Learning across Boundaries: Understanding Maritime Spatial Planning through Serious Games

This thesis investigates how serious games — games designed for other purposes than primarily entertainment — contribute to learning in Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP). MSP involves balancing different activities at sea, such as shipping, energy production, and fisheries. While learning is widely recognized as important for MSP, there is limited evidence on whether it actually occurs, how it unfolds, and, importantly, how it can be effectively designed. The findings of this research show that the MSP Challenge serious games allow a wide range of participants — policymakers, scientists, stakeholders, and students — to experience the complexity of MSP in a safe and interactive way. This thesis makes three main contributions: it places learning in MSP on the agenda as an essential yet underexplored aspect of marine governance; it provides analytical frameworks to understand conditions, forms, and levels of learning; and it demonstrates how serious games can foster learning across disciplinary and organizational boundaries.