In Lowell, Massachusetts, a chance encounter between a city representative and a media expert has resulted in almost 175 citizens getting together to plan a greener future for their city. And it’s all thanks to – online gaming?  Oh, and community values too.

While looking for a fresh way to engage local residents in making her community more environmentally and economically sustainable, Allegra Williams of Lowell’s Department of Planning and Development stumbled onto a multiplayer game used to revamp Boston’s Chinatown neighborhood. She liked the game’s interactive approach, so she reached out to Eric Gordon, the project’s developer, to see if he had any ideas.  

Gordon, Director of Engagement Game Lab and Associate Professor at Emerson College, happened to be in search of a community in which to implement his latest experiment, Community PlanIt, an online game designed to engage citizens in values-based planning.  The project had recently won support from Knight’s Technology for Engagement initiative, which funds projects that leverage technology to help residents take action to strengthen their communities.  A couple conversations later and an agreement to leverage the city’s first annual Sustainability Week, a partnership between Williams and Gordon had been formed. 

“It was great for us that Lowell was willing to take a chance early on,” said Gordon. Williams added, “Overall, the experience was very positive.”

The first step they undertook was adapting the Community PlanIt platform to meet Lowell’s specific community needs. To do so, Williams and Gordon had to create unique “activities” for the game – questions to gauge opinions and information from citizens about various aspects of the community. Williams wanted these to appeal to all ages, so they enlisted six different local youth groups to brainstorm ideas. 

The activities they came up with included questions like, “What would encourage you and others to ride the public bus system more frequently?” and “Which type of business district would you rather have in your neighborhood? Explain why in a comment.” Players could then respond to these questions by selecting answers such as, “better access to information about scheduling and routes” or choosing between photos depicting streets lined with local businesses and drab strip malls.

The next step involved creating community values, areas of concentration that players could spend their coins on after winning points from completing activities and challenges. By awarding voting power in the form of coins that can be spent on a number of values, Community PlanIt argues that the community as a whole can better understand priorities across lines of difference.

“Values don’t solidify anything,” said Gordon, “they’re just a conversation starter.” “Community PlanIt’s values allow people to visualize where the community stands, providing motivation for greater discussion,” he added.

In Lowell, players’ use of coins showed that residents value jobs just as much as arts and culture, with transportation, public safety, education and open space all coming very closely behind. It is the project’s hope that these insights will lend themselves to an air of greater political clarity and understanding. 

Gordon also hopes to improve Community PlanIt’s capacity for discussion during the next phase of implementation by integrating more popular forms of social media. These added social aspects will provide another layer of information to participants’ comments in the game’s interactive discussion board. Emerson’s Steve Schirra will play a central role in developing these capabilities.

Later this summer, Gordon will partner with Boston Public Schools to use Community PlanIt to engage the public in the district’s self-evaluation. The September launch aims to feature availability in multiple languages with help from crowdsourcing translators throughout the community. Further testing in Philadelphia and Akron will also help to refine the platform, ultimately allowing for a plug and play version for any community to use.