Exploring New Technology’s Meaning for a Sustainable Future …
347
The participants accepted the CSFP method well, both as an offering in their
curriculum and as a collaborative innovation method. They identified it as an active
and inter-disciplinary format and the majority would attend it again.
However, it was difficult for the participants to connect the sustainability content
with the rest of their studies. We therefore recommend embedding CSFP into a
larger context: It can easily be expanded by adding a phase for literature/inspiration
research, reflection of how the chosen what-if would influence each of the Sustainable Development Goals, role-play scenarios and physical prototyping activities. One
could also repeat the steps with different content; by varying the input via the inspiration wall, different sessions could be held, centering on different UN Sustainable
Development Goals, technology fields, roles of the protagonist or domains within the
Sustainability Innovation Cube (Hansen et al. 2009). Augmenting the sketching and
timelines can be coupled with classes from construction design and project management, or business model generation. Therefore, it would be an ideal tool to include in
project-based learning approaches. Expanding the format beyond the boundaries of
the engineering faculty, it could be used to bring together students from all disciplines
to work on multiple aspects of one future world; inviting participants from outside
the university could connect the students with players from industry and politics.
CSFP enables the participants to engage with the topic of sustainability in a playful
and creative way, while still yielding usable insights. This is an important way of
changing the perception of sustainability-oriented technology development in our
future engineers’ minds: To experience it as opening up new creative opportunities
to shape the world according to a new paradigm, instead of viewing it a barrier
imposed by policy makers to hinder innovation. The students learn to create mental
pictures of possible futures they want to live in. And only what you see, can you
create.
References
Abt CC (1987) Serious games. University Press of America, Lanham
Bowman SL (2010) The functions of role-playing games: how participants create community, solve
problems and explore identity. McFarland & Company, Jefferson, NC
Caillois R (1958) Man, play and games. University of Illinois Press, Chicago
Carse JP (1986) Finite and infinite games. Free Press, New York
Deterding S, Dixon D, Khaled R, Nacke L (2011) From game design elements to gamefulness:
defining “gamification”. In: MindTrek ’11. Proceedings of the 15th international academic
mindtrek conference: envisioning future media environments. ACM Press, New York, pp 9–15
Deterding S (2012) Playful technologies. In: Wiedermann C, Zehle S (eds) Depletion design: a
glossary of network ecologies. Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam, 123p
Hansen E, Grosse-Dunker F, Reichwald R (2009) Sustainability innovation cube - a framework to
evaluate sustainability-oriented innovations. Int J Innov Manag 13:683–713
Huizinga J (1949) Homo ludens: a study of the play-element in culture. Routledge and Kegan Paul,
London
Johnson BD (2011) Science fiction for prototyping: designing the future with science fiction. Morgan
and Claypool Publishers, San Rafael
347
The participants accepted the CSFP method well, both as an offering in their
curriculum and as a collaborative innovation method. They identified it as an active
and inter-disciplinary format and the majority would attend it again.
However, it was difficult for the participants to connect the sustainability content
with the rest of their studies. We therefore recommend embedding CSFP into a
larger context: It can easily be expanded by adding a phase for literature/inspiration
research, reflection of how the chosen what-if would influence each of the Sustainable Development Goals, role-play scenarios and physical prototyping activities. One
could also repeat the steps with different content; by varying the input via the inspiration wall, different sessions could be held, centering on different UN Sustainable
Development Goals, technology fields, roles of the protagonist or domains within the
Sustainability Innovation Cube (Hansen et al. 2009). Augmenting the sketching and
timelines can be coupled with classes from construction design and project management, or business model generation. Therefore, it would be an ideal tool to include in
project-based learning approaches. Expanding the format beyond the boundaries of
the engineering faculty, it could be used to bring together students from all disciplines
to work on multiple aspects of one future world; inviting participants from outside
the university could connect the students with players from industry and politics.
CSFP enables the participants to engage with the topic of sustainability in a playful
and creative way, while still yielding usable insights. This is an important way of
changing the perception of sustainability-oriented technology development in our
future engineers’ minds: To experience it as opening up new creative opportunities
to shape the world according to a new paradigm, instead of viewing it a barrier
imposed by policy makers to hinder innovation. The students learn to create mental
pictures of possible futures they want to live in. And only what you see, can you
create.
References
Abt CC (1987) Serious games. University Press of America, Lanham
Bowman SL (2010) The functions of role-playing games: how participants create community, solve
problems and explore identity. McFarland & Company, Jefferson, NC
Caillois R (1958) Man, play and games. University of Illinois Press, Chicago
Carse JP (1986) Finite and infinite games. Free Press, New York
Deterding S, Dixon D, Khaled R, Nacke L (2011) From game design elements to gamefulness:
defining “gamification”. In: MindTrek ’11. Proceedings of the 15th international academic
mindtrek conference: envisioning future media environments. ACM Press, New York, pp 9–15
Deterding S (2012) Playful technologies. In: Wiedermann C, Zehle S (eds) Depletion design: a
glossary of network ecologies. Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam, 123p
Hansen E, Grosse-Dunker F, Reichwald R (2009) Sustainability innovation cube - a framework to
evaluate sustainability-oriented innovations. Int J Innov Manag 13:683–713
Huizinga J (1949) Homo ludens: a study of the play-element in culture. Routledge and Kegan Paul,
London
Johnson BD (2011) Science fiction for prototyping: designing the future with science fiction. Morgan
and Claypool Publishers, San Rafael