Up: town: Collaborative Imagination of Resilient Urban Futures Through Serious Gaming

Abstract

Visions of urban futures are crucial for shaping social transformation. They should be collaboratively created and critically examined—yet current approaches often rely on quantitative prediction or scenario planning. Exploratory futuring techniques that engage diverse stakeholders and address the later-than-now of cities remain scarce. In this commentary, we reflect on up:town, a serious game that places participants in a fictional but realistic urban setting facing social, economic and ecological shocks. Players take on diverse roles and engage in participatory decision-making, confronting uncertainty and complexity together. Based on nearly 20 international gameplay rounds, we show how up:town (1) opens space for critical reflection, (2) surfaces existing ideas while enabling imaginative worldings and (3) supports participants in re:learning the craft of radical imagination. This experience demonstrates how serious gaming can bridge present challenges and future possibilities, offering a dynamic platform for collective reflection and the co-creation of alternative urban futures.