A School as Living Lab for climate awareness-raising

More Information

Processes, Support

DESCRIPTION:

Raising climate awareness among citizens entails a multi-faceted approach, where making use of educational facilities for sustainability teaching of pupils and citizens is particularly pertinent. At Oslo Voldsløkka school, the aim of the engagement activities organiSed in Living Labs, was raising awareness among secondary school and the cultural school pupils, as well as among their parents and the wider community found in the neighbourhood. The focus of the activities are the energy transition and circularity, including solutions regarding energy technologies and building materials. The outcome of engaging with the pupils and the local community is expected to raise awareness about sustainable behaviour, particularly energy efficient solutions.

BUSINESS ROUTE

Target Users

Citizens and NGOs, Research community, Tenants

VALUE

Citizen’s perspectives, especially that of young people, are often missing in sustainable neighbourhood transformation. Youths lack the mobility that most adults have in the city, and they often tend to be more limited to the area directly around where they live or go to school. Young people also lack the connections and access to decision makers that many adults and professionals have through work and social engagements. Raising climate awareness by creating and operating a climate positive circular community through dialogue and co-creation with the youth in the community and making use of educational facilities and curriculum, represents an exciting opportunity to engage the youth segment in Europe. Schools as Living Labs can open up for innovation environments and participatory urban planning, in which the focus will be on the collective, allowing local communities to understand the challenges and opportunities related to a specific neighbourhood. This in turn will allow creating active processes together with stakeholders and decision-makers, aiming to achieve mutual learning and engagement that can be used in all future community projects.

APPLICATION

The Voldsløkka school in Oslo has established a Living Lab for engaging the pupils into activities of different types, including learning, co-creation and becoming young green ambassadors. The activities planned at the school also aim at involving the local community who are invited into using the neighbourhood and buildings actively, e.g., through exhibitions, and open events on energy and circularity. In the search for innovative approaches to raising climate awareness among the youth (who are digital natives), AR or VR tools are explored. Young people’s perspectives and experiences will be gathered so that they can be actively included in the context of deep energy renovations and the deployment of energy and climate measures by the construction and energy industries. Education, learning, and awareness raising are relevant to create and operate a built environment. The activities will have a strong focus on circularity and how community engagement can contribute to small- and large-scale circular pathways.