Sustainable city and communities — arenas for lifelong learning
We need a greater exchange of experiences to disseminate knowledge and learning among the different initiative takers — a «cross pollination.» We need to facilitate mass communication: People to People. Other communities can learn from what we’ve done in Oslo’s Sagene district, not just by talking to people who agree with us — a communication challenge for us all. Two target groups for the spreading of information: 1. The net 2. The broader public. Visibility in the public space. (Participants in the experience and learning workshop ”Green Initiatives.” Sagene District, February 5, 2015.)
17 worldwide goals and local practices
The world community has agreed on 17 goals for a more sustainable future. These goals are universal and applicable both at home and abroad. In addition to political planning from above, the results are completely dependent on new knowledge, attitudes and actions that are developed on the local level, where people live and carry on their everyday lives.
The Sagene District is one of several districts in Oslo that, since 2001, has pioneered across the board locally based knowledge development and cooperation. The Sagene district’s goal is to become one of Oslo’s eco-urban centers of inspiration and, in the last three years, it has stimulated local hands-on actions through the dispersal of Green Funds. All together, 2,150,000 Norwegian crowns have been distributed to 81 different projects. These supported activities are multifarious and include a broad spectrum of activities directed by local groups, individuals and the district’s own agencies: Informational work, cultivation projects, green roofs, social-entrepreneurial efforts, arranging courses and workshops, as well as projects that stimulate eco-friendly transport, eco-friendly businesses, and reduction of consumption and waste. In conjunction with this, the district has invested strongly in neighborhood based development where, through interdisciplinary cooperation, emphasis is put on a combination of establishing and preserving green pockets while conserving bio-diversity, with a focus on health, social inclusion and anti-poverty efforts.
The good story needs to be shared
Jointly these local efforts represent both enlightened and groundbreaking community work that deserves attention as an inspiration to others. They illustrate a room for possibility; signals of hope and belief in the future. In his latest book — What We Think About When We Try to Think of Global Warming — the climate psychologist Per Espen Stoknes connects this potential for change to a renewal of democracy. He challenges us to ”act as social citizens.” It’s only when citizens act together that we can change society. As a counterweight to the five most usual barriers denying the climate crisis he offers five strategies:
- Use the power of social networks
- Use positive frameworks
- Facilitate individual actions that make a difference
- Pass on experiences
- Use new indicators and signals
The work in the Sagene district is a good example of how one can take up this challenge.
Our project Hope Grows in the Garden is about communicating experiences in the form of 10 narratives and three small videos. The material is shaped in such a way that it can be used in seminars, workshops, study circles and other similar activities.
Who is behind this project?
“We” are:
Kirsten Paaby, PS Paaby Process — Edu-Action and Mariann Wiese Wettre, Wiese Wettre Consultant Services. Together with other colleagues, we both worked for many years in the Idea Bank Foundation (which closed its doors in June 2016). For more than 20 years the Idea Bank Foundation was an active supporting player for environmental agencies, both local and national, contending with the complex of challenges that developing sustainable local communities entailed. We did this by conveying good examples of sustainable practices, and by practicing and developing methods for democratic dialogue, as well as by imparting an over-all understanding of sustainable development. In the broader sense, our organization was primarily devoted to educating for sustainable development, always using practical real world examples as our starting point for learning. Our experience reveals that good examples have the greatest power to inspire, while at the same time these examples seldom ”work by themselves.” In order for these examples to trigger action — which isn’t to say that they should elicit carbon copies of what others have done — it’s important to participate in learning processes, where “the learner” is challenged to ask: What about this is relevant to my situation and how can I translate this to action where I live and dwell? We have embraced this kind of pedagogical approach for both this and for earlier projects. (For more information about Idea Bank’s work we refer you to the pamphlet Balansegang — 20 år på tvers med Stiftelsen Idébanken/Balancing Act — 20 years with the Idea Bank Foundation.)
Kirsten Paaby currently works as a freelance consultant and educator for sustainable community development and methods leadership in Norway, the Nordic countries and Europe. She has a background as a pedagogue and since the 1980s has worked with the implementation and development of democratic and participatory methods. She has more than 10 years experience in the Norwegian public sector where, among other things, she has worked on developing interdisciplinary cooperative models for preventative work.
Email: paaby.kirsten@gmail.com
Mariann Wiese Wettre is currently employed as Responsible Project Administrator for the RVTS East (Regional Resource Center dealing with violence, traumatic stress and suicide prevention). She also has her own one person concern Wiese Wettre Consultant Services. For 11 years she was the Norwegian project leader for the Nordic countries’ largest mobility program, financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers, which, among other things, is a stipend program for gainfully employed youth from the Baltic region and Northwest Russia who want practical experiences with Nordic enterprises. She is educated in organization theory and development as well as project leadership.
Email: mariann@wettre.net
Our photographer and video editor, Elin Osjord, received her training with The Norwegian Opera & Ballet, the ballet school. She has danced with The Norwegian Opera & Ballet, The Norwegian Theater, The National Scene, Oslo New Theater, Riksteatret, the Norwegian Broadcasting Company (NRK), as well as independent groups and her own productions. In 2001/2002 she reeducated herself for film and video production at the NKS High School in Oslo. Since then she has worked as a video artist and photographer. Her work has been screened on NRK several times, as well as at film festivals, most recently at the short film festival in Grimstad, Norway in 2017.
Email: elinosjord@me.com
The project Hope Grows in the Garden is supported with funds from the Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation.
The English version of our material is translated by Kenny Sanders.
Subtitles three videos: Bjørn Fredrik Meyer.
