The UK Is Testing An Escape Room for Climate Policy
At Strategy Room sessions run by British research agency Nesta, participants discuss and then vote on policies to address global warming.
The Strategy Room, at which a dozen people debate and then vote on climate policies, is a UK project to help councils design better solutions.
Courtesy of NestaIn 2007, a climate change experiment captured the imagination of 60,000 people all over the planet. World Without Oil, created by the legendary US game designer Ken Eklund, imagined an overnight oil shortage that pushed gas prices up to $4 per gallon, then asked participants to consider how it would change their lives. People wrote blogs, recorded voicemail messages, drew comics and made videos portraying riots, price shocks, food shortages and — eventually — a society that figures out how to exist without oil.
Among those captivated by the experiment was Kathy Peach, who designs programs for Nesta, a UK research agency. Peach came across World Without Oil a decade after the experiment’s conclusion, while looking at methods for engaging people in policymaking. The project’s tag-line — “Play it before you live it” — struck a chord with her.