@article{d427a8913b7c44e48eb65e77697dc08c,
title = "Combining ecosystem modeling with serious gaming in support of transboundary maritime spatial planning",
abstract = "The Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) Challenge simulation platform helps planners and stakeholders understand and manage the complexity of MSP. In the interactive simulation, different data layers covering an entire sea region can be viewed to make an assessment of the current status. Users can create scenarios for future uses of the marine space over a period of several decades. Changes in energy infrastructure, shipping, and the marine environment are then simulated, and the effects are visualized using indicators and heat maps. The platform is built with advanced game technology and uses aspects of role-play to create interactive sessions; it can thus be referred to as serious gaming. To calculate and visualize the effects of planning decisions on the marine ecology, we integrated the Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) food web modeling approach into the platform. We demonstrate how EwE was connected to MSP, considering the range of constraints imposed by running scientific software in interactive serious gaming sessions while still providing cascading ecological feedback in response to planning actions. We explored the connection by adapting two published ecological models for use in MSP sessions. We conclude with lessons learned and identify future developments of the simulation platform.",
keywords = "ecopath with ecosim (EwE), Ecospace, Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP), MSP Challenge, Planning Support Systems (PSS), serious gaming, serious game, simulation game",
author = "Jeroen Steenbeek and Giovanni Romagnoni and JW Bentley and N Serpetti and JJ Heymans and Magali Goncalves and {Pereira Santos}, Carlos and Harald Warmelink and Igor Mayer and X Keijser and R Fairgrieve and L Abspoel",
note = "Funding Information: The MSP Challenge North Sea edition and Clyde Marine Region edition were co-funded by the EU Interreg NorthSEE and EU SimCelt projects, respectively. The link between MSP Challenge and EwE and the Ecopath model for the North Sea were partially funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management and Rijkswaterstaat. The Ecopath model for the Clyde Marine Region was partially funded by the Scottish Government. Research by first author J. S. is part of pending PhD research. Research by coauthor X. K. is part of pending PhD research on the use of serious gaming in (transboundary) maritime spatial planning at Wageningen University, The Netherlands, with support from Rijkswaterstaat. Research by co-author I. M. is cofunded by The National Natural Science Foundation of China (71774024). The MSP Challenge and Ecopath modeling approach are open-source, community-based, not-for-profit initiatives. Breda University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands, is custodian of the MSP Challenge Simulation Platform. All organizations and persons who contribute to the MSP Challenge are credited at the user community wiki accessible through the website http://www. Funding Information: The MSP Challenge North Sea edition and Clyde Marine Region edition were co-funded by the EU Interreg NorthSEE and EU SimCelt projects, respectively. The link between MSP Challenge and EwE and the Ecopath model for the North Sea were partially funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management and Rijkswaterstaat. The Ecopath model for the Clyde Marine Region was partially funded by the Scottish Government. Research by first author J. S. is part of pending PhD research. Research by coauthor X. K. is part of pending PhD research on the use of serious gaming in (transboundary) maritime spatial planning at Wageningen University, The Netherlands, with support from Rijkswaterstaat. Research by co-author I. M. is cofunded by The National Natural Science Foundation of China (71774024). The MSP Challenge and Ecopath modeling approach are open-source, community-based, not-for-profit initiatives. Breda University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands, is custodian of the MSP Challenge Simulation Platform. All organizations and persons who contribute to the MSP Challenge are credited at the user community wiki accessible through the website http://www. mspchallenge.info. We express gratitude to Dr. Steve Mackinson and Dr. Chris Lynam at CEFAS for providing the North Sea model and for their support in adapting the model for maritime spatial planning purposes. We also wish to acknowledge EuroMarine for their funding of the scenario building workshop in S?te, France, in 2015, which led to the discussions and subsequent collaborations that produced the MSP-EwE merger. Without the support of EuroMarine, this paper would not have been written. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 by the author(s). ",
year = "2020",
doi = "10.5751/ES-11580-250221",
language = "English",
volume = "25",
pages = "1--24",
journal = "Ecology and Society",
number = "2",
}