The voice of the resident makes the decision
The leading themes of the international SPARCS project are energy transition and finding more sustainable energy solutions. At the heart of everything is a resident of Espoo, whose handprint shall be seen in planning and decision-making.
Espoo is involved in the SPARCS project, where it operates as one of the lighthouse cities. The project seeks and tests more sustainable energy and mobility solutions to achieve a more carbon-neutral future together. In addition to these, one of the main themes of the project is inclusion. The project actively seeks to influence the daily lives of Espoo residents by bringing in more sustainable lifestyle themes. The project, which has been running since 2019, has used many interesting ways to citizen engagement, creating a dialogue with residents.
A network of many partners creates a good basis for citizen engagement work in the project. The project has two buddy classes in Espoo schools in its name; In the primary schools of Espoonlahti and Maininki. Work is done together with different classes to implement a sustainable lifestyle throughout secondary school.
On the basis of various workshops, surveys and discussions, a more detailed understanding of the issues that concern young people, the future cityscape and attitudes towards, for example, climate change will be drawn. The project partner Citycon has wanted to inspire its buddy classes to design a common city centre and learn about sustainable energy solutions and environmentally friendly mobility. In the workshops, the young people have conceived Lippulaiva together with Citycon, Lippulaiva’s architect and the designers of the future Espoonlahti library. The young people have also visited the Lippulaiva construction site and considered the urban environment of 2035 during their urban orientation. The aim of the SPARCS project is to encourage citizens to engage in energy-positive behavior, and as part of the goal, experts from both Citycon and the City of Espoo have organized an energy lesson for young people.
KONE is one of the participants in the project. A project which focuses on researching the change in the sustainable mobility habits of residents and optimizing energy consumption. KONE has conducted a user survey of Espoo residents' mobility habits and involved the residents in the city to participate through various co-design workshops. In the autumn, KONE, together with D-mat Oy, conducted 1.5-degree lifestyle workshops in Espoonlahti and Leppävaara, which were attended by 26 households from Espoo. In the workshop, participants got to play the Climate Puzzle, which aims to design climate actions that would allow households to achieve 2.5 tonnes of annual CO2 emissions by 2030.
Through the Climate Puzzle, participants planned concrete actions to reduce the carbon footprint of living, mobility, eating and consuming habits. “The values of euros, kilometers, kg’s, etc. for various things brought concreteness and motivation to start making changes in my own life,” one of the participants commented on the game.
The workshops will be followed by an extension in spring 2022 in the form of a follow-up study and a mobility pilot. To support sustainable lifestyles, SPARCS will provide many ways to participate and influence, and provide citizens with more information on sustainable lifestyles through webinars in spring.
A survey on sustainable living was published in the Espoo channels in autumn 2021. More than a hundred responses were received, and these provided a broad view of the most concerning topics in the daily lives of the residents. Based on these answers, a series of webinars will be built for late spring 2022. Mapping the topics guarantees that they are of interest to the residents, for example, the city's example of the approach in the field of circular economy are promised, as well as practical tips for a more sustainable everyday life.
More information about the webinar series will be published on the Espoo website soon, so stay tuned!