Playing the Glasgow Game during the Unusual Suspects Festival

The game was developed by the GCPH and based on the ‘World Game’ created by International Futures Forum. It is based on a comprehensive system model of the city based on 12 critical factors such as education, transport, community safety, mindset, social capital and so on. Each player or group of players takes responsibility for one of these domains, rather like Ministers in a government. The Game then takes the players on a journey deeper and deeper into the complex connections and interactions between these domains, both now and into the future.

What emerges by the finish is a considered agenda for action – effectively in this context the discovery of where social innovation might be most needed in the city and what forms it should take in order to be effective in a world where no problem can be effectively considered alone. The Game has been played in a wide variety of settings – with community groups, in schools, for community planning, with groups of strategists and policymakers – and has become a critical resource for thinking about Glasgow’s resilience in the context of Glasgow’s participation in the Rockefeller resilient cities programme.

The Unusual Suspects Festival provides the opportunity to engage with people you don't normally cross paths with – whether that's a football club down the road or the local food bank or an innovation agency in Denmark – to think about new and different ways we can solve big social challenges – from developing thriving communities to designing better public services to innovating the criminal justice sector.

We played the game on Friday 9 October 2015 as part of the festival. If you'd like to arrange to play the game, please contact Bruce Whyte.