At Dutch Design Week 2025, Federico Andreotti from Wageningen University & Research presents Game Design and Play for a Thriving Planet, a project that uses serious game design to make complex systems, such as food and farming, tangible and playful.
In this short Q&A we asked Federico how design, play, and technology come together to shape livable futures.
What inspired you to create this project?
I wanted to bring creative and design methods into education. I use serious game design and play to visualize and make tangible complex systems, especially those related to farming and food systems.
How does technology play a role in your design?
While the games are analog, they help participants reflect on technologies and knowledge to address global challenges. The games become âboundary objectsâ: Â tools to explore narratives around sustainability and scientific evidence.
How do you collaborate with engineers or researchers?
Design thinking plays a crucial role in co-designing serious games with students, researchers, and stakeholders. We collaborate with external studios, and within WUR we connect with partners like the DesignLab at the University of Twente.
In your view, why is design also technology?
Design allows us to explore and test possible solutions and in that sense, itâs a form of technology itself. Through design, we co-produce livable future scenarios.
What do you hope visitors will take away from DDW 2025?
I hope visitors leave curious and empowered, realizing that they too can use design and play to shape sustainable futures. The exhibition invites them to engage, to imagine what âless hope, more actionâ could mean in their own context.
Through serious game design, participants and visitors alike experience how collaboration, creativity, and reflection can turn complex systems into something tangible and approachable. I hope that this experience sparks new conversations, not only at Dutch Design Week, but also in classrooms, communities, and research spaces beyond it.
Learn more about Game Design and Play for a Thriving Planet  here and explore the project at Dutch Design Week 2025.