Recent disasters and cascading crises – from climate‑induced emergencies to global pandemics have repeatedly exposed critical shortcomings in citizen‑level disaster preparedness and community resilience. Traditional approaches, such as public drills and awareness campaigns, often struggle to engage diverse populations in meaningful and sustained ways and rarely translate awareness into lasting preparedness behaviours. Moreover, they tend to neglect deep‑seated psychological barriers, including fear paralysis, denial, and the normalization of risk until disaster is imminent.

In response, emerging technologies, including serious games, extended reality (XR), artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML), the Internet of Things (IoT), and next‑generation networks (NGN) – offer immersive, adaptive, and scalable alternatives. These technologies enable realistic risk simulations, personalized learning trajectories, and real‑time environmental sensing, thereby opening new avenues for social innovation in how societies anticipate, respond to, and recover from crises.

At the same time, the growing digitization and gamification of preparedness raise critical questions concerning equity, trust, data ethics, cultural sensitivity, democratic governance, and psychological impact. This Special Issue therefore invites scholarly contributions that critically examine both the transformative potential and the inherent risks of digitally mediated and play‑based approaches to disaster preparedness.