New Urban Mechanics Labs
Designing in the cracks, fissures, and in-betweens of civic life: where jurisdiction is unclear, struggles and taboo subjects abound, and the unexpected is a building block for beginning something New. The is the place the New Urban Mechanics work.
The New Urban Mechanics Labs is a new, emerging place where these mechanics, these civic innovators, these caregivers standing alone on limbs trying something new, can call a living room. A place to share, to be seen, to rest, to refuel, to be inspired, to experiment, to find the next right thing to do in building a more peaceful, equitable, and curious world.
Caring At The Threshold
Caring at the Threshold: Innovation as Care
A Paper by Stephen Walter & Kim Lucas where we argue innovation is a form of care.
View the extended abstract here.
Civic Research Agenda
As a member of the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, I helped write the City of Boston’s first ever Civic Research Agenda, which we described as: “A primer on the questions we're asking, the problems that stump us, and the partnerships we need.” Read it here!
Engagement Game Guide
With Pablo Suarez, Director of Innovation of the International Red Cross / Red Crescent Climate Centre, and Eric Gordon, I helped write and design this guide for designing what we called “Engagement Games” - games that facilitate real-world actions. Or more specifically, games where the very moves one makes are themselves actions in the real world that contribute to the solving of a problem.
UNDP Games For Development Workshops + Fellowship
I helped launch a multiyear partnership between the United Nations Development Programme and the Engagement Lab and grew interest UN-wide over the power of serious games for issues related to international development, human rights, and sustainability. This started with co-designing and leading a series of game design for social change workshops in Cairo, Moldova, and Bhutan, where a number of projects, both big and small, were born, some of which are still going strong today, 10 years later. Watch a video!
Risk horizon
The global view of risk management as an unaffordable cost, especially in developing countries. The game Risk Horizon allows participants to learn risk management through experiential gameplay. More than 5,000 government employees worldwide found it to be the most memorable part of the course, highlighting its potential to change perceptions of risk management as a development tool.
Unlocking Health
A digital game that immerses players in a fictional world called Zariba, where they act as World Bank Results-Based Financing (RBF) for Health consultants, designing and implementing an RBF program. They face real-world challenges and adapt their strategies to meet healthcare service goals. The game has two phases and lasts 45 minutes, with the option to replay. In Phase 1, players explore, gather information, and create an RBF program proposal. In Phase 2, they monitor and adapt the program in real time. Developed with the World Bank and played by hundreds of health policy experts around the world.
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