Rules of the Game: Tools for Governing Climate Justice

Public engagement in climate adaptation planning is often described as a matter of urgency. Global, atmospheric change indeed amplifies the need to build trust, transparency, and consensus. However, rushing to action can preclude a deeper interrogation of the very political and economic systems that framed climate insecurity in the first place. This paper reflects on a public decision-making tool that navigates this tension between pragmatic action and structural reform. In It Together is a tabletop board game that engages urban stakeholders in a probing deliberative process over sea level rise adaptation and social equity. Originally designed by the author to facilitate public engagement in the 2017-8 San Francisco Bay Resilient by Design Challenge, this game has been revised for publication and widespread release to designers, community-based organizations and city agencies. The revised version of the game invites players to challenge rules of fair play and rewrite common protocols of urban development. This paper will unpack the rule sets, logics, and opportunities for resistance orchestrated by this game to both ready pragmatic opportunities for action and unearth more enduring strategies for sharing power and resources.

https://doi.org/10.35483/ACSA.AIA.Inter.21.20

Volume Editors
Rico Quirindongo & Georgeen Theodore

ISBN
978-1-944214-39-5