Designing multispecies role-playing games: From human-nature partnerships towards multispecies justice
Abstract Current global socioecological crises are rooted in an anthropocentric worldview that sees humans as separate from and superior to the rest of nature. Urban sustainability planning is also anthropocentric in that it often regards non-human species as mere service providers. While anthropoce...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-08-01
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| Series: | npj Urban Sustainability |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-025-00257-1 |
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| author | Philip Harms Neelakshi Joshi Stefan Knauß |
| author_facet | Philip Harms Neelakshi Joshi Stefan Knauß |
| author_sort | Philip Harms |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Current global socioecological crises are rooted in an anthropocentric worldview that sees humans as separate from and superior to the rest of nature. Urban sustainability planning is also anthropocentric in that it often regards non-human species as mere service providers. While anthropocentric approaches to planning are called into question, there is currently a lack of methods for incorporating more-than-human voices into planning. This paper presents multispecies role-playing games as a method of engaging with urban planning from a more-than-human perspective. First, we show how to design multispecies role-playing games based on human-nature partnership ethics. Second, we present how a multispecies justice lens can help to improve the design and application of such games in urban sustainability planning. Our findings suggest that multispecies role-playing games are a valuable method for applying ideas of multispecies justice in urban planning education, practice and research. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-07ba48cf04d04bd2a9b0e3cc5e7b5f6c |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2661-8001 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-08-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | npj Urban Sustainability |
| spelling | doaj-art-07ba48cf04d04bd2a9b0e3cc5e7b5f6c2025-08-24T11:33:16ZengNature Portfolionpj Urban Sustainability2661-80012025-08-01511810.1038/s42949-025-00257-1Designing multispecies role-playing games: From human-nature partnerships towards multispecies justicePhilip Harms0Neelakshi Joshi1Stefan Knauß2Research Area Landscape, Ecosystems and Biodiversity, Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional DevelopmentResearch Area Landscape, Ecosystems and Biodiversity, Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional DevelopmentJust Transition Center, Martin Luther University Halle-WittenbergAbstract Current global socioecological crises are rooted in an anthropocentric worldview that sees humans as separate from and superior to the rest of nature. Urban sustainability planning is also anthropocentric in that it often regards non-human species as mere service providers. While anthropocentric approaches to planning are called into question, there is currently a lack of methods for incorporating more-than-human voices into planning. This paper presents multispecies role-playing games as a method of engaging with urban planning from a more-than-human perspective. First, we show how to design multispecies role-playing games based on human-nature partnership ethics. Second, we present how a multispecies justice lens can help to improve the design and application of such games in urban sustainability planning. Our findings suggest that multispecies role-playing games are a valuable method for applying ideas of multispecies justice in urban planning education, practice and research.https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-025-00257-1 |
| spellingShingle | Philip Harms Neelakshi Joshi Stefan Knauß Designing multispecies role-playing games: From human-nature partnerships towards multispecies justice npj Urban Sustainability |
| title | Designing multispecies role-playing games: From human-nature partnerships towards multispecies justice |
| title_full | Designing multispecies role-playing games: From human-nature partnerships towards multispecies justice |
| title_fullStr | Designing multispecies role-playing games: From human-nature partnerships towards multispecies justice |
| title_full_unstemmed | Designing multispecies role-playing games: From human-nature partnerships towards multispecies justice |
| title_short | Designing multispecies role-playing games: From human-nature partnerships towards multispecies justice |
| title_sort | designing multispecies role playing games from human nature partnerships towards multispecies justice |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-025-00257-1 |
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