News

Dr Will Jackson Senior Lecturer in Criminology LJMU Centre for the Study of Crime, Criminalisation and Social Exclusion

Playing the Future: PTown Bay MMXXX

Key Points

• PTown Bay MXXX is co-produced artwork that takes the form of a board game which offers new insights into the experiences and future aspirations of disadvantaged young people. 
• Drawing on the principles of ‘serious games’, PTown Bay MXXX demonstrates that examining issues of social, climate, and criminal justice through the medium of play is to take them seriously. 
• As players, PTown Bay MXXX asks us to think about the ways in which disadvantaged and/or marginalised young people can inform debates about the future of their environment and their community.
• This project further highlights the potential of Criminological Artivism as a new and effective way of engaging audiences with a view to informing campaigns for penal reform as well as social and climate justice. 

Introduction

PTown Bay MMXXX is a board game co-created with disadvantaged young people. The game was created through a programme of Socially Engaged Art workshops held under Covid-19 restrictions at the Nacro Education and Skills centre in Peterborough. The game is set in a future world transformed by climate change and provides a unique way of exploring the current and near future aspirations of young people facing multiple disadvantages. 

On Saturday August the 6^th Ptown Bay MMXXX was demonstrated and discovered at the vibrant Millfield Festival, Peterborough. Hundreds of people of all ages explored the game’s futuristic map which represented the science led, life changing predictions of Peterborough in 2030.  

Many marvelled at the elements of the game with most admiring the carefully crafted markers in the shape of car hood ornaments which lead your navigation through the map’s roads. Some were entertained by the familiarity of the shops and building on the map, noting their experiences there. However, all were in disbelief at the extent of the geographic change expected in Peterborough.