City Case Description: Rotterdam, Gaming & Inclusivity

How does “prototyping” work?

This City Case Description is the outcome of a policy prototyping exercise within a city ecosystem.
Once the ekip research team has explored a policy area and its connection to cultural and creative
industries (CCIs) and innovation, we ask: what would this mean in a local city context?

Together with local stakeholders, we test how a draft policy recommendation might stimulate innovation. Using Portfolio Sensemaking, stakeholders simulate an innovation portfolio, analyse the strengths and gaps of the local support system, and identify what resources are needed to realise the portfolio.

rotterdam Context & Area of Focus

Rotterdam is considered a forward-thinking city. It is also a superdiverse city: because of the port and its connection with the rest of the globe, Rotterdam has attracted people from all over the world for decades.

Nowadays, over 170 different nationalities call the city their home. Recently, the term ‘superdiversity’ was used by anthropologist Steven Vertovec as a way of looking at the mix of identities in our cities in a less reductive, less statistical way. Superdiverse cities like Rotterdam bring with them a next stage in the integration process, where ethnicity is no longer the most important, let alone the sole, factor with which people define themselves. Instead of the old dividing lines of ethnicity or language, superdiversity seems to create new connections. Communities also start being based on other factors, such as education level, religion, profession, sexual orientation, or neighborhood, in which many ethnic backgrounds and languages are mixed. (source: Independent School for the City, Rotterdam, 2022)

Together with experts, we explored the opportunities and challenges in Rotterdam. We organized two
policy prototyping exercises: one specifically on accessibility, and one on the opportunity of improved community dynamics and social interactions— enhancing both virtual and real-world environments, and promoting social cohesion. We also explored what kind of policy is needed to support this.