Safe Haven – Landslides: A Serious Game for Enhancing Landslide Risk Awareness and Management

Effectively communicating natural hazard risks to diverse audiences remains a critical challenge in fostering resilience. Safe Haven – Landslides, developed within the Horizon Europe The HuT project, is a tabletop serious game designed to enhance understanding and management of landslide risk through an engaging, interactive approach.<br><br>The game employs simple yet dynamic card-based mechanics to simulate real-world challenges associated with landslide hazard and risk. Participants need to manage the landslide risk in a region. During the game, they gain insights into the complex interplay of factors influencing landslide risk and explore effective mitigation strategies. Target audiences include high-school students, educators, and different stakeholders offering them a collaborative, interactive environment to discuss and experiment with risk management concepts.<br><br>Preliminary testing has demonstrated Safe Haven’s ability to foster engagement and improve participants’ awareness of landslide dynamics and mitigation strategies. Building on this success, the game has been adapted for other hazards, such as floods (Safe Haven – Floods), and further developments are underway to address heatwaves (Safe Haven – Heat Waves), broadening its relevance and impact.<br><br>This presentation will explore the design, implementation, and preliminary outcomes of Safe Haven – Landslides, illustrating how game-based approaches can serve as powerful tools for geoscience communication, education, and training.<br><br>To quantify the game’s impact, we developed pre- and post-experience questionnaires aimed at assessing participants’ knowledge, attitudes, and understanding of landslide hazard and risk before and after engaging with the game. The questionnaires included a series of questions designed to measure changes in risk perception, comprehension of mitigation strategies, and overall awareness of landslide dynamics and management strategies.<br><br>The results were analysed by comparing pre- and post-game responses, providing valuable insights into how the game influences participants’ understanding of landslide risks. Early findings suggest significant improvements in knowledge retention and a deeper understanding of the highlight the potential of game-based approaches in promoting proactive risk management and resilience.<br><br>This study contributes to the ongoing discussion on how to effectively evaluate the impact of risk communication initiatives. It also proposes a framework for assessing the effectiveness of educational and outreach activities aimed at enhancing public awareness of natural hazards.