The circular economy comes into play: “Circular City – the board game” conceived and developed by the Municipality of Prato, the Municipality of Taichung (Taiwan), and ARCO’s Circular Innovation & Sustainable Commodities is the first game in which participants aim to adopt circular economy practices at the local level. The idea for the game came about during a visit by representatives of Prato City Council, ARCO, and GIDA to Taichung, Taiwan’s second largest city. The city of Prato, which had already participated in the EU Urban Agenda Partnership on Circular Economy, was in fact selected by the European Commission as one of the best practice representatives in international exchanges for policies related to carbon neutrality, urban forestation, and the achievement of the 2030 Agenda, within the ICP-AGIR (International City Partnerships: Acting for Green and Inclusive Recovery) partnership.
Circular City- the boardgame, the first board game focusing on the circular economy
Accelerating the transition to a circular economy is a major challenge for institutions, cities, manufacturing clusters, organisations and citizens. The ‘quadruple helix’ is a model of innovation that is based on a system of multilateral relations between several dimensions or sectors that collaborate in an orderly and multidisciplinary way to build a complex and common goal.
At the local level, the promotion of virtuous circular economy practices must take place by integrating the needs of both policy makers and stakeholders. It is precisely this integrated dynamic and the necessary dialogue between the parties that ‘Circular City – the board game’ focuses on. The 4 main actors of change – public authorities, industry, academia and citizens (as in a role-playing game, each player or team of players impersonates one of the 4 actors of change) – challenge each other on the basis of different scenarios, described in a game booklet, to find the most effective way to promote the circular economy by moving around the squares on a board.
Each scenario involves the achievement of a goal through the implementation of actions that each player, depending on his or her specificity and role, may or may not implement. In order to implement the actions, a discussion is triggered on the basis of which resources are allocated (tokens that are assigned to each player at the start of the game), just as in debates between institutions and stakeholders. The action under discussion contributes to the overall goal of the scenario.
Collectively, everyone contributes to accelerating the city’s circular transition. To win the game, one has to reach the global goal of the scenario within 60 minutes.
The game, therefore, weaves together the modes of a board game, a role-playing game and a strategy game. Indeed, collaboration and consensus between the various groups of players become crucial in choosing and implementing good practices to make the city more circular, using the social innovation approach. Beyond the board game, fun and togetherness, it is a stimulus for development through reuse and re-use by spreading the culture of sustainability in everyday life.
Some demonstration copies of the game were printed thanks to the contribution of ICP-AGIR. The official presentation of the game took place in Taichung on 30 November 2023. The game is currently available in English. An Italian version is currently being developed.
Read more on Circular Innovation & Sustainable Commodities Unit