Collaborate as a key stakeholder among community leaders to enhance the environmental health, reputation, and accessibility of Oakland's iconic Lake Merritt by playing a board game designed for ESPM 149.
The project aimed to analyze the history, policies, reputation, and accessibility of Lake Merritt, and propose ways to improve access and diversity through an interactive board game.
Over the course of a semester, our team conducted interviews, field research, and journaled insights, leading to the creation of an interactive board game. The game simulates efforts to improve the lake's environmental health, accessibility, and social reputation. We designed six characters—based on interviews—representing stakeholders with varying social, economic, and political power, who respond to events and influence changes. The final deliverable included a physical board game with tokens, cards, a manual, and an abacus to track progress.
Past: Indigenous Ohlone lived around the lake for over 1,000 years. In the mid-1800s, Samuel Merritt transformed the marsh into a lake and created the first U.S. wildlife refuge in 1869. Wealthy residents later moved to suburbs as Oakland grew and Lake Merritt was a hub of entertainment for the wealthy and privileged.
Present: Lake Merritt is a public space with, but maintains social inaccessibility. Recent tensions arose during COVID-19 and after incidents like "Barbecue Becky." Community groups now push for stricter regulations, leading to conflicts between stakeholders who envision different futures for Lake Merritt's use.
Future: Conservancy efforts focus on preserving the lake's environmental health, fostering stewardship, and planning long-term restoration initiatives that are funded by the city of Oakland.
We conducted five interviews of local community members invested in the health and safety of Lake Merritt, including the founder of the Lake Merritt Institute, the chair of the Lake Merritt Community Alliance, the co-chair of the Rotary Nature Center Friends at Lake Merritt, the co-president of the Lake Merritt Breakfast Club, and a member of the recreational swing dance group, Lindy by the Lake.
We condensed key takeaways from each interview to develop a set of six characters and generate ideas for the logic of the game. We wanted to emphasize the differing perspectives and motivations introduced by interviewees to underscore the contention underlying the future goals for the lake.
Views Lake Merritt as a vital community space but notes a lack of ownership among African-American and low-income communities.
Highlights gentrification's role in turning the lake into a contested space between long-time residents and wealthier newcomers.
Concerned about noise pollution and its impact on wildlife and community health around Lake Merritt.
Advocates for improving safety, accessibility, and infrastructure to protect the lake while keeping it welcoming for all.
Started the Lake Merritt Institute (LMI) after years of environmental monitoring, securing grants for water quality and storm drain improvements.
Now focuses on education, noting the LMI's shift from maintenance to awareness efforts, but highlights challenges like homelessness and the city's limited resources.
Advocates for civic involvement through the Lake Merritt Breakfast Club, raising funds for park programs and repairs.
Stresses the need for park rangers to maintain order and improve equity by providing city-funded programming and clearer park management.
Lindy by the Lake (LBTL) is a secret, tight-knit escape from Berkeley's campus, but they feel the exclusivity of the group can make it hard for newcomers to feel welcome.
While they enjoys the diverse and inviting atmosphere, they have concerns about safety around the lake and wishes for a more accessible, safer environment for attendees, especially those without personal transportation.
Individually and as a group, we visited Lake Merritt over the course of the semester, taking notes, creating sketches, and capturing pictures. I paid special attention to the shape, greenery, and architecture of Lake Merritt to capture landmarks to include in the board game design.
Six characters total, each with distinct personalities
→ 5 are based on real interviews
→ 1 is a civilian
Each player embodies one character.
Max out three metrics:
1. Environmental Health
2. Beauty & Reputation
3. Social and Physical Accessibility of Lake Merritt.
The game has 10 turns.
Deck of cards with events in the center.
All characters take actions simultaneously, responding to each event.
Three influence types:
1. Financial
2. Community
3. Political
Each character starts with a preset number of tokens in these categories. After each turn, characters collect more tokens based on their personal traits.
Events can affect the three metrics of Lake Merritt, Environmental Health, Beauty & Reputation, and Accessibility based on group decisions in response to events.
Each event has three options: 2 active responses + 1 "do nothing" option.
Players vote on the course of action, and majority rules. If there's no agreement, the "do nothing" option is chosen.
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I designed a board to encapsulate the main landmarks that encircle Lake Merrit, giving players the sensation that they are physically at the lake as they respond to events and conflicts.
The instruction manual includes a diagram of all the pieces that come with the game, explanations of the game metrics, in-depth character descriptions, and a key with al of the event outcomes for players to reference as they play the game.
The six characters are the Environmentalist, the Educator, the Citizen, the Protector, the Recreationist, and the Organizer. Each character is based off the interviews and observations collected during field visits to Lake Merritt. Each character has specific stats and a key motivation that drives their decision making and vision for the future of Lake Merritt.
During each turn, players had to decide how much of their influence points they want to allocate towards a specific outcome. Twenty event cards were created in total, and each game is ten rounds.
The tokens represent social, economic, and political influence. My teammate, Yiling Liu, designed the tokens with Adobe Illustrator and created molds to produce physical clay versions of the tokens.
