A game-structuring approach applied to estuary management in South Africa

A game-structuring method is applied in a contested, real-world setting of estuary management in South Africa. The key activities undertaken in applying the six step game-structuring method are described and artefacts developed in the process are provided. Participants were readily able to identify strategic outcomes and payoffs in the case. Conversely, identifying actions in a well-timed sequence proved difficult. Choices to focus the discussion of actions on real-world biophysical and infrastructural interventions proved necessary for successful method application. The implications for method design and the challenges of using the game-structuring method as a mediating intervention form the subject of reflection.