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Role-play simulations for climate change adaptation education and engagement

Nature Climate Change volume 6, pages 745–750 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

In order to effectively adapt to climate change, public officials and other stakeholders need to rapidly enhance their understanding of local risks and their ability to collaboratively and adaptively respond to them. We argue that science-based role-play simulation exercises — a type of 'serious game' involving face-to-face mock decision-making — have considerable potential as education and engagement tools for enhancing readiness to adapt. Prior research suggests role-play simulations and other serious games can foster public learning and encourage collective action in public policy-making contexts. However, the effectiveness of such exercises in the context of climate change adaptation education and engagement has heretofore been underexplored. We share results from two research projects that demonstrate the effectiveness of role-play simulations in cultivating climate change adaptation literacy, enhancing collaborative capacity and facilitating social learning. Based on our findings, we suggest such exercises should be more widely embraced as part of adaptation professionals' education and engagement toolkits.

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Acknowledgements

The New England Climate Adaptation Project was supported with funding from the University of New Hampshire and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under Cooperative Agreement no. NA09NOS4190153 (CFDA no. 11.419). The IUP received support from the Dutch Knowledge for Climate Program, funded through TNO; the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School; and the Tufts-MIT Water Diplomacy Program. The authors also wish to acknowledge all of the NECAP research team members, partners, and workshop participants who made the project possible, as well as Ellen Czaika for her help in statistically analysing NECAP data. They also wish to thank the incredible local partners and participants in the three case cities in the IUP, and in particular project partners at TNO.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Dispute Resolution Program, Wallace Stegner Center, S.J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah, 383 South University Street, Salt Lake City, 84112, Utah, USA

    Danya Rumore

  2. Department of City and Metropolitan Planning, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, 84112, Utah, USA

    Danya Rumore

  3. Urban Affairs and Planning, School of Public and International Affairs, Virginia Tech, 207 Architecture Annex (0113), 140 Otey Street NW, Blacksburg, 24061, Virginia, USA

    Todd Schenk

  4. Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 9-332, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, 02139, Massachusetts, USA

    Lawrence Susskind

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  1. Danya Rumore
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Contributions

D.R. conceptualized the research questions and analysed data for NECAP. T.S. conceptualized the research questions and analysed data for Institutionalizing Uncertainty. L.S. provided mentoring and oversight for both projects. D.R. and T.S. contributed equally to the preparation of this manuscript, with input from L.S.

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Correspondence to Danya Rumore.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Rumore, D., Schenk, T. & Susskind, L. Role-play simulations for climate change adaptation education and engagement. Nature Clim Change 6, 745–750 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3084

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