Building infrastructure in the twentieth century – including motorways, power stations and reservoirs – had a more significant effect on the UK’s landscapes than any other previous development. However, parallel to the unprecedented building works, investment in green infrastructure and amenity landscapes was equally important. These landscapes are now key in our fight against Climate Change and the Biodiversity Emergency.

As part of the Festival of Social Science, we invite you to join us to play two new tabletop board games that challenge players to think about building and developing nation-wide infrastructures and their wide-ranging impacts. The games, designed and developed by Manchester School of Architecture students, were developed as part of ongoing research projects that question the delicate links between climate and infrastructure, and the challenges and opportunities these structures play in our current response to the climate crisis.