The World’s Future at the University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany

The World’s Future at the University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany

The World’s Future at the University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany

The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and the University of Koblenz-Landau came together to test a social simulation developed by IIASA researchers and the Centre for Systems Solutions on the Sustainable Development Goals.

With the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and 17 SDGs, the international community has created a comprehensive and indivisible set of goals attaching equal importance to environmental, social and economic concerns. This acknowledges for the first time that the transformation to sustainable and resilient societies cannot happen with a “business as usual”, siloed approach, and that a systems approach is a necessary condition for successful transformation.

While this approach has reached fertile ground among NGOs and politics, higher education needs more diverse educational tools to implement the goals – both into teaching practice and the heads of students and teachers alike. Many tools are being developed to make the policies related with the pursuit of these goals visible and experiential, thus supporting learners and decision makers. One such tool – or social simulation – has been developed by IIASA and the Centre for Systems Solutions. The World’s Future – A Sustainable Development Goals Game is a serious role play game that functions as an experiential playground based in scientific systems research. This simulation empowers players to experience how interconnected the global goals are and what the consequences are of their decisions.

Based on a recently established collaboration between IIASA and the University of Koblenz-Landau, a group of highly motivated students from the Bachelor Programme “Humans and the Environment” got the opportunity to partake in that simulation, facilitated by representatives from IIASA and the Centre for Systems Solutions.

The simulation was held on 11th and 12th December at the Landau Campus and allowed for:

  • Testing “The World’s Future” game as an experiential playground for learning and understanding complex systemic decision making
  • Gaining insights into the interconnected and systemic nature of the SDGs, including synergies and trade-offs
  • And bringing educational and serious gaming into the minds of interdisciplinary-oriented staff and students.

 

Contact Michalina Kułakowska for more details.

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