Cities are increasingly important for the well-being of humans, other species, and the whole biosphere. Recently, there has been growing awareness of cities being inhabited by multiple species whose needs are entangled. In this thesis, a set of positive scenarios and pathways towards multispecies cities were created with the aim to evoke the reader’s imagination, stepping away from quantitative and linear methods of scenario building on the one hand and negative imaginaries of environmental and social destruction on the other hand. Using Solarpunk stories as input to a backcasting process that combined the theories of the Nature Futures Framework, climate resilient development, and multispecies sustainability, the thesis suggested new imaginaries of how the future of cities might look through a multispecies lens. Examples include multispecies climate adaptation, animal social security, and interspecies relationships. An interactive story communicates the results of the thesis with the potential to engage a wider audience beyond academia and challenge the readers’ current beliefs about the future of cities. The story can be played here: https://reettarossi.itch.io/multispecies-cities. The thesis contributes to the pursuit of developing transformative representations of the future that inspire action and help people make better decisions today. Since everybody has their own ideas of what is a desirable city, there is a need to continue developing a plurality of desirable images of urban futures.

Alongside societal change and more sustainable living, new technologies and research will be important in becoming carbon neutral. Multiple modern board games have some form of technological progression and research in their theme, presented by game mechanics like “tech trees”. Since board games are known for being great at explaining their themes via mechanics, this study looks at how they can present the development of new green technologies. The Mariestad climate board game is a board game where players compete to try to reduce pollution in the municipality. It was also used as the artifact for this study. Through its development several groups of testers played it and then partook in semi-structured interviews, about how they experienced the game and its portrayal of technology and climate change. Overall the testers liked the mechanics, but future testing with longer test sessions are needed in the future on the topic.

Games can be a great way to create awareness and engagement about climate change, and may even encourage players to take action in real life. This thesis work aims to determine how well a graphic style inspired by Solarpunk fits the content and message of the Mariestad Climate board game, as well as researching whether including site-specific elements makes it more engaging. Four illustrated cards, two card backsides, and a game board were created for this purpose, and were evaluated via three in-person game test sessions and an online questionnaire. Results showed that a Solarpunk-inspired graphic style fit the game’s content, showing an optimistic version of the future players reacted positively to. Including site-specific elements created a local connection with the players and increased their engagement. Future work includes developing the game further according to the study’s results, as well as the possibility of creating versions related to other municipalities that are part of the Viable Cities project.