Mitigating Future Crisis Through Collective Meaning Making

Sammanfattning

Future crises such as natural disasters will be shaped by climate change and involve complex causal relationshipsaffecting multiple societal actors. To enhance understanding and engagement with these challenges, this paperpresents a large-scale social game (megagame) approach designed to explore energy production, distribution, andconsumption within a broader socio-political context. Megagames, as large-scale social simulations, enableparticipants to experience decision-making processes, trade-offs, and systemic interdependencies. Findings fromsix iterations of the game reveal that participants struggle to act early enough to mitigate emissions, prioritizingshort-term goals over long-term sustainability. However, through gameplay, they develop a deeper awareness ofthe interconnectedness of energy, society, and climate. The game fosters experiential learning, demonstrating thechallenges of transforming energy systems while addressing climate-induced disasters. Results suggest thatmegagames can be effective tools for fostering systems thinking, stakeholder collaboration, and climate action,making them valuable for education, policy development, and crisis preparedness.