Public participation experts and scholars alike are experimenting with
gamification in their quest to motivate citizens to participate in
urban planning . This chapter investigates the impact specific game
elements can have on citizens’ motivation in a mobile participation
application. We present findings from a long-term field study with a
gamified mobile participation prototype where we explored participants’
awareness, acceptance, and experiences of using gaming elements in the
application. Our results indicate that the effects of gamified
participation are limited as it seems to only be an effective strategy
to increase participation for those who are affine to games. For
others, the majority who is usually already intrinsically motivated,
gamification has little to offer. Yet, when gaming elements offer
added value to their engagement, our participants approved of these
elements. This work contributes to both gamification as well as to the
burgeoning field of mobile participation in urban planning by
providing insights about the effect of specific game elements and
recommendations for the use of gamification in urban planning
applications.