Sustainability Visualised - Net-Zero at a District Council Level

Lead Research Organisation: University of Hertfordshire
Department Name: School of Creative Arts

Abstract

'As agreed with AHRC please see the Case for Support attachment for the full application information'

Publications

10 25 50
 
Description The outcomes of the projects are detailed as follows.

Increased local networks. Learnings from the project can also be applied across the stakeholder landscape and improve and inform the relationship that SACDC has with existing and emergent networks (e.g. construction industry, housing associations and 3rd sector) - developing collaborative approaches to problem solving and future-planning are key to the embedding of positive change across communities.

Key information to update the Sustainability Action Plan. Review of the SACDC's Sustainability Action Plan reveals the effort required by the entire district to achieve a Net-Zero position by 2030. The diversity of actions listed highlights the importance of focus and commitment by all involved and the one action that connects all actions is 'behaviour change', as evidenced in the visual campaign.

Emphasis on behavioural change. As learned in the project, focusing on behaviour change is key to exploring different ways of encouraging actions at a community level (engaging with different communities) that would satisfy the council's Net-Zero ambitions. This means building a community that cares in the belief that it will then take care of itself and look after its environment.

Understanding of diverse communities. The project showed the importance of encouraging a diverse community to unite around a common interest, i.e. the environment. This can bring about change which when multiplied through the community adds up to a significant impact. This forms the basis for an umbrella ideology proposed by the project and is exemplified using the slogan 'Everything is Connected' in our campaign.

The final and most tangible outcome is the visual campaign. The campaign we developed: 'Everything is connected' is a means to tie a range of disparate activities together in order to amplify the impact of Net-zero and environmental actions, or indeed any activity that has a sustainability agenda, while at the same time creating awareness for the fact that every action has a consequence, including inaction.
Exploitation Route The overall outcome of the project is that the Sustainability Projects Officer is now up to date with the most effective net-zero and environmentally friendly actions based on academic design work and the analysis of previous campaigns and reports. The District can use this new information to promote internally and externally in order to move towards the council-mandated net-zero targets to be delivered by 2030. This new knowledge will feed into the development of public relations materials and campaigns targeting net-zero actions and connecting the actions of individuals (and groups) to the wider net-zero agenda.
Sectors Creative Economy,Energy,Environment
 
Description St Albans City & District Council (SACDC) is implementing sustainability targets where a large array of actions needs to successfully interface with the diverse requirements of council departments, local businesses and residents. How can design thinking and data visualisation aid this process, helping the council realise its Net Zero ambitions? With this project, we i) analysed in-depth the council's action plan, with approximately 161 actions spread across 6 key areas, ii) rationalised the most actionable points, iii) developed a visual campaign to actively engage with local communities and relevant stakeholders and iv) established some positive steps towards the generation of research impact for the researchers involved, St Albans City & District Council, and local communities. Whilst these challenges remain a core part of SACDC's agenda, the resources to support these ambitions are stretched and the support we received through this DEP funding is key to make a positive and long-term impact to ensure that St Albans becomes a sustainable and net-zero aware community of actors and activists. This project provided evidence to gather increased internal support and resources to address these net-zero targets. Specific individual actions will be targeted in order to gather data on effectiveness. Outcomes are expected to influence the ongoing objective of the council of educating and informing citizens around net-zero challenges through engagement with schools, community groups and in open forums. Through this project, and engaging and listening to its citizens, the council will continue to adopt a top-down and bottom-up design approach to sustainable actions, optimising citizen buy-in and project effectiveness and impact. This project has embedded design research into the Sustainability team at SACDC to design effective methodologies and approaches to creatively communicate positive net-zero and environmental actions to individuals and community networks. This will help SACDC to meet its (and the UK's) net-zero and environmental targets on air & water pollution, carbon footprints, waste management and biodiversity. Whilst SACDC has committed themselves to exceed governmental targets (ie. to achieve Net Zero by 2030), the capacity and capability to communicate these targets in meaningful, actionable ways to internal employees and external citizens is still limited due to budgetary and human resource restraints, along with the absence of a dedicated and experienced design team working on net-zero design strategies. Visualising positive actions in creative and engaging ways has increased impact and lead to greater citizen buy-in and adoption of changed behaviours. The project has impacted several of the key challenge themes of the Future Observatory programme in addition to addressing net-zero challenges - specifically, the project has developed a framework for communicating which can be applied across mobility, place, and public services. The project has tested at the local level approaches that can be implemented across the country. The project has built a community of practice and dataset of efficacy around positive net-zero and environmental actions as controlled by local council sustainability departments with the aim of disseminating these results within other SACDC departments (housing, waste) and the wider council network. Visualisation tools and approaches to communicate positive actions have been designed and tested by the RA (the design research), and these are now embedded within the Sustainability Projects team, providing training and guidance for future use. SACDC has the need to fulfil its 2030 climate emergency targets but needs to engage with those who deliver and use its services in order to achieve individual buy-in and build these individual actions into community-wide successes. As a result of this project, the exchange of knowledge will continue in two ways: the non-academic partner will continue exchanging knowledge with the academic partner through the Associate and other relevant academic teams about SACDCs (and therefore councils across the UK) net-zero and environmental targets. This will inform the academic partner's approach and wider understanding of the challenges councils are currently facing. Additionally, the academic partner will continue to exchange knowledge about communicating actions visually and effectively by developing, testing and embedding design-based approaches to communication activities with a focus on specific net-zero targets within the project so that data can be captured and analysed, and success criteria further embedded within the Sustainability Team. The Associate has been the key element of this mutual exchange of knowledge, and will have the opportunity outside of this project to take their knowledge forward and implement it in new ways that will assist the UK to reach its net-zero targets in both academic and industry settings.
First Year Of Impact 2021
Sector Creative Economy,Energy,Environment
Impact Types Cultural,Societal,Policy & public services