Using Game Technology to Engage Citizens and Quantify the Public Acceptability of Air Quality Interventions

Ambient air pollution has as significant impact on public health and was responsible for more than 4.2 million premature deaths annually worldwide. It is within our cities where this public health impact is most acute as high population densities and elevated ambient pollution concentrations result in an increased risk of exposure. This health impact is further exacerbated as air pollution interacts with other social determinants of health creating a disproportionate risk and burden especially for vulnerable communities. Traditional approaches to public engagement on this issue has resulted in a general apathy among citizens as they cannot connect the scale of the air pollution problem with their daily social behaviours, practices and activities and subsequently there is a public lack of ownership of the problem and solutions. The EU Horizon 2020 funded ClairCity Project (www.claircity.eu) developed the Skylines Game App which utilises game technology to engage citizens and create a shift in the public understanding towards the causes of poor air quality while ‘crowd-sourcing’ public perceptions and capturing the acceptability of air pollution and carbon reduction policies. The design and implementation of the Skyline Game is described and the case study data for >2500 players across six European cities is analysed to better understand what influences citizen decision-making (e.g. health, environment, economy, personal satisfaction) and enable a scenario creation process with citizen at the centre and empowered to visualise clean, low carbon, healthy futures for their city.