Sustainable Mobility as a Sport

Abstract

In recent years many studies focused on steering behavioural change to face the climate crisis. A significant part of these opted to deal with mobility habits, i.e. prompting citizens towards more conscious and sustainable choices. One widely used approach involved game techniques to hack the habit loop by exploiting the similarities that keep players hooked. In this context, narrative can be key in engaging people’s emotions. It can facilitate the integration of game elements and emphasise the tension that arouses emotional reactions and fuels the desire to play. Several examples of games with distinct narratives exist in the context of individual mobility. After conducting several field research, it emerged that mere game mechanics of ‘prizes for sustainable travel’ would not have been able to generate lasting behavioural change besides severe scalability limitations. The proposed research originated from previous work and focused on creating an entirely novel narrative able to change the experience of moving around the city by leveraging those values that encourage people to rethink their daily choices. These reflections lead to MUV, a digital game that turns sustainable urban mobility into a sport and citizens into athletes competing in various disciplines such as walking, cycling or public transport. According to their performance, they can level up from amateur to professional, gaining fame and honours. This approach demonstrated significant engagement and impact results, particularly concerning CO2 savings. Therefore, the ‘mobility as a sport’ narrative proved crucial to involve citizens actively, make them feel part of a cohesive movement and nudge them to build greener and healthier habits.