Design Tools and Complexity: Mobile Games and Collective Imagination

This paper is based on a hypothesis that games can be used to support design  decisions in a variety of complex situations. To explore this proposition, the  research described below focuses on two aspects. Firstly, it experiments with the  potential of games to be socially provocative. And secondly, it applies the induced  provocations in support of collective imagination. This discussion is supported by  a practical case study: a working prototype of a smartphone game that simulates  urban cycling. The paper discusses utilisation of this game by diverse  stakeholders in a workshop that sought to advance decision-making in a  particularly vexatious stalemate.