On 27 October 2026, as part of Circular Week 2026 within EU Green Week, the room became a neighbourhood: every phone a resident, every vote a decision about the city.

“Welcome to Eurbania” was a 60-minute interactive session on one question: how can games help us teach citizen participation for more sustainable neighbourhoods? Instead of listening to a talk, participants scanned a QR code, chose a pixel-art character and moved into Eurbania, the imaginary neighbourhood built over twelve years by three European projects.

From their phones, the residents voted live and played together:

• The Game Lab: what makes a process a game, and what changes when you hack the rules of a classic like snakes and ladders.
• Life in Eurbania: the stories behind the neighbourhood, from 52 good practices of participation collected in 25 cities and 12 countries.
• Game Builder: the room designed a new game, choosing actors, a place, a participatory tool and a challenge, from citizens’ councils and tactical urbanism to lockdowns, floods and political change, then test-played it together.

Eurbania is the common world of three projects that teach participation through games: Eurbanities (2015–2018), Eurbanities 2.0 (2019–2022) and JustUrbanities (2024–2027). Their games have been played in community events, co-design workshops, train-the-trainer courses and university classes in 11 European cities.

Missed the session, or want to play it again? Explore Eurbania at your own pace, in English, Italian or German: