Description
Wardrop, A., Daniell, K.A., Feldman, H.R. (2023) Apprehending cybernetic water system dynamics and futures? A review of games and immersive environments for education and foresighting. In: Proceedings of the Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium 2023, 12-15 Nov, Sydney, Australia, pp. 1010-1018. ISBN: 978-1-925627-81-7 ABSTRACT Water planning, management and policy-making are regularly contentious and challenging. Decisions are often made with a lack of engagement with those affected by them, due to constraints including governance cultures, ignorance, timing, funding and power dynamics. Such decisions typically have follow-on equity and environmental effects, and set in train the building of futures through infrastructures, technologies, and the development of rules, norms and new systems such as education and training to support these imagined futures. In order to apprehend what kinds of impacts might result from such decisions and future imaginations in complex cybernetic water systems-those with interrelated environmental, social and technological facets driven by a series of feedback and communication structures-and to take these into account to ensure future systems are more safe, sustainable and responsible for all, many approaches have been proposed. These range from modelling and simulation, to scenario development and assessments, to game-based explorations and immersive experiences in physical or natural environments and through the use of augmented reality/virtual reality. Each approach typically has an imagined collection of people who will engage with it, determining who participates, what perspectives are included, what the purpose is, and can be how effective it is at meeting its desired objectives. To support the hydrology and water resources community, this paper reviews some of the less- common approaches in expert water communities-games and immersive storytelling/making experiences-that May engage actors typically missing from current decision processes including marginalised communities, youth and future generations. Based on a number of interrelated cybernetic principles-perspective plurality, navigating productive discomfort, visible feedback/connections, and synergy for effective collective action-examples of these methods and the findings of their utility are provided for water education and foresighting, as well as what emerging technologies are being deployed, or could be, to improve future efficacy.| Period | 13 Nov 2023 → … |
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| Event title | Conference paper contribution - 'Apprehending cybernetic water system dynamics and futures? A review of games and immersive environments for education and foresighting' for Proceedings of the Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium |
| Event type | Other |