Category Archives: Methods/Methodology

Playing for change: games that bring people together around food

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How can games help people connect with their neighbours, share food, and create more sustainable communities? The CULTIVATE Library of Citizen Engagement, developed by partners including Wageningen University & Research, brings together practical tools, resources and games that encourage social participation in food-sharing activities.

From exploring the future of food sharing to caring for community gardens and discovering edible plants, these games offer creative ways to learn, exchange experiences and work together on local food-related challenges.

Exploring the future of food sharing

Food-sharing initiatives can strengthen social connections and contribute to more sustainable food systems. But how do these initiatives work in practice, and what challenges do they face?

The game The Future of Food Sharing invites players to explore these questions together. Using Quest Cards, Tool Cards and optional Risk Cards, players consider real-life challenges and discuss possible approaches to food-sharing initiatives. The game offers a practical way to exchange ideas and explore solutions collectively.

Finding common ground in community gardens

Community gardens bring people together around a shared space, but maintaining one also involves everyday decisions and challenges. The game Common Ground explores what it takes to care for a community garden.

Players consider topics such as teamwork, biodiversity, harvesting, climate pressure and soil health. By working through different situations, they can reflect on how to manage shared spaces, balance different priorities and care for the environment together.

Learning about food sharing through play

Food sharing can also be a way to introduce children to healthy eating, nature and community cooperation. In Grandma is Coming!, players work together to collect ingredients from a neighbourhood food forest and complete Grandma’s favourite healthy recipe before she reaches the end of the path.

Along the way, children learn about food forests, composting, healthy eating and the idea that food can come from places beyond the supermarket. The game combines cooperation and play with an introduction to more sustainable food practices.

Discovering edible plants and sharing food memories

How many edible wild plants do you know? The free print-and-play card game Let’s Eat invites players to explore the plants growing in their urban surroundings, share food memories and create recipes with their neighbours.

The game encourages players to get to know one another, exchange experiences and develop new recipes using wild plants found in the city.

Explore the Citizen Engagement Library

These games show how playful activities can open up conversations about food, sustainability and community life. They provide opportunities for people to share knowledge, explore different perspectives and consider how they can work together in their own neighbourhoods.

The games are part of the CULTIVATE Library of Citizen Engagement, developed by project partners including Wageningen University & Research. The library brings together practical tools, resources and games designed to support engagement and social participation in food-sharing activities.

Would you like to try the games yourself? Explore the CULTIVATE Library of Citizen Engagement and watch the tutorials to learn how to play and use the games in your own community.

The games were developed as part of the CULTIVATE project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme (grant agreement No. 101083377).

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Yoshida Shrine and reflections on field work in Kyoto

It is a hot day in Kyoto city. The heat and incessant sound of Cicadas (蝉, Semi) indicate the end of the rainy season and start of the summer heat in Japan. Notorious for its high temperatures and high humidity, we were warned prior to our arrival that we should brace ourselves for this warm period. Usually running from half July to half September, because Kyoto is surrounded by high hills, the summer period in the city is often described as more intense compared to other cities in Japan. The heat becomes trapped in the urban maze and lingers around with little room to escape.

After a day in the air-conditioned office, before going home I figured to visit the Yoshida shrine close to the Kyoto University campus. Before exiting the air-conditioned office, I took a moment to brace myself for the one-two punch of heat and humidity that is forced upon you. Walking out of the Law and Economics faculty building, I have quickly found an optimal route through buildings and under trees to reach the campus gate. From here on out, the sun hits the tarmac with no shade in sight, so I am forced to face the heat head on. Taking a sharp left, I am greeted by a large vermilion Torii（鳥居) gate, which indicates a boundary between the mundane physical realm and the spiritual realm. Inconveniently, this Torii gate first leads to a parking lot from where you can see the stairs going up a hill to the first actual shrine area. Dragging myself over the parking lot, the spiritual realm does not offer any relief in temperature so far.

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Upcoming launch | Library for Transformative Play

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We’re happy to share the upcoming launch of the Library for Transformative Play. On 24 February (16:00–17:00), the library will be launched at Impulse, Wageningen Campus, inviting participants to explore how playful and creative activities can support collaboration across disciplinary boundaries.

Location: Speaker’s Corner Impulse, Wageningen Campus
Date & time: 24 February, 16:00–17:00

The Library brings together games and materials designed to:
– surface worldviews
– facilitate collective imagination
– stay with the trouble
– unmake systems
– embrace ambiguity

👉 Register here

Playing with the Trouble is a 4-year project funded by the Centre for Unusual Collaborations (CUCo). For questions, please reach out to Jessica Duncan.

Field Notes: On the way

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Today, I’m on my way with a friend to visit an agroecological farm started a few years ago by a group of purged academics—scholars dismissed from their university positions during Turkey’s 2016 political crackdown. Once part of the local university, they turned to cultivating a few acres of land just outside the city. The farm still survives, though not without struggle.

As we bumped along the road toward the fields, our conversation drifted across dozens of topics—including the use of pesticides. Then suddenly, my friend turned to me and asked, “Have you heard of the ‘Black Wounds’—Birîna Reş?”

I hadn’t.

It was the early years of the Cold War. Turkey had been included in the U.S. Marshall Aid plan—not for post-war reconstruction, but for building a strategic alignment near the border with the Soviet Union. Alongside shipments of powdered milk and food came military bases. And toward the end of the 1950s, a shipment of wheat seeds treated with pesticide arrived in Turkey. The government distributed these seeds for free to landowners affiliated with the ruling party. But instead of planting them, many landowners sold the wheat cheaply on the open market. Easy money.

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Pre-launch | Citizen Engagement Library

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The CULTIVATE team at Wageningen University & Research is thrilled to announce the pre-launch of the Citizen Engagement Library! This resource is a growing collection of strategies, materials, and tools designed to foster greater participation among citizens, policymakers, and organizations in food-sharing activities.

From participatory budgeting and citizen assemblies to mobile kitchens and European-wide campaigns, there are countless ways to engage communities in shaping food systems, addressing challenges, and driving meaningful change. However, reliable, detailed information about these engagement mechanisms can be hard to find. That’s where we need your help!

We are seeking input to improve and expand the Citizen Engagement Library, and there are two ways you can contribute:

1. Fill Out the Citizen Engagement Library Survey

We’ve created a survey to introduce you to the Library and gather your feedback on its current format and content. Your input will help us make the Library as useful and accessible as possible!

👉 Take the Survey
📅 Deadline: December 5th

If you have any questions about the survey or the Library, feel free to contact Ana-Maria at ana-maria.gatejel@wur.nl.

2. Contribute Tools & Games

Do you know of a tool or game that would make a great addition to the Library? After completing the survey, you can:

  • Add an entry directly to the Library using the “Add Tool” or “Add Game” feature in the Citizen Engagement Library app, or
  • Email us the description and link to the tool or game at ana-maria.gatejel@wur.nl.

Explore the Library and Share with Your Networks

Check out the Citizen Engagement Library here:
citizenengagementlibrary.softr.app

Together, we can create a robust resource that empowers communities and fosters collaboration in food-sharing initiatives worldwide. Thank you for being part of this exciting journey! 

Warm regards,
The CULTIVATE Team