
The URBAX and URBAX2 serious games have been used in European educational
settings proving to be a valuable tool for training students in the urban planning system.
472 I. M. Lami et al.
2.2 UrbEN (Urban Energy Management Game)
UrbEN is an educational simulation tool in the form of a role-playing game on urban
energy management aiming to educate and engage users on the complex issues surround-
ing sustainable urban energy management [20]. The broader context in which urbEN
development is set considers the increasing need to support municipal citizens, and com-
panies in their transition toward a zero-carbon future, due to the challenges posed by
climate change [21]. Achieving sustainable urban energy systems requires the involve-
ment of diverse actors from both public and private sectors [22,23], who operate within
acomplexwebofinteractionsatregional,national,andEuropeanlevels.Therefore,
educators in the field of urban planning and development must incorporate the dynamic
integration of new energy concepts into their curriculum to equip future urban planners
with the necessary skills and knowledge to navigate the challenges and opportunities
presented by the transition toward sustainable urban energy systems [24].
In this perspective, urbEN is designed to enhance the innovative and creative capac-
ities of students in the field of urban energy management, enabling them to effectively
address the challenges associated with urban energy transition. This gamified approach
enables students to evaluate different interests and integrate them into a holistic and
comprehensive perspective.
Hence, in order to put forward a local energy autonomy planning strategy the seri-
ous game’s educational objective is twofold, aiming at understanding: i) the local actors’
energy strategies; ii) the interactions between elements of the local system. Accordingly,
the following seven roles corresponding to actors investing in the production and stor-
age of renewable energy and in energy sobriety are included within urbEN: the Local
Authority (LA), a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) representing civil society,
two energy operators (local and national), an entrepreneur, a property developer, and a
farmer. The simulation involves a virtual city in which the player assumes the role of
one of the seven urban energy actors responsible for making decisions about energy use,
production, and distribution.
Through a series of challenges and scenarios during the serious game, the players
learn about energy efficiency, renewable energy, smart grids, and other key concepts
in sustainable urban energy management. Moreover, the serious game also features
educational resources and tools that provide additional information and support for
players.
It is worth noting that although a serious game may be based on a scientific model, it
is not in itself one. Indeed, urbEN aim is to have players understand basic notions within
ashorttimeframeandinaplayfulway[25]. Therefore, the serious game is focused
solely on the energy issue, despite the awareness that climate change is not solely an
energy-related issue [26,27].
The urbEN serious game has so far been used in educational settings succeeding in
providing an engaging and interactive way to learn about urban energy management and
raise awareness of the critical issue of sustainable energy in cities.
Learning Urban Sustainability by Playing 473
3 Research Design
Based on the simulation of urban dynamics through the two serious games described,
this paper aims to observe whether and how they convey learning of knowledge and ways
of action for sustainable development and more specifically for which SDG11 Targets.
With this in mind, the research was organized according to two phases (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1. Overall design of the research
A first phase explores three aspects of the selected games: i) the initial urban and
architectural goal and context; ii) the real estate, energy, social, and environmental invest-
ment actions that can be implemented in the game by the different actors, with a view to
achieving individual private and collective public goals; iii) the dynamics established in
the game among the different actors, derived from the needs of each actor to achieve his
or her personal goals. The first two aspects were detected and analysed in the materials
relating to the rules and instructions of games and those relating to the pedagogical
elements of the game. The last aspect was instead detected and observed following the
applications of the two Serious Games in first person by all the authors of this paper in
the case of the game urbEN and by the first author in the case of URBAX, in different
occasions of tests and training activities, and with students of the courses of planning
and architecture at the Politecnico di Torino and with students of Economics courses at
the University of North Eastern Piedmont.
Asecondphaseconsistsintheobservationofthreeimplicationsdirectlyderived
from the three aspects of the game just listed above: i) considering the goal and the
context, it is observed in which potential SDGs of the 2030 Agenda the game can be
placed; ii) on the basis of the actions that can be implemented in the game, those that
can be directly attributed to the specific Targets of the urban goal, thus SDG11, are
474 I. M. Lami et al.
highlighted; iii) considering the dynamics among the actors, it is outlined what indirect
understandings of sustainable strategies can be derived from the active game.
3.1 The Goals of the 2030 Agenda and the SDG11 Targets
The 2030 Agenda and SDGs were approved in 2015 and entered into force in January
2016 in order to guide international action with respect to sustainable development and
thus with the aim of guiding development efforts between 2015–2030. This agenda
defines a set of international goals and Targets, which constitute not only the objectives
to be achieved for sustainable development, but also the benchmarks for sustainabil-
ity assessments [7,28–30]. Indeed, since now sustainable development constitutes the
founding paradigm of development new visions at all levels - global, European, and
national - [3–6,31], it is interesting to observe how learning through games can convey
knowledge about the various overall goals of the 2030 Agenda.
Table 1. Tar g e t o f S D G 11
Tar g e t Description
11.1 By 2030, ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic
services and upgrade slums
11.2 By 2030, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport
systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with
special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children,
persons with disabilities and older persons
11.3 By 2030, enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory,
integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries
11.4 Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage
11.5 By 2030, significantly reduce the number of deaths and the number of people affected
and substantially decrease the direct economic losses relative to global gross domestic
product caused by disasters, including water-related disasters, with a focus on
protecting the poor and people in vulnerable situations
11.6 By 2030, reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by
paying special attention to air quality and municipal and other waste management
11.7 By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public
spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with
disabilities
11.a Support positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, peri-urban
and rural areas by strengthening national and regional development planning
11.b By 2020, substantially increase the number of cities and human settlements adopting
and implementing integrated policies and plans towards inclusion, resource efficiency,
mitigation and adaptation to climate change, resilience to disasters, and develop and
implement, in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction
2015–2030, holistic disaster risk management at all levels
Learning Urban Sustainability by Playing 475
In the specific urban context covered within this paper, the goal of urban relevance is
SDG 11, which considers 9 Targets that are monitored globally with 15 indicators [30].
Table 1provides an overview of the 9 urban Targets.
4 Sustainability Lessons Learned by Playing
This section aims to show the cross-analysis of the two Serious Games – URBAX2 and
urbEN – considering the elements outlined in the two phases of the research design.
In this sense, Table 2outlines the context and overall goal of each game, followed by
the potential SDGs of placement. Accordingly, the recalled SDGs would constitute the
sustainable context of the games, thus the scientific reference against which the game
can contribute to providing sustainable development knowledge.
Table 2. Placement of the two serious games under analysis in relation to the SDGs of Agenda
2030
Serious
Game
Urban and architectural
context of the game Main goal of the game Potential
SDGs
URBAX2
Theoretical city of about 8,000
citizens in a declining
situation: the city’s buildings
are in poor condition, there are
brown areas in the surrounding
area, economic activities are
declining, and the population is
decreasing.
The players in the game are
called upon to develop a
declining city, reactivating its
markets by acting at the urban
and architectural levels with
attention to land uses.
urbEN
Theoretical city comprising
built-up areas (center,
medium- and low-density
neighborhoods), uncultivated
urban areas, and a public
housing district. At some
distance from the center there
are two villages, which can
potentially be expanded. The
remaining space is rural.
Game players are called upon
to develop the city and
neighboring villages in terms
of energy management. So
they are responsible for
making decisions about the
use, production and
distribution of energy.
As Table 1highlights, URBAX2 seems to align with SDG11 as it focuses on inter-
ventions in buildings and urban context to improve the economic, environmental, and
social conditions of a declining city. UrbEN is based on an economically and socially
functioning urban and architectural context, and the development of the city through the
game focuses on energy issues, thus on the use and production of energy within the city.
Although energy monitoring is not a primary focus of SDG11, the implications of energy
476 I. M. Lami et al.
actions and other SDG-related issues like climate change, education quality, industries,
and infrastructure are interconnected with the city. Moreover, the game refers also to
issues related to housing affordability, or land use control, that are essentials for SDG11.
Therefore, SDG11 constitutes the main reference goal as the main context, together with
SDG7 related to energy.
Continuing with the exploration of the two games and thus of the actions that can
be implemented by the different actors, it is possible to observe how both ensure the
acquisition of knowledge on different SDG11 targets. Table 3reports for each game the
actions that can be traced back to the urban goal Targets considering the actors to whom
implementation is granted (for more information on the set of actions and actors in the
game see [18,32]).
As can be observed from Table 3the URBAX game can convey knowledge to students
relative to five targets. Indeed:
•Targ et 1 1 . 1 , aff o r d a b le h o u s in g. In the role of constructors, students are asked to
think about the development of housing that must meet the market demand and social
status of the district. Thus, housing with affordable or higher prices depends on the
target population. In addition, in the role of local government, they may decide to act
with subsidies, and tax benefits for the renovation of properties if the socioeconomic
characteristics of the district’s population do not allow for spontaneous renovation.
In this sense, the opportunity to act on the properties is given to everyone in order to
favour their improvement from the point of view of adequacy and safety.
•Targ et 1 1 . 2 , tra n s p or t s y st e m . In the role of local government, students are called
upon to improve the blocks of the district in which they operate in order to increase
its attractiveness. Besides creating public facilities, it’s important to consider and
act upon public transportation connections and services. If the current cultural back-
ground is rooted in sustainable paradigms, students can learn about them in vari-
ous academic courses and apply them while reflecting and directing their actions
within the game. In this regard, they will consider sustainable, safe, and accessible
transportation services while taking into account the occupants’ social status and
socio-economic categories in the district.
•Targ et 11 . 3 , la n d u s e. The game in general, as noted in Table 1, fits into this target
as it considers urban and architectural development with a focus on land use. Specif-
ically, in the role of local government, students are asked to manage land use, thus
observing building permits and projects submitted and received from other actors
and reflecting on their implementation in relation to the amount of land consumed in
the district. They are also the ones who regulate land use in the district and in this
sense delineate buildable land, thus reflecting on edge density [33] and the amount
of buildable land. In addition, they may decide to act with subsidies, tax benefits for
property rehabilitation, which may limit new construction interventions with direct
implications on land use.
•Targ et 1 1 . 6 , ai r p o l lu t i on a n d w a st e m a n age m e n t.Theactionofbuildingrenovation
by direct builders and indirect local government touches on the possibility of reflection
with respect to the decrease in air pollution due to improved energy performance of
buildings.
Learning Urban Sustainability by Playing 477
Table 3. Implementable actions in the two serious games under analysis that can be traced back
to the SDG11 Targets
Actor Action Target SDG11
URBAX2
Local
Government
Improving the attractiveness of the district:
creation of public services, public open spaces 11.2;11.7
Regulating land use: providing building permits 11.3
District intervention with subsidies, tax benefits
for property renovation 11.1; 11.3; 11.6
Constructor Construction of housing in line with the social
status of the district: affordable housing 11.1
urbEN
Local
Authority
Electric public transportation: link between town
centre and peripheral villages 11.2; 11.6
Cycling path: cycling path linking villages to the
town centre 11.2
Thermal renovation of public buildings: Increasing
energy efficiency of public facilities such as
schools, theatres, municipal rooms, administrative
premises, sport and leisure centres, community
centres
11.6
National
energy
network
company and
Local energy
network
company
Solar panels on farm buildings and on farming
land and on hypermarket roof space 11.6
Geothermal energy 11.6
Property
Developer
Green affordable housing: High energy efficiency
mix of affordable and social housing for lower
middle class
11.1
Ordinary affordable housing: Medium energy
efficiency mix of affordable and social housing for
lower middle class
11.1
Green single family homes operation: green low-
density housing 11.1
Ordinary single family homes operation: ordinary
low-density housing 11.1
Renovation scheme for social housing: thermal
renovation of DEV’s social housing properties 11.6
Private
Company
Electric public transportation: link between town
centre and peripheral villages 11.2; 11.6
Farmer Solar panels on farm buildings: photovoltaic
panels on farm buildings roofs 11.6
478 I. M. Lami et al.
•Targ et 1 1 . 7 , sa f e , i nc l u s iv e a n d a cc e s si b l e g reen a n d p u bl i c s pac e s . In the role of
local government, students reflect on and consider the creation of public open spaces,
which should be safe and accessible spaces.
As for urbEN, it can convey knowledge on three specific SDG11 targets with different
specific actions. In detail:
•Targ et 11 . 1 , aff o rd a b le h o u s in g . Reflections and knowledge with respect to this issue
are mainly acquired through the direct role of the property developer, who builds,
and in the indirect role of the local authority, which requires, encourages and accepts
the development of certain actions. Students, indeed, take note of and reflect on: the
development of green and/or ordinary affordable housing for the middle class, with
medium to high energy efficiency; the construction of low-density family housing;
the renewal of the thermal performance of the social housing they own.
•Targ et 11 . 2 , tra n s p or t s y st e m . In the role of the local authority, students reflect
and disseminate to other stakeholders, possibly seeking funders such as the private
developer, on actions to improve transportation services, particularly acting on the
implementation of electric public transportation and new bicycle routes.
•Targ et 11 . 6 , ai r p o l lu t i o n an d w a st e m a n age m e n t. In the role of the local authority,
local and national energy companies, property developer, farmer, and private com-
panies, students learn theoretical aspects and ways of action to reduce air emissions,
implementing actions in the game such as: placing solar panels on buildings, devel-
oping geothermal energy systems, renewing energy efficiency of public and private
buildings, and developing electric public transport services.
As far as the dynamics of the game are concerned, one main stimulus for reasoning –
applicable to both games under analysis – considering sustainable strategies at the urban
level can be observed, namely that of enacting trade-offs. Indeed, each actor is free
to favour or hinder public policy according to its own interests, and in this sense the
local authority can, especially in the case of hostile actors, enact compromise strategies.
This means interacting and negotiating with actors to find meeting points, suggesting
the implementation of more sustainable actions on certain dimensions of sustainability
such as environmental and social to compensate actions that are profitable economically
but not very sustainable with respect to the other dimensions. These mechanisms may
entail an indirect understanding of sustainability, of its different dimensions, and of
sustainable practices to be implemented strategically for the common good. Moreover,
these dynamics can lead to a greater awareness and understanding of urban dynamics,
its actors, with related interests and needs in relation to sustainable issues, potentially
leading to a positive change in attitude and in the structuring of intervention strategies
for sustainable development.
Above all, the game allows for an understanding that for sustainable urban devel-
opment all actors are crucial and to be considered within the strategies, whether they
are public or private actors and hostile or sympathetic to cooperation: sustainable urban
transition cannot take place without the interaction and intervention of all actors.
Learning Urban Sustainability by Playing 479
5 Discussion and Conclusion
This paper explores two serious games to answer the question: can Serious Games
developed in an urban context be a useful tool to convey specific knowledge with respect
to the development of sustainable cities?
The analysis allows observing that although the two games were not initially designed
to align with specific SDG11 targets or convey information on sustainable cities, both
demonstrate the potential to provide knowledge and ways of action related to different
SDG11 goals. On the one hand, URBAX2 was developed prior to the approval of the
2030 Agenda and aimed at fostering an understanding of urban actors’ strategies and
conveying knowledge of the urban system to propose comprehensive urban planning
strategies. On the other hand, the urbEN game was developed considering the concept
of sustainability but mainly focused on the energy transition of cities, thus just one of the
many issues that involve the urban context and that need to be considered for the devel-
opment of sustainable, safe, resilient and inclusive cities. Accordingly, it seems to us that
Serious Games have considerable potential with respect to the transmission of knowl-
edge regarding specific targets of the SDG11. Indeed, both the serious games in analysis
allow for reasoning about how to operate in cities following economic, environmental,
and social sustainability logics.
In this perspective, the results of the analysis make it possible to observe that the
conceptualization of sustainability in the urban and architectural context can be seen as a
lens that enables attention to certain aspects of urban transformations, which if conducted
according to good practices would positively promote the development in terms of the
three pillars of sustainability. Thus, even serious games that do not explicitly prioritize
sustainability, such as URBAX, can provide valuable knowledge on various issues that
promote a city’s sustainable development. Reflections on urban district development
will thus likely take into account sustainable, safe, and inclusive actions. For example,
the URBAX game, which considers as a goal the reactivation of a declining city through
action at the urban and architectural levels with attention to land uses, would imply that:
a) regulating and managing land use leads to reflections with respect to strategies aimed
at minimizing the consumption of virgin land; b) reactivating the markets of a city in
decline determines the creation of services and consequent housing for the population,
the realization of which must take into account different socioeconomic situations and
thus consider affordable housing; c) the presence of housing in poor condition may lead
to reflections in terms of benefits derived from its renovation both in social terms, with
respect to the health of users, and in environmental terms, with respect to the reduction
of air pollution and land consumption. In a different way, the urbEN game considers
within the design of the game inputs traceable to SDG11 targets as actions necessary to
achieve an energy transition goal, such as the construction of affordable housing for the
middle class with a high level of energy performance.
The use of such games in conveying knowledge about urban sustainability to future
architects and planners could potentially have implications related to policymaking.
Indeed, the games allow students to experiment and implement strategies as private and
public actors by learning shared skills in urban planning, market and strategic logic
needed by PA workers. The municipality is the “place” where urban planning is car-
ried out and the PA is the entity that can intervene directly on the planning of urban
480 I. M. Lami et al.
space through provisions of use, funding, incentives and direct interventions, therefore
knowing certain dynamics can be an element in favor of a careful policymaking. In line
with this, it could be considered that the application of the game with real PA subjects
and other stakeholders could highlight the importance of implementing certain actions
or limiting others with a view to shared and conscious sustainable development. For
example, it is very difficult that in reality a private actor put aside his/her own eco-
nomic interests in favour of benefits for society or for the environment, so observing
how his/her personal action can actually have positive spillover effects on the welfare
of the city could potentially lead him to think according to different strategic patterns.
Among the recognizable limitations in the application of these games is undoubt-
edly the need to decomplexify reality. This element leads to making some mechanisms
oversimplified or establishing game elements governed by dominant dynamics imposed
apriori.Anotherlimitationobservedinapplicationsmaybethatwherebyallormost
students assume the goal proposed by the local authority (in the game) as their own,
sometimes sacrificing even the primary goals of the actors they are impersonating. This
certainly leads to a successful sustainable outcome of the game, however, it may be an
overly positive view of reality, which, instead, clashes with multiple issues, interests and
priorities.
Although this paper only examines two serious games, it recognizes that there is a
vast array of other serious games that exist and can potentially convey specific knowledge
on sustainable cities [15]. This paper emphasizes the potential of serious games as tools
to transfer this knowledge and highlights the need for future analysis of other serious
games developed in urban settings. Furthermore, it suggests that designing a new game
that focuses specifically on transferring knowledge about all the issues considered in
SDG11 could be a promising avenue for future research and development. The potential
for using these tools to promote sustainable urban development can be maximized by
exploring more serious games and creating new ones.
References
1. Rittel, H.W.J., Webber, M.M.: Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy Sci. 4,155
(1973)
2. Lami, I.M.: The context of urban renewals as a ‘Super-Wicked’ problem. In: Calabrò, F.,
Della Spina, L., Bevilacqua, C. (eds.) ISHT 2018. SIST, vol. 100, pp. 249–255. Springer,
Cham (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92099-3_29
3. United Nations General Assembly: Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 25
September 2015, 2015. https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/gen
eralassembly/docs/globalcompact/A_RES_70_1_E.pdf.Accessed16Mar2023
4. European Commission: Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament,
the European Council, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the
Committee of the regions. The European Green Deal. (2019). https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/
default/files/european-green-deal-communication_en.pdf.Accessed23Mar2023
5. MATTM: Strategia Nazionale per lo Sviluppo Sostenibile, Ministero dell’Ambiente e della
Tutela del Territorio e del Mare, 2017. https://www.regione.piemonte.it/web/sites/default/
files/media/documenti/2020-6/ssweb_snsvs_ottobre2017.pdf.Accessed20Mar2023
6. PNRR: Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza (2021). https://www.governo.it/sites/gov
erno.it/files/PNRR.pdf.Accessed20Mar2023
Learning Urban Sustainability by Playing 481
7. Lami I.M., Abastante F., Gaballo M., Mecca B., Todella E.: An updated picture of target 11.1
and 11.3: Pathways of implementation in the light of Covid-19. AIP Conference Proceedings,
2574, 120004, (2022) https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0105557
8. Cravero, S., Strada, F., Lami, I.M., Bottino, A.: Learning sustainability by making games.
the experience of a challenge as a novel approach for Education for Sustainable Develop-
ment. International Conference on Higher Education Advances Open Access Pages 651 -
6592021 7th International Conference on Higher Education Advances, HEAd (2021) Virtual,
Online22 June 2021through 23 June 2021Code 178646
9. Wilkinson, P.: A brief history of serious games. In: Dörner, R., Göbel, S., Kickmeier-Rust,
M., Masuch, M., Zweig, K. (eds.) Entertainment Computing and Serious Games. LNCS, vol.
9970, pp. 17–41. Springer, Cham (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46152-6_2
10. Ouariachi, T., Olvera-Lobo, M.D., Gutiérrez-Pérez, J.: Serious Games and Sustainability.
In: Filho, W.L. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education, pp. 1450–1458.
Springer International Publishing, Cham (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11352-
0_326
11. ABT, C. C.: Serious Game, The Viking Press, New York, (1970)
12. Gee, J.: What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. Comput. Entertainment
(CIE) 1(1), 20 (2003)
13. Gentile, D.A.: The multiple dimensions of video game effects. Child Dev. Perspectives 5,
75–81 (2011)
14. Mouahebh, H., Fahli, A., Moussetadm, M., Eljamali, S.: The serious game: what educational
benefits?. Procedia Soc. Behavioral Sci. 46,5502–5508(2012)
15. Cravero, V.: Methods, strategies and tools to improve citizens’ engagement in the smart cities’
context: a serious Games classification. Valori e Valutazioni 24,45–60(2020)
16. Lami, I.M. (ed.): An Overview on Planning Systems and Urban Markets in Europe. Aracne
(2006)
17. Viitanen, K., Mierzejewska, M.: Playing the Urbax Game with students – Finnish Experiences.
In: Lami, I.M. (ed.): An Overview on Planning Systems and Urban Markets in Europe. Aracne
(2006)
18. Urbax21. http://www.urbax.eu/en/home/.Accessed24Mar2023
19. Fubini, A.: Urbax: a planning practice teaching tool. In: Lami, I.M. (ed.): An Overview on
Planning Systems and Urban Markets in Europe. Aracne (2006)
20. Lotus - Locally Organized Transitions for Urban Sustainable Spaces. https://lotus-transitio
n.eu/.Accessed04Apr2023
21. International Energy Agency (IEA): Energy Technology Perspectives 2020. (2020). https://
www.iea.org/reports/energy-technology-perspectives-2020.Accessed24Mar2023
22. Kern, F., Bulkeley, H.: Cities, europeanization and multi-level governance: governing climate
change through transnational municipal networks. J. Common Market Stud. 47(2), 309–332
(2009)
23. Bulkeley, H., Castán Broto, V.: Government by experiment? Global cities and the governing
of climate change. Trans. Inst. Br. Geogr. 38(3), 361–375 (2013)
24. Schmid, S., Knapp, S., Droege, P.: Urban energy transitions: Places, processes and politics
of socio-technical change. Routledge (2018)
25. Lami, I.M., Todella, E.: Locally organized transitions for urban sustainable spaces. In: Locally
Organized Transitions for Urban Sustainable Spaces. vol. 1, pp. 262 (2022)https://doi.org/10.
5281/zenodo.7500720
26. Bulkeley, H.: Cities and the governing of climate change. Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour. 35,
229–253 (2010)
27. Kates, R.W., Travis, W.R., Wilbanks, T.J.: Transformational adaptation when incremental
adaptations to climate change are insufficient. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 109(19), 7156–7161
(2012)
482 I. M. Lami et al.
28. United Nations General Assembly: Global indicator framework for the Sustainable Devel-
opment Goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. United Nation,
New York (2017)
29. Abastante, F., Lami, I.M., Mecca, B.: How Covid-19 influences the 2030 agenda: do the
practices of achieving the sustainable development goal 11 need rethinking and adjustment?
Valori e Valu/tazioni 26, 11–23 (2020). https://doi.org/10.48264/VVSIEV-20202603
30. United Nations: Global indicator framework for the Sustainable Development Goals and
targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2022). https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/
indicators/Global%20Indicator%20Framework%20after%202022%20refinement_Eng.pdf.
Accessed 20 Mar 2023
31. Mecca, B., Gaballo, M., Todella, E.: Measuring and evaluating Urban sustainability. Valori e
Valutazioni 32,17–29(2023)
32. Print&Play Urban Energy Serious Game urbEN. https://zenodo.org/record/7411604#.ZB2
zOXbMJPa.Accessed24Mar2023
33. Lami, I.M., Abastante, F., Gaballo, M., Mecca, B., Todella, E.: Fostering sustainable cities
through additional SDG11-related indicators. Valori e Valutazioni 32,45–61(2023)
