Circular City Contest NRW: Development of a playful city competition

The project develops the "Circular City Contest" as a playful format to improve waste prevention, waste separation and the mindful use of resources in everyday life. Existing municipal offerings and relevant topics related to the circular economy are communicated and integrated into “challenges” and “quests.” Various target groups are actively involved in game development and content preparation and are considered in terms of their framework conditions and needs. Fraunhofer UMSICHT develops a multi-criteria assessment system and an evaluation concept that can be used to measure and communicate the activities of the contest participants and their positive effects. The aim is to change awareness, motivation and behavior towards a living circular economy in municipalities.

Conserving resources, avoiding waste and a functioning circular economy are among the key levers for climate protection and sustainable urban development. In everyday life, however, this often fails due to a lack of knowledge and invisible offers (e.g., repair cafés, collection points) and the perception that one's own actions are supposedly ineffective. Circular economy activities by various actors in cities do exist, but they are rarely bundled, hardly visible and are communicated in a less than systematic manner.

Fraunhofer UMSICHT researches practical solutions for the transformation into a circular economy and contributes expertise in environmental psychology, stakeholder involvement and participation and impact assessment to this project. In the "Circular City Contest NRW," municipal offerings are translated into playful challenges, quests and communication elements and linked to a scientifically based, multi-criteria evaluation system. This makes behavioral changes, learning progress and environmental effects measurable, visible and comparable between target groups and municipalities.

The practical outcome is a transferable contest format, a digital platform and an understandable system of key performance indicators that municipalities can use to highlight good practices, target their measures more effectively and involve citizens more effectively. The unique selling point of the project lies in the combination of crossover between the creative industries and the circular economy, municipal circular economy practices and scientific impact measurement, which paves the way for a playful, data-based Circular City experience.

• netz.NRW - Association for Ecology and Social Economy e.V.
• City of Dortmund
• die Urbanisten e.V.
• Fraunhofer UMSICHT