Action
Video tool
DATA AWARENESS ACTION
Video tool
Type of tool: Pop-up
Phase: Action
THE PLANTS OF IDEAS
How to collect ideas for improving our cities
The Challenge
Beyond producing new scientific knowledge, citizen science projects aim to foster evidence-based changes in our living environments. Affected citizens and communities are in the best position to propose possible actions that can lead to positive changes in the short and long term.
How can we go from evidence to real change?
The Tool
The plant of ideas is an artefact that enables collecting ideas from passersby about how they would like to improve different aspects of the city they live in. The artifact has the shape of a human-sized cardboard plant. The leaves represent the proposed ideas. Different types of leaves or trees can be used to represent different categories of ideas. The plant of ideas could be placed in a community place such as a library or civic center, or could be used during a pop-up event.
Discover the tool in action!
Read the case study and understand how this tool has been used in a real citizen science project.
Share your ideas for a sustainable city
CitieS-Health Barcelona Pilot
What
At the end of the CitieS-Health Barcelona pilot, we organized an online workshop and a pop-up event aimed to raise awareness among the general public about what we discovered in our study, as well as reflect together on what we can all do to improve the situation, that is how to reduce the effects of air pollution on our attention levels and increase the access to green spaces which, according to our results, have a protective effect on our cognitive health.
Why
-To collect ideas of desirable futures that can remain as a legacy of the project
How
First, present the results of the study
In order to foster brainstorming of ideas, we started by presenting the results of the scientific study so as to encourage evidence-based ideas.
Three plants of ideas
We invited participants to think around three categories which are related to the topics covered during our study: 1) Green spaces, 2) Sustainable mobility, 3) Healthy habits, 4) Data for future research
In the online workshop, there were 4 main virtual rooms, in each one people were discussing one topic. In the pop-up installation, we created three human-sized cardboard plants, each one representing the first three categories.
Write ideas on leaves
Participants to think about possible actions that they would like to be implemented in their city in order to improve mental health and air pollution. Invite them to think of three types of actions: 1) individual, actions that each person could implement by his own , 2) community, actions that could be implemented by local groups and organizations, 3) public, those actions that should be implemented by public authorities. Also, we invite them to think of three different time frames: actions that could be implemented Today, in 1 Month and 3 months. Participants place the proposed idea in the corresponding plant.
Leverage on local communities
Already several local communities are taking actions to combat air pollution or promote green spaces, thus it was key to involve them in this final action. In the online workshop, we invited local communities to lead the discussion with participants. In the pop-up installation, we invited passersby to write down in post-it the name of local organizations that are active on these topics. These organizations can leverage the results of your study to support their action and help promote dissemination of your results. Leveraging their knowledge and networks is essential to strengthen the action and build your project’s legacy.