AquaNES Gaming approach for stakeholder engagement

“The aim of the AquaNES subtask on serious gaming is to explore the potential application of serious gaming in urban water and wastewater management, with a focus on combined natural and engi- neered treatment systems (cNES). Drawing on recent research in serious gaming in the field of water management, the task underlying this report developed a gamified approach to raise awareness of cNES and support citizen and stakeholder engagement in planning and decision making for cNES. The proposed serious gaming framework draws from the AquaNES project, and has been tested through real game play, resulting in structural refinements based on player feedback. As part of this report, the considerations made during the development phase of this concept are illuminated and the serious game itself is presented and explained. The presented game is a prototype based on multiple actual AquaNES sites. It is not site-specific and can therefore be deployed in any cNES site (real or planned) in order to engage stakeholders and raise awareness on the usefulness and challenges of cNES. Its structural simplicity and generic framework structure make it applicable beyond AquaNES as well, as an awareness tool for the sustainable management of urban water and wastewater, but also as an en- gagement method to foster knowledge, understanding, collaboration and interaction among different stakeholder and public groups.”

(Citation: van Aalderen, N., Bouziotas, D., Makropoulos, C., Tsavdaridou, E., Smith, H. – AquaNES Gaming approach for stakeholder engagement – D 5.5 (2) (2019))