AARHUS CO2030 Game and Event
Denmark
PROJECT TEAM & PARTNERS
- Aarhus Municipality, Architect Office Kollision,
- Digital Urban Living, Aarhus University,
- School of Architecture,
- Secretary of Climate, Aarhus University,
- Tekne Production, Alexandra Institute.
- Hatch and Bloom
CONTRACT VALUE €100,000
FUNDING By Aarhus Municipality
TIMESCALE 6 months
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT
The Municipality of Aarhus has made the climate challenge a priority by deciding on an ambitious political goal: Becoming a CO2-neutral city by 2030. Adopted by the City Council in Aarhus in 2008, this goal is both aimed at the municipality as a society and at global climate change. The 'Think global, act local' principle is, among other things, manifested in a CO2 mapping, a climate plan as well as a number of climate campaigns aimed at citizens.
Implementation is essential as many players have to interact to achieve the goal of being CO2-neutral by 2030, and in order to get the attention and collaboration of the citizens of Aarhus, the Municipality together with a range of different partners has developed an interactive computer game, where 4 or 4 groups of players can compete for being able to make the biggest reduction of CO2.
By answering a range of different questions the players get a CO2 profile. During the game the players are asked how they can reduce their discharge of CO2, and what it will take to commit themselves to change their habits of for instance housing, transportation, food consumption.
The idea of the game is to create a debate among the players. This debate then motivates the players to be more aware of their discharge of CO2 and maybe act differently. All the information of the players is gathered, and the Municipality can use the information to plan the climate-action of the Municipality.
The CO2030 Game was presented for the citizens for the first time at an event / exhibition taking place during 5 - 8 March 2009 in connection to the international climate conference "Beyond Kyoto" held by Aarhus University. In addition to play the CO2030 Game the citizens had the opportunity to take their own live climate confessions, which were presented for the public. Relevant companies, educational institutions and the Municipality itself also took part in the exhibition and presented products, projects and plans all relevant for achieving the goal: Becoming CO2-neutral by 2030.
During this year the CO2030 Game will be exposed and available for the citizens living in different parts of the city. The presentation in March was only the beginning of the involvement of the citizens in the climate discussion.
PROJECT TARGETS & LEGISLATION
The central goal has been to communicate the goal of Aarhus being CO2 neutral by 2030,
A central goal of the project has also been to find new methods of citizen participation and involvement instead of traditional public hearings. It has been done by using, sms, interactive games, films, climate statements.
The project and the campaign have almost just begun, so it is not possible to estimate the extent the Municipality has succeeded in achieving these goals yet.
The climate plan and the citizen participation strategy for Aarhus are decided by the City Council, and the City Council has also provided the budget for developing the game and the holding of the event / exhibition. .
The purpose of developing the CO2030 Game was made as call of proposal and all companies interested were invited to apply
CHALLENGES FACED
It has been a challenge effectively to communicate the goal: Aarhus becoming CO2 neutral. The citizens might agree to the goal on a superficial level, but it is still a long way to make the citizens committed to change habits to reduce their CO2 emissions.
To overcome this challenge the AarhusCO2030 campaigns is focusing on telling the good stories and make the possible actions visible. The Municipality wants to create a debate and wants to communicate that even small changes are important.
The Municipality has also tried to use new types of interactive and innovative ways of communication to bring out the message.
An important goal of developing the CO2030 Game has been to make the citizens change habits through dialog and learning. This is often a long process, which the Municipality has to have in mind when measuring the results of the campaign. In fact, the CO20030 Game and Event in March was only the first step in an ongoing process of citizen involvement.
INNOVATIVE PRACTICE
In addition to the CO2030 game the Municipality tries to innovate its way of informing and communicating with the public.
During the climate conference Beyond Kyoto, and AarhusCO2030 event in March the citizens of Aarhus could engage themselves in the struggle for large-scale climate improvements by using Climate on the Wall. This is an interactive generator of climate statements that uses Ridehuset as a backdrop, a prominent building in the city centre, where the event took place.
CO2NFESSION / CO2MMITMENT was an advanced video installation that puts a face on the struggle for climate improvements and gives the citizens of Aarhus a voice to be heard - and seen - throughout the city. The installation was part of the Municipality of Aarhus' campaign CO2030 , dedicated to engaging citizens in the efforts to achieve carbon neutrality by the year 2030. As part of this campaign, the Digital Urban Living research centre, in collaboration with AFA JCDecaux and the Municipality of Aarhus, have developed CO2NFESSION / CO2MMITMENT which offers citizens a chance of dedicating themselves to promoting a greener city.
These new ways of communicating is more appealing to the younger generations, which normally do not participate in traditional public meeting and hearings held by the Municipality.
Finally, the event was also a success according to the visitors' views, when compared to traditional public meetings.
LESSONS LEARNT
The most important lesson learnt is that it takes much more time to organise an event than initially anticipated.
Similarly, the biggest challenge has been to coordinate the event between the many different players participating.
CONTACT DETAILS
Eva Due, The Municipality of Aarhus,
E-mail: edue@aarhus.dk,
Telephone: +45 8940 4389
