As a part of the International Architecture & Design Showcase, Greece came up with an original idea presenting a social game: Polyopolis Athens.

Featured on the 23 June as a result of the collaboration between Embassy of Greece and SARCHA, the role-playing event engaged about 100 people divided into groups of interests: investors, property owners, shop/small scale manufacture owners and unemployed, all introduced by the Athens Mayor, supported by the city guardians and commissary, negotiating how to resolve complex issues related to various resources characterising the building sector.

Trying to find the ultimate solutions facing unequal distribution of the resources, players proposed a course of action in a building sector, collaborating with co-players within a restrictive time-frame.

The game, as an innovative form of a problem solving activity immersed in an urban environment of economic recession, created a stage for an intense discussion. Presenting the most ultimate ideas for a city transformation was a group of shop owners, as one of the winners summed up: “once again the entrepreneurs' inventiveness showed the way ahead.”

The International Architecture and Design Showcase runs from 21 June to 23 September and is an opportunity to share a global debate about architecture and society. Full details of the programme of evenets and exhibitions can be found here.