Canadian cities should be the ones to make this ‘maverick’ IT prediction come true
by Shane Schick — Jan 27 '14
She called it her “maverick prediction,” and laughed, but Ruthbea Yesner Clarke sincerely believes the games within innovative municipalities are about to begin.
The research director at IDC Government Insights was speaking in a Webinar late last week that went over her firm’s top 10 predictions for so-called “smart cities” in 2014. The prediction I focused on was No. 6, which said “Leading Edge Cities (Will) Experiment With Gamification as First Step To Nudge Citizen Behavior Change.” This was an international discussion, but sadly, Canada was nowhere to be seen.
“This is the year that a few leading-edge cities will realize that the gaming industry has already gotten a lot of this figured out in making products that are super-sticky, that are so compelling that people log into them day after day. Why not create some city programs that do the same?” Yesner Clarke said. “There is no limit to the fun that could be had here, with real, measurable results.”
Some of the examples IDC Government Insights highlighted included Stockholm, Sweden’s Speed Camera Lottery. The project captured snapshots of more than 25,000 cars over three days. Those obeying the speed limits were put in a lottery where the winner’s prizes were financed by the fines of those who sped. Yesner Clarke also pointed to Boston’s “StreetCred” initiative, which offers rewards for acts of civic engagement.
Whatever the form gamification in cities takes, Yesner Clarke said it was important to remember the word “nudge” in the IDC prediction. This is about influence more than coercion. “Indirect positive reinforcement affects behavior change more than legislated or forced compliance,” she said.
While many of IDC Government Insights’ other predictions — like greater use of cloud computing and big data — are more short-term, Yesner Clarke admitted that municipal gamification is “probably the one that reaches beyond the 12-18 month timeframe.” Still, given that a lot of what happens in cities is about making changes, managing change or encouraging change at various levels, she said gamification is a way to harness that innate motivation among citizens.
“If they can spend hours stuck to Candy Crush Saga on their smartphones, why can’t cities get a few minutes of interaction every week with their citizens in a meaningful way with some sort of similar medium?”
Why not indeed? And maybe more to the point, why couldn’t Canadian gamification researchers be the ones to show cities around the world how it’s done?
