Water systems planning and management share the same roots with gaming, as they rely on concepts in systems analysis, operations research and decision sciences. This paper focuses on Serious Games (those used for purposes other than mere entertainment), with applications in the area of water systems planning and management. A survey of published work on gaming is carried out with particular attention given to applications of Serious Gaming to water systems planning and management. The survey is also used to identify the principal criteria for the classification of Serious Gaming for water related applications, including application areas, goals, number and type of players, user interface, type of simulation model used, realism of the game, performance feedback, progress monitoring and game portability. The review shows that game applications in the water sector can be a valuable tool for making various stakeholders aware of the socio-techno-economic issues related to managing complex water systems. However, the critical review also indicates a gap that exists in the Serious Game application area with the lack of water distribution system games. A conceptually simple, but computationally elaborate new game for water distribution system analysis, design and evaluation (SeGWADE) is presented in this paper. It has a main goal of finding a least-cost design for a well-known benchmark problem, for which the game environment takes the computational and visualisation burden away from the simulation tool and the player. The game has been evaluated in a classroom environment in which a high degree of player engagement with the game was observed, due to its basic game ingredients and activities, i.e., challenge, play and fun. In addition, a clear improvement in learning has been observed in how players attempted to identify solutions that satisfy the pressure criterion with players readily identifying the proximity of the better solutions to the starting, infeasible configuration. Through applications of Serious Gaming such as this, decision makers can learn about the complexity of the water distribution system design problem, experiment safely using a computer model of a real system, understand conflicting objectives (i.e., minimization of cost and satisfaction of minimum pressure) and develop strategies for coping with complexity without being burdened by the limitations of the ICT technology at their disposal.

Flood prevention in mixed urban–rural environments has become a greater concern due to climate change. It is a complex task requiring both efficient management of resources and the involvement of multiple stakeholders from diverse backgrounds. As Serious Games (games used for purposes other than mere entertainment) have emerged as an effective means of engaging stakeholders, this work proposes a new Serious Game applied to flood mitigation in the village of Millbrook in the UK. Results show that the game has both an informative and a transformative effect (statistical significance levels from 0.01 to 0.05), improving participants’ understanding of the problem, and helping them to find a new and improved approach to flood risk management in Millbrook, with the potential to improve resilience significantly. Furthermore, the game successfully transformed participants into “citizen scientists” in the purest sense of the term—it led them to use inductive reasoning from data produced by the game to correctly confirm or reject hypotheses and resulted in more than 70% of the participants revising their initial assumptions. Interestingly, the game instigated the formation of new local partnerships and helped to prioritize the discussion of natural flood management measures in Millbrook Parish Council meetings.

Industrial Symbiosis (InSym) capitalises on the proximity of entities to gain a competitive advantage through collective strategies. Within the Circular Economy, this involves the circular exchange and reuse of water, energy, and resources among participating businesses, enhancing resource valorisation in manufacturing. However, as a distinct business model, InSym requires collaboration among multiple stakeholders working toward a shared goal, posing challenges in achieving mutually beneficial outcomes. Operations Research (OR) – particularly computer modelling and simulation techniques – can help mitigate risks in InSym implementation by enabling an experimental approach to decision-making. This paper presents a hybrid modelling framework to support InSym decision-making. The framework integrates four OR techniques: Agent-Based Simulation (ABS), Discrete-Event Simulation (DES), System Dynamics (SD), and Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) to develop a hybrid InSym model. ABS captures stakeholder behaviour, DES simulates operational processes, SD represents dynamic interactions, and MCDA incorporates stakeholder perspectives. The model evaluates collective treatment strategies for olive mill wastewater, addressing key challenges such as scattered small-scale olive mills, seasonal wastewater discharge, and high organic loading. This innovative framework addresses InSym decision-making at operational, tactical, and strategic levels, transforming the economy-environment dilemma into a win-win scenario for olive oil businesses and local authorities.