Could turning climate change into a game inspire communities to seriously consider climate change risks and what they need to do to adapt?
Danya Rumore, who holds a joint appointment at the University of Utah as associate director of the S.J. Quinney College of Law’s Environmental Dispute Resolution Program and as a research assistant professor at the Department of City and Metropolitan Planning, took on that research question with colleagues Lawrence Susskind and Todd Schenk.
The trio published their findings recently in Nature Climate Change, a leading peer-reviewed journal publishing physical and social science research on climate change. Their article, titled “Role-play simulations for climate change adaptation education and engagement” reports on two research projects that tested the use of role-play simulations — which are a type of face-to-face experiential learning exercise (or “serious game”) — as a way to help stakeholders and communities become more aware of the climate change-related risks they face and initiate conversations about whether and how to adapt.