Planetary Plate – Co-Creating Future Diets Within Planetary Boundaries

Participatory Design

Planetary Plate is a participatory board game designed to engage citizens in imagining sustainable and culturally meaningful diets for Finland in the year 2050. The game makes complex climate and food system data easier to understand through a hands-on and visual format.

The core idea is to show the climate impact of different foods using physical game pieces. Each item is represented by a piece whose size reflects its emissions per 10 grams of the food. The higher the impact, the larger the piece. During the game, participants build a shared diet using these pieces, trying to stay within illustrated planetary boundaries on the game board while balancing cultural values and environmental goals.

I was involved in the project from start to finish as part of a multidisciplinary research team. As the designer, I was responsible for concept development, visual design, and prototyping. I led the development of the game as it transitioned from early testing to the research phase, where it was used to explore what ecoculturally sufficient diets could look like. I also co-facilitated public workshops with other researchers. Alongside my design work, I contributed to the analysis of workshop materials and co-authored academic articles based on the project’s findings.

The outcome is a practical and engaging tool supporting qualitative research and dialogue. It helps people reflect on which foods are culturally essential and in what ways. 

More information about the research project can be found here

The method we developed has been published in the CoDesign journal: