UNR and Conicet developed “Urban Challenge,” a board game that aims to highlight everyday situations in urban life.

How do people inhabit a city? What rights and challenges do those who travel through it every day face? These are some of the questions explored in a new board game developed by specialists from the Science, Technology, and Innovation for the Development of the City. Universidad Nacional de Rosario and CONICET Rosario. 

Designed under the name "Urban Challenge," it is intended for adolescents, young adults, and adults and seeks to highlight urban and environmental issues through challenges and prompts based on scientific research. Using a cooperative approach, it invites participants to reflect on the Right to the City and the value of teamwork to build more inclusive and sustainable spaces.

“Early last year, amidst the context of cutbacks in science and education, science communication festivals and activities began to be organized. The research team I lead, which includes Marianela Casado and Ariel Ocantos as fellows and Ayelén Giraudo as a communications graduate, felt the need to participate in these spaces, but we didn't know how. From the social sciences and the study of urban issues, it's often difficult to showcase results in an engaging way, as is the case in the exact sciences with specific experiments or devices. So we met with the UNR Science Communication Department, expressed our concerns, and from those meetings, the idea of ​​creating this game emerged,” explained Paula Vera, a CONICET researcher and a graduate of the UNR Bachelor's Degree in Social Communication. 

Through a series of work meetings, a game with a collaborative approach took shape, an idea that proved revelatory to many. Rather than displaying results, the game fosters conversations that enrich the research questions and creates spaces for exchange, fulfilling its objective.