Our diets are heavily influenced by the availability and convenience of food, by advertising prompts and by the information that surrounds us. It all shapes our opportunity to be healthy – in many of our neighbourhoods there’s a drought of healthy options. To improve our health, we need to make healthy food more accessible and affordable for everyone.

In Scotland, 67% of adults are overweight or live with obesity – the highest figure of anywhere in the UK although rates are similarly high across the nations. Obesity is now the leading cause of death in Scotland, linked to 23% of deaths, and costs the NHS across the UK an estimated £54 billion every year.

It's clear that we need to act to reduce obesity. But food environments are complex. Our food choices are influenced by advertising and by where and how we see products in shops and restaurants. Food that is high in fat, salt and sugar is often given prominence to lure us into a purchase. The availability, accessibility and affordability of food is also a major factor; what restaurants, takeaways, shops, cafes and pubs are in the area we live, the time we have to shop and cook and the money we have in our pockets to feed ourselves and our families.

The virtual food environment is a follow-on project from Virtual Healthy Neighbourhoods Challenge launched in December 2021.

The digital twin of Glasgow called Playbox Glasgow is the next stage of our exploration of how video games design and technology can help to communicate the complexity of food environments and the data we have about them in clear and engaging ways. Harnessing the potential of AI, big data, digital twins, game design and the metaverse, the tool was designed to help policy makers gain a better understanding of our food environments, how we interact with them and the impact of possible solutions. It provides a visually engaging tool to enable deeper, more informed conversations with key stakeholders, spark creative imagination and inspire new solutions to improve our food environments. The Nesta Playbox tells stories based on credible data, drawn from real people, places and food environments, harnessing the power of data and game engine technology to recreate a city environment – ‘a digital twin’ of Glasgow.

Ultimately, Playbox Glasgow helps to shifting the narrative away from individual responsibility and to influence the key stakeholders who have levers to create change and shift their focus on to improving food environments for everyone.