Embedded Files
Where will you zone for more homes? Get ready to negotiate!
The San Francisco Bay Area faces a housing crisis. With far more people wanting to live here than there are homes, rents have risen to record heights. However, building new housing isn't easy, with concerns about traffic, views, gentrification, and open space, to name just a few. Still, the problem can be solved, though not by San Francisco alone. You'll have to plan and build regionally.
In Bay Area Regional Planner, you'll be given some policy goals to fulfill. On each round, you'll negotiate with the other players to decide where to zone for more housing. Everyone must be in agreement, so get ready to compromise and make coalitions!
Bay Area Regional Planner is for 2-12 players and typical games run 60-120 minutes.
Available at Games of Berkeley on Durant Ave near Telegraph in Berkeley
More than a game
You'll have more than just fun when playing Bay Area Regional Planner: you'll be navigating real world strategies and challenges in the Bay Area planning process. Developed as an educational tool for the San Francisco Bay Area Renters' Federation, Bay Area Regional Planner tries to be as accurate as possible to actual issues and numbers.
Game data on commute time and current numbers of housing units are sourced from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments' Bay Area Census. Policy goals are based on actual feedback to regional plans at ABAG's Plan Bay Area public outreach workshops, and the consensus-based decision making is an abstraction of how the public process here works.
The game has been tested with gamers, housing activists, and the general public. It is my hope that through playing Bay Area Regional Planner, people can get a better understanding of the competing needs of different residents in the region, and understand where and how new homes can be located in this growing region.
Game Board
Game Instructions
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse