Introducing Arrival City Game for Neighborhood Diversity

Abstract

There are many ongoing issues with social cohesion and immigrant integration in urban neighborhoods. The promotion of diversity in local neighborhoods is one of the integral solutions for immigrant integration. However, past evidence suggests that Thai people have a terribly limited understanding of the notion of diversity. The research objectives are (1) to evaluate the residents’ perception of understanding and acceptance toward the concept of immigrant integration and neighborhood coexisting diversity and (2) to find out the effect of a gaming simulation on the resident and the immigrant. We introduce the Diverse Arrival Game as a game to promote diversity and immigrant integration. The results show that the game improved perceptions in both groups toward neighborhood diversity. The game has the ability to prompt the acceptance of the diversity concept and ultimately leads to a new local initiative for diverse neighborhood planning.