Co-benefits game empowers cities to co-create climate solutions
How do you turn the challenge of climate action into something tangible, collaborative, and even playful? At the recent NetZeroCitiesEU Mission Conference in Vilnius (Lithuania), three EU-funded projects supporting 32 cities with urban planning and design innovation demonstrated just that.
Re-Value, together with UP2030 and CLIMABOROUGH, presented the NEB Impact Model Dominoes game at the Urban Planning & Design Cluster stand as a practical way to approach collaboration on climate action. The game turns theory into action, encouraging players to explore co-benefits and identify conflicts of interest within their projects. More than 250 game kits were distributed mainly to city representatives who can now bring this fresh, hands-on method back to their municipal offices.
Over three inspiring days at LITEXPO, the cluster stand became a space for exchanging ideas, sharing tools, and starting meaningful conversations about how design and planning can accelerate progress towards climate neutrality. But the experience went well beyond talk.
A colourful resource corner drew participants in with interactive, QR-linked publication covers, an easy way to learn more about each project and share feedback. Visitors also had the chance to watch exclusive short films featuring urban transformation stories from six Re-Value cities: Ålesund, Bruges, Burgas, Rimini, Constanța, and Rijeka. Each visitor could take home one of the cluster cities’ postcards and step out of the traditional European urban circuit, into cities and spaces that hardly get the spotlight.
The cluster also hosted a World Café session on “Urban Planning and Design for Climate Impact,” offering a hands-on exchange of ideas on how collaboration, imagination, and local action are key to building climate-neutral cities. As shared by a representative from the City of Riga, "we should prioritise working with citizens to change their habits that have negative climate impacts."
The Re-Value partners felt connected to other European and Mission cities, and gathered feedback and insights which will help them further guide the project. A big thank you to all the city representatives, practitioners, and policymakers who helped make this happen. We’re excited to keep the momentum going - and we’re already looking forward to our next cluster initiative!
If you missed us in Vilnius, you can still explore the projects that made this possible: Re-Value, UP2030 and CLIMABOROUGH.
You are more than welcome to try out the game with your community. Here you can download cards and instructions. Feel free to share any feedback with marjan [dot] khaleghi [at] ntnu [dot] no ().
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Authors: ICLEI Europe
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