Evan Barba and Adeline Hvidsten
Current methods in systemic design are largely dependent on elaboration and exploration of complexity in a variety of settings. Most commonly, methods that combine system mapping from the systems science and engineering community with a variety of participatory and co-design techniques aimed at maximising stakeholder engagement are employed. However, systems mapping is only one step in addressing systemic problems. In engineering, the next steps are often the development, deployment, and testing of designed systems. However, where social systems are concerned, interventions of this kind are not so simple.
Borrowing another technique from engineering, simulation, as a faster and more ethical method of testing interventions in social systems is a potential next step. Games are an ideal way of introducing simulation into systemic design. Games are low-fidelity simulations and have a rich history and connection to systems thinking. Game Design is also its own unique subdiscipline in design with co-design and prototyping methods of its own. This workshop demonstrates the use of a Playable Systems Approach, a material-procedural facilitation approach for generating systemic insights and prototyping solutions through co-designing multi-stakeholder games.
KEYWORDS: game design, systemic design, design methods, toolkits, playable systems
RSD TOPIC(S): Cases & Practice, Mapping & Modelling, Methods & Methodology