Researchers from PEASEC and emergenCITY took part in the Disaster Risk Reduction Conference of the German Red Cross on 22 and 23 April 2024. It serves as an exchange platform for experts in national and international disaster risk reduction and includes lectures, panel discussions and workshops.

Dr Jasmin Haunschild and Markus Henkel, researchers at PEASEC and emergenCITY, held a workshop on Warning and Crisis Prevention Systems of the Future. They addressed both the status of these systems in Germany at the moment as well as future visions. With around 20 participants, the workshop included perspectives from various authorities, NGOs, organizations and academia. Together, they expressed ideas for the population with regard to crisis prevention and crisis preparedness, such as individual emergency preparedness, mutual support and media competence. Furthermore, requirements for warning systems and obstacles to their optimization were collected. Obstacles included social or psychological aspects as well as political, organizational and technological dimensions. Finally, the participants developed future ideas for better disseminating warnings specifically tailored to certain population groups.

The second contribution by emergenCITY scientists also dealt with the question of how awareness of crises and the individual preparedness of the population could be increased. In the session Krisopolis - Play & Prepare, Dr Joachim Schulze, Julius von Willich and Dr Nadja Thiessen presented the prototype of the serious game of the same name for the first time. Krisopolis was developed in the winter semester 2023/24 together with the students Ole Fabritz, Michelle Geisler, Jakob Huth, Karina M. Lazarova and Marcos Rizig-Mursal at TU Darmstadt. In the session, they not only discussed the possibilities of serious games and reported on the development process of the mobile game, but also offered participants the opportunity to immerse themselves in Krisopolis and try out the prototype hands-on. In the concluding discussion and feedback round, the participants from science and practice contributed important ideas for the further development of the game.

A recording of the workshop Krisopolis - Play & Prepare is available online here.