In 2026, Frankfurt and the Rhine-Main region will serve as World Design Capital and have committed to the vision “Design for Democracy. Atmospheres for a better life.” PRIF is also participating in the supporting program and, together with Volkshochschule Frankfurt, is organizing the event series “Designing Democracy – Designing Peace.”
The series kicked off on April 15, 2026, with a panel discussion at the Stadthaus Frankfurt on the topic of sociopolitical debates and anti-democratic tendencies in gaming spaces. Moderated by Yvonne Blum, the discussion featured Mareike Stürenburg, a social scientist at the Institute for Research on Right-Wing Extremism at the University of Tübingen, Severin Schwalb, education officer for the “Good Gaming Support” project at the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, and Constantin Winkler, researcher on radicalization and antisemitism and part of the RadiGaMe project at PRIF, discussed gaming communities as social spaces and the associated challenges and opportunities for democratic coexistence. The discussion focused on the instrumentalization of digital spaces by anti-democratic actors, as well as the potential for promoting democracy and preventing extremism. From the perspective of the role played by both visual and infrastructural design, the panelists shared insights from their research, reports from political education practice, and illustrative examples, and addressed the numerous questions from the audience.
The conclusion of the discussion: Gaming spaces constitute significant social spaces that, just like physical spaces, carry societal significance and thus also entail responsibility. None of the spaces mentioned are free from extremist actors. Therefore, meaningful countermeasures and preventive measures are also needed online, which must be supported by policymakers, the gaming industry, and the gaming communities themselves.
The next event in the series will take place on June 16, 2026, and will focus on the design of peace negotiations.
About the RadiGaMe research project at PRIF: https://www.prif.org/en/research/radigame