The CiFoS game: a serious game to redesign food systems for human and planetary health

The CiFoS game: a serious game to redesign food systems for human and planetary health | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article The CiFoS game: a serious game to redesign food systems for human and planetary health F. Andreotti, D. J. A. Hordijk, A. Frehner, A. Muller, D. Mason-D'Croz, and 4 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8616869/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Food systems are exceeding planetary boundaries, and endanger both human and planetary health. Transforming these systems requires stakeholder engagement and constructive dialogue for acknowledging the diversity of views and values from different actors within the food system. Serious games have proven effective in fostering collaboration and exploring social-ecological dynamics, yet a holistic food system game linking planetary and human health remains absent. This paper presents the CiFoS Game, a serious game designed to explore food system transformation strategies, showing both the individual and collective impacts of diets, production choices and circularity principles on environment and human health. Co-designed with university students, food system experts, and game designers, the game was tested in multiple pilot sessions in different contexts. Throughout its development, multiple dynamics were added in a step-by-step process to enhance complexity, while improving and aligning already existing dynamics along the way. Results highlight its potential to facilitate learning and support discussions, connecting dietary and production choices to food sustainability challenges. By engaging stakeholders in interactive explorations of food system transformations, the CiFoS game can serve as a boundary crossing tool to foster dialogue, create common understanding and support collaboration towards sustainable food futures for human and planetary health Food systems transformation serious game dialogue game design Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8616869","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":575466693,"identity":"f75a7f0f-edc3-4b08-9bee-7acf840e7bd5","order_by":0,"name":"F. 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Transforming these systems requires stakeholder engagement and constructive dialogue for acknowledging the diversity of views and values from different actors within the food system. Serious games have proven effective in fostering collaboration and exploring social-ecological dynamics, yet a holistic food system game linking planetary and human health remains absent. This paper presents the CiFoS Game, a serious game designed to explore food system transformation strategies, showing both the individual and collective impacts of diets, production \u0026nbsp;choices and circularity principles on environment and human health. Co-designed with university \u0026nbsp;students, food system experts, and game designers, the game was tested in multiple pilot sessions \u0026nbsp;in different contexts. Throughout its development, multiple dynamics were added in a step-by-step \u0026nbsp;process to enhance complexity, while improving and aligning already existing dynamics along the way. Results highlight its potential to facilitate learning and support discussions, connecting dietary and production choices to food sustainability challenges. By engaging stakeholders in \u0026nbsp;interactive explorations of food system transformations, the CiFoS game can serve as a boundary \u0026nbsp;crossing tool to foster dialogue, create common understanding and support collaboration towards \u0026nbsp;sustainable food futures for human and planetary health\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"The CiFoS game: a serious game to redesign food systems for human and planetary health","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-01-19 05:15:06","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8616869/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"49f97c8c-5a5c-4b9a-aee5-88cc3d9c2aef","owner":[],"postedDate":"January 19th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-01-19T05:15:06+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-01-19 05:15:06","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8616869","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8616869","identity":"rs-8616869","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}