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As early as the 1970s, Dupuy (1972) identified some 100 “simulation games” on the theme of cities, which he called “urban games”. His work remains highly relevant, even 45 years on.This issue of NETCOM hopes in particular to collect papers asking the question of what digital technology can bring to urban serious games – it is now clear that these games are serious – and to serious games for urban planning and design, using a mirror effect alongside video games, simulations, paper chases and also paper-and-pencil games and cooperative games.What is an (urban) serious game ?Serious games are currently very highly regarded for their educational and performative benefits. These games are both fun and serious, and when repurposed from their initial entertainment goals they become highly effective learning tools, employing immersion, simulation and co-construction. This explains their success in such diverse fields as training1, the working world and universities.At the intersection of these three worlds, the “jeux et enjeux” (games and challenges) days, held in La Rochelle in June 20172, helped structure a scientific and professional community around games and environmental issues. The next “jeux et enjeux” session, focusing on education through play, will be held in Marseille3 in May 2019. Alongside this community combining games and environmental issues, another community is forming around games and urban issues, though urban simulations, urban video games, serious urban games and, more specifically, “urban planning and design serious games”, as shown by the organization of dedicated study days, such as in Lille in December 2016 on “l’urbanisme, l’architecture et le jeu – jouer pour mieux régner, avec ou sans l’ego ?” (urban planning, architecture and games – play to reign, with or without ego ?)4, focused on urban simulation ; in March 2018, again in Lille, on “L’urbanisme, l’architecture et le jeu vidéo : que fabrique le « game design » ?” (urban planning, architecture and video games : what does ‘game design’ produce ?”5 ; and in November 2018, in Compiègne, on “Les « serious game » pour l’apprentissage de la production de projets urbains” (Serious games for learning and production of urban projects”)6. At the same time, in Marseille in November 2018, events were held for the general public on “la ville en jeux” (the city in games) at the instigation of the association “La Compagnie des rêves urbains”7. That fun day helped consolidate a catalogue8 offering some 60 urban serious games using all mediums and of all types, including construction games, mock-up games, card games, board games, role-playing games, gamebooks and digital games. We are keen to stress that serious games and video games are not the same thing. We will come back to this. It is important to highlight the intersections between serious games and cities, in general, and serious games, urban planning and urban design in particular.Differentiating urban serious games and repurposed video gamesEven before the term “serious game” officially came into being, which Alvarez and Djouti (2010) date to the early 2000s, they were often confused with video games and played simulations. These IT specialists highlight the fact that the first video games were serious games. However, as early as 1970, Abt (1970 ; cited by Dupuy, 1972 ; Alvarez and Djaouti, 2010 ; Kasbi, 2012), a pioneer of computer simulation, distinguished video games and serious games. He considered that serious games could be considered board games, role-playing games, card games and simulation games, based on the educational, professional, marketing and communication goals in question.As such, there is a distinction to be made, as many previous authors have proposed, between serious games and serious gaming – video games repurposed for often educational purposes. The archetypal example of urban serious gaming is certainly SimCity, a city management simulation game that was designed in 1989 for entertainment and swiftly repurposed to teach the geography of North American cities in schools (Soyez, 2015a). Beyond this pioneering experiment, urban video games have already raised geographical questions, looking at the teaching of geography (Ter Minassian and Rufat, 2008), the geography of game spaces (Joliveau, 2012), the spatial practices and representations of players (Ter Minassian et al., 2011 ; Noeppel and Schmoll, 2017) and also their social practices and representations (Rufat et al., 2014 ; Noeppel and Schmoll, 2017), and lastly, the intersection between video games and urban simulation (Rufat and Ter Minassian, 2012 ; Prévot et al. 2016 ; Prévot et al., 2017).Building on these works, but working distinctly from the recent call for papers “L’urbanisme, l’architecture et le jeu vidéo : que fabrique le game design ?” (urban planning, architecture and video games : what does game design produce ?) (Prévot and Buyck, 2018), new contributions could be considered at the crossover between serious games (non-repurposed) and video games, concerning the urban space and the entertaining video game map, and the urban space and the map in recreational video games.Open-air urban serious games and their local foundationGeocaching9, situated somewhere between paper chases, treasure hunts and orienteering, can be considered a form of serious game. Some geocaching activities, organized at the initiative of tourist offices, encourage participants to explore the local area, its historic monuments and its architecture. Examples include the Terra Aventura project aimed at promoting the Limousin area10, or the Massy geocaching project for exploration of its commons11. This leisure activity has also been the subject of a documented geographical study, in the case of the Le Havre version. Vidal et al. (2017) underline that geocaching is a “geo-digital” leisure activity and an entertaining, quirky and original factor in the relationship with territories and heritage.Modelling technologies, such as those using virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies, also seek to promote the tourist attractions, history, architecture and vernacular heritage of territories. They are used to create an immersive game which may (or may not) be attached to a paper chase or an escape game. Belfort Citadel can be visited in AR12, while in Orléans, a city-wide AR escape game has been created : “Escape Yourself Orléans”13.These urban serious games, using geolocation and held in open air, are anchored in the local area, setting them apart from video games that can be played from anywhere. Whether they aim to contribute to local development policies or are designed at the initiative of publishers such as video games or 3D modelling companies – or by amateurs – these open-air urban serious games encourage players to consider the design of the city and its heritage as they stride through it. Contributions are expected concerning : the relationship between serious games and the development of tourism in a city, the relationship between serious games and the entrepreneurial ecosystem for digital innovation, and papers highlighting a “local hallmark” created both by the public and private sectors, through urban serious games. Lastly, papers are expected on the contribution of digital technologies (geolocation and 3D modelling) to open-air serious games.This issue of NETCOM aims – in particular – to attract papers discussing the contribution of digital technologies to serious games. Above and beyond urban serious games alone, we would like to focus on serious games for urban planning and urban design.“Paper-and-pencil” serious games and “simulation games”Serious games are not necessarily digital (Soyez, 2015b). They are in the spirit of traditional educational games : role-playing games, board games and card games can absolutely be both fun and serious. Such games are generally played indoors. The Urbalog14 board game, designed by LAET to combine the challenges of urban design and urban logistics, is an example of a serious and traditional – in the non-digital sense – board game. This “paper-and-pencil” game offers the advantage of being easy to transport and adapt – something we agree is not always the case. Depending on the sites concerned, all that has to be done is to redraw a game board – to play a new match on a new case. The game Urbax15 is, according to its designer, an “urban design simulation game” (Vilmin, 2018), which has been played on a board since its invention in 1985. It is played by one player, assisted by a computer programme applying an econometric model. The simulator allows players to “open the black box” of the econometric model and optimize the decisions made while fully understanding their decisions, in order to better apprehend the econometric factors of urban design and successfully complete the simulation. Urb’Act16, meanwhile, unlike “paper-and-pencil” games, is an urban programming game played on a large touch-screen table used to design a blueprint, while a touch-screen dashboard informs players in real time of economic, social and environmental indicators – building on the “opening up the black box” aspect.As such, we propose to juxtapose urban planning and urban design “paper-and-pencil” serious games and “simulation games” on the same issues (Dupuy, 1972 ; Vilmin, 2018). Contributions are expected on the relationship between serious games and their mediums, be they “paper-and-pencil”, on computers or on touch-screen tables, and on the importance of dashboards. While paper formats can make games easy to transport, digital formats provide greater playability, rapidly designing or building what the players conceive, in the case of Urb’Act. Overall, papers are expected that discuss the question of modelling, simulation and the contribution of real-time indicators to help optimize decisions in games supposed to be realistic and enable technical decisions, or, on the contrary, to introduce a degree of randomness to force players to rise above a utopia where everything can be controlled, as in the game Post-Car Île-de-France17, which begins after Hurricane Grégorio. “Randomly selected inhabitants have to develop a blank space in which private cars no longer exist.”Role-playing games, cooperative games and narrativesAbove and beyond questions of medium and simulation, all these urban planning serious games are both role-playing games and cooperative games, making the role of the “mediator” fundamental during play. This mediator ensures the rules are followed and is the guarantor of the learning goals of these serious games. “Narration” also offers performative advantages : when players enter a play environment and get into the game, they feel and learn the “message” for themselves (Dupuy, 1972), as conceived by the game’s designer. This narrative and the scenario possibilities offered by simulation and cooperative games can also serve the purposes of mediation, consultation and public participation, or even as a decision aid in urban planning and urban projects (Poplin, 2011 and 2014 ; Cools, 2014 ; Reinart and Poplin, 2015 ; Molines et al, 2018). Several authors even observe that “gamification” of urban planning with a view to collaborative planning can foster public participation (Devisch, Poplin, Sofronie, 2016). Poplin suggests the concept of “playful public participation” (Poplin, 2012). Moreover, realistic and forward-looking narratives like the “Ecoville”18 game created by ADEME in 2014, and quirky, even disruptive narratives like the game PostCar Île-de-France 2060, help move beyond the beaten track of legacy forms and practices, producing new and forward-looking narratives on urban design (Banos and Debrie, 2018).As such, papers are expected looking at : role-playing in serious games, cooperation mechanisms incorporated into games, and games that develop throughout play, thanks to the role of the mediator. These narratives could be studied on the basis of their realism or for their forward-looking nature. Lastly, papers are particularly welcome on combining serious games, urban planning and consultation : on the contribution of serious games – especially digital ones – to planning and planners and, with consultation in mind, on the value of data output from games and the use that can be made of it to foster co-production of a participatory and entertaining urban diagnostic.NETCOM offers three different publication formats. This special issue should therefore be able to combine scientific articles (between 15 and 20 pages long), research projects or positions (scientific notes between 5 and 10 pages long) and descriptive summaries (between 3 and 4 pages long) offering an overview of current experiments, issues and research projects in the field of serious games and urban planning.Submission of scientific articlesArticles should be between 15 and 20 pages long (50,000-55,000 characters), depending on the number of figures. The first page should include full contact details of the author(s), a title, an abstract (10 lines) and key words in French and English (3-5 in each language). Articles will be subject to double blind review.Submission of scientific notesIn addition to the scientific articles, this section contains research notes that do not have the status of double blind reviewed articles but which are of interest given their innovative nature or the quality of the issues discussed and avenues for research. These scientific notes are shorter than articles (5 to 10 pages, or 10,000-15,000 characters) and should provide a useful addition to the theme of this special issue. This type of paper is also wanted to help readers understand the issues and encourage them to continue reflection in future research or research activities.Submission of information notesThese are short, informative notes of 3 to 4 pages that can be submitted to present experiences. In the case of urban serious games or serious games in urban planning, the aim is to present proofs of concept, game scenarios and game narratives produced by urban planners or teaching staff.Instructions to authorsScientific articles and scientific notes may be published in French and/or English.Format guidance is available at : https://journals.openedition.org/netcom/956 ?lang =frPapers should be sent to :- Carine Henriot, Guest Editor (carine.henriot@utc.fr), researcher and lecturer in urban design and planning, Université de Technologie de Compiègne – EA Avenues 7284 ;- Nathalie Molines, Guest Editor (nathalie.molines@utc.fr), researcher and lecturer in geography, Université de Technologie de Compiègne – EA Avenues 7284.More information on the journal : https://journals.openedition.org/netcom/Indicative timetableLaunch of the call for papers : 12 February 2019Submission of proposed abstracts (300 words) : 1 April 2019Submission of proposed articles : 1 September 2019Publication of the special issue : mid-2020