Supporting Local Climate Adaptation through Playful Design

This project explores how playful design can empower local communities to better understand and respond to climate change risks, particularly in vulnerable coastal areas. While many adaptation initiatives emphasize engagement—raising awareness, participation, and dialogue—this project investigates what is needed to move from engagement to empowerment: enabling real-life action and sustained change.

Through participatory, creative, and game-based methods, the project examines how play can make climate adaptation more tangible, accessible, and emotionally resonant. By combining local knowledge with design experimentation, we seek to uncover the conditions under which playful approaches promote agency, collaboration, and trust among community members, practitioners, and climate-related initiatives.

The work critically reflects on what is often missing in climate adaptation projects: the mechanisms that translate temporary engagement into lasting empowerment and impact. Ultimately, the project aims to contribute to both theory and practice by demonstrating how playful, co-creative processes can bridge the gap between awareness and action—helping communities not only to imagine but also to implement more resilient and adaptive futures.