Exploring future power relations between citizens and government: FuturGov game

In the past three months, several FuturGov game sessions have been organised. FuturGov game uses people’s anticipatory assumptions about what the future may look like to generate conversations, negotiations and collaborations. By designing a process through which participants immerse themselves into the future, take on roles that are not theirs, and strategize to achieve their goals, the FuturGov game generates a participatory setting in which a debate can take place.

The game has been developed in the context of the project: The Future of Government 2030+. A Citizen Centric Perspective on New Government Models (FuturGov project). Each player or group of players is given a card set with action cards and actor cards representing each of the following categories: government+, influencer+, citizen+ and business+. By stepping into a future scenario, participants enter into mediated conversations that reveal their anticipatory assumptions and expose them to other participants’ beliefs and expectations. This, in exchange, creates a debate, a safe place for discussing alternatives. Through triggering imagination and creativity, the aim is to open up conversations through engaging with audiences. FuturGov can be used as a powerful tool for citizen and stakeholder engagement, as well as a learning tool.

FuturGov game was present at the Creative Bureaucracy Festival in Brussels in September 2019. A month later, we were present at the EU Week of Regions and Cities. The interest was bigger than the available space but we managed to accommodate all interested persons who came to the session. Diverse stakeholders, policymakers, civil society and businesses participated in this session and they raised interest in using the game for different types of stakeholder and citizen engagement.

We played a modified version of the FuturGov game with Young professionals of the European Commission. The focus on this session was on climate change and energy consumption – this means that the background scenario and draft policies were adjusted accoringly.

Another session was organised during the Anticipation 2019 conference in Oslo in October 2019. Anticipation is an international and interdisciplinary conference organised every two years. The conference is envisaged as an interdisciplinary forum to explore how ideas of the future inform present actions and brings together researchers, scholars and practitioners from a diverse range of institutions and disciplinary backgrounds. The interest in the FuturGov game was considerable, mainly to be used as an engagement tool with students in different courses at the universities.

We also organised a game session during the Eurocities’ Knowledge Society Forum, in Cologne. Eurocities has already participated in several stages of the FuturGov project. The game session got considerable attention from the audience. Several cities were particularly interested in how they could use the FuturGov game in their deliberative processes.

The reflection on the future of government and using deliberation in policymaking are highly relevant for the Commission priorities, A Europe fit for Digital Age and A New Push for European Democracy, as well as in the context of strategic foresight and futures literacy.

Two FuturGov game sessions will be held at the EU Policy Lab, Brussels:

22 January 10-12.30h

13 February 10-12.30h

If you are interested in attending, send an email and register at: JRC-FORESIGHT@ec.europa.eu

The number of participants is limited.