Technological advances and evolving public expectations have created new avenues for participatory forest planning. However, traditional public involvement methods often face challenges, including low participation and limited participant diversity. Contemporary forest planning increasingly functions as a design process that requires tools capable of efficiently gathering stakeholder preferences alongside technical inventory data while ensuring active engagement. This dissertation investigated how gamification approaches can address these challenges by collecting forest data to support participatory processes. A conceptual framework was developed that combines Technology-Mediated Environmental Engagement, Participatory Forest Planning, and Cultural Adaptation to examine how gamification can connect technical data collection with stakeholder participation across diverse contexts.
This research adopted a progressive mixed-methods approach through three studies: utilising geocaching to collect preference data, developing specialised augmented reality applications for forest scanning, and investigating cross-cultural implementation. Article I demonstrated that existing location-based gaming platforms can be leveraged to gather meaningful social data, revealing diverse landscape preferences and human-forest relationships, though spatial accessibility constraints and diminished engagement patterns were evident. Article II found that gamification design significantly affects participant behaviour, movement, and data characteristics, with different game mechanics producing distinct point cloud features suitable for specific forest inventory needs. Article III validated the technical transferability of gamified augmented reality applications between Finnish and Japanese contexts, although significant location effects highlighted that culturally adaptive gamification is essential for optimal implementation.
The findings validate the framework's core principles while highlighting key tensions between purpose and play, where recreational engagement is instrumentalised to collect data for forest design planning. Effective implementation depends on integrating all three conceptual pillars, technological, participatory, and cultural, rather than considering them separately. It also relies on institutional capacity to incorporate citizen-generated data into formal planning. As forest planning evolves towards more inclusive approaches, balancing technical precision with social licence to operate, gamification offers a versatile approach that, when carefully designed and culturally adapted, can enhance participatory forest management while maintaining technical rigour. Future work should focus on sustaining engagement beyond novelty periods and integrating gamified approaches into operational workflows. Additionally, expanding demographic inclusion is essential to promote equitable and inclusive environmental decision-making.