Participatory digital development for green Cities

In 2019, while the global climate movement reached its highest number of participants, a survey of participants in the climate protests in Berlin and Bremen revealed that only around 5 percent of protesters had a middle school degree or less. Over 85% of participants stated they had a high school diploma or had already finished university. 4.5 percent of those taking part in the activities stated that they belong to the working class, over 40 percent to the upper middle class and 25 percent to the middle class. The socio-economic background appears to be crucial in determining whether and in what form young adults and youth participate in one of the most important topics of their own future. Of course, there could be many individual and personal reasons for not taking part in climate protests, but socio-economic background should be the last. Meanwhile climate protection and sustainability become more and more important in planning and development in rural areas and urban spaces. Green Cities address this by training people in participatory methods to provide better access to issues of climate change and sustainability to all people (e.g. with lower income, lower education grades) in their living environment.

The Green Cities project addresses the increasing need for new digitally supported, more accessible and open-source methods of activation, learning and participation of learners (e.g. young people) in non-formal learning settings on current and important future topics of urban change, sustainable development and climate change. The aim of the Green Cities project is to activate, promote and transfer knowledge through participatory learning to strengthen climate protection as a goal in urban development and to reach new and previously less represented groups due to socio-economic factors (e.g. lower income, lower level of education) with new activating methods in the field of non-formal education in urban districts and superdiverse cities. In order to achieve this goal, experts from the fields of social work, cultural work, integration work, youth work, special education, neighborhood and district management, etc. are trained in the implementation of new methods and instruments and act as multipliers for new participatory methods of environmental and climate awareness in urban development.

The "Green Cities" project aimed to develop participatory and playful methods for "Participatory Digital Development for Green Cities" and to train experts in these methods so that they can apply them in their professional work with local citizens and young people. The implementation included several important steps, starting with the identification of relevant topics in the context of green cities. This was followed by identifying the needs of the focus group and citizens/young people in relation to these issues and exploring everyday issues and actions. The focus of the project then was to develop a set of participatory digitally supported methods tailored to the activation, non-formal training and playful learning of citizens/youth at the district level. Teaching materials were developed to facilitate the train-the-trainer process and enable the primary focus group to effectively use the new participatory methods in their work with people at the district level. To improve accessibility and learning, existing digital tools and aspects of digital culture were integrated into the new methods developed. Finally, the participatory methods developed were rolled out in workshops and training sessions in the three partner countries.

Specific results included answers to the needs of the target groups, how to activate and participate underrepresented groups, and the use of digital tools and creative methods to participate and further develop green topics in urban areas. This took place in close coordination and exchange between the partner organizations, so that the developed steps could be discussed and exchanged between the organizations. The focus was on the exchange and further development of methods, tools and questions on the specific needs of the target groups. The results of this were translated into a catalog of new participatory digital-supported methods for “Green Cities” (online + printed). In addition, training materials and primary focus group materials (fact sheets, summaries, links) were created and shared. In 3 transnational project meetings, the consortium met with locals, discussed with European project partners, stakeholders, municipalities and the public about needs and approaches in European Green Cities, New Green Development, and exchanged knowledge, tools and methods. In total 6 successful method workshops and 4 public presentations with professionals, trainers and multipliers in the 3 partner countries were the overall results.