1. What is Street Identification and Street Addressing?
2. What should the game encompass?
3. What are some specific game design elements?

Problem Identification: In recent decades, many cities and towns in the developing world have experienced extremely rapid growth. This has created many underserviced neighborhoods. The street identification systems used in old neighborhoods in the city centers have rarely been extended to new ones. Inadequate identification systems have created a worrisome predicament for the provision of urban services. With no system of street coordinates, finding your way around a constantly growing city can be problematic; dispatching ambulances, firemen or law enforcement personnel becomes difficult; delivering mail is tedious; and providing municipal services (waste collection, water supply, telephone service, etc.) is cumbersome and often ineffectual. Pinpointing breakdowns in the services systems also gets complicated. 

Within this context, The World Bank Institute’s (WBI) Urban Team is currently developing an online learning course on street addressing that will be delivered initially to countries in Africa and Latin America. WBI is exploring innovative low-tech ways to exploit the interactive potential of using classic games to create a learning environment. The objective is to rely on simple interactive gaming and group/team learning techniques aimed at serving local governments which do not have reliable access to computers. 

The game will be used as a didactic tool to teach basic concepts, techniques and benefits of street addressing to adult learners though a concept of  learning through “serious play”.

Educational  objectives: An educational, instructional, "teaching" element of the game is mandatory.
The game should be designed so that the people playing the game:
1. learn about the benefits and applications of street addressing in an urban setting;
2. learn important street addressing terminologies.
3. become aware of the challenges and issues of implementing a street addressing system;
4. become familiar with problem solving and resource management, through strategic playing of the game; 5. develop communication and team building skills.

Ideas for the game should be adapted from the 2005 World Bank publication and manual on Street Addressing practices in Africa, titled "Street Addressing and the Management of Cities." This manual is available online:  click here (.pdf, 5，379 kb).

The mechanics of game should be derived directly from the real life benefits of adequate Street Addressing, such as improved civic identity, management of urban information, street system management, household waste collection, inventory of buildings (assets), improved tax revenue, improved city services including maildelivery and improved emergency services provision.

During game play, players should learn to apply Street Addressing skills and basic techniques. This might include--but is not necessarily limited to--the naming of streets in a new neighborhood, house numbering, the renaming of streets in an expanding neighborhood, and the placement of street signs and house numbers. The procedures should apply to both a formal grid pattern of streets as well as an informal pattern of meandering roadways.

The game design should be such that it can be played with or without a group leader or facilitator.

The game design should offer challenges of different levels. Both positive and negative conditions should be incorporated to allow for an element of chance. The challenges can be derived from real case examples of urban management issues in cities, which are reported in the Street Addressing manual. Players should be encouraged to engage in problem solving. 

The design should allow players to determine how they are doing throughout the game.