Sustainable transport
This is the first workshop of the energy themes. During Oldham Energy Futures the team found that it was the easiest concept to engage with and very easy for the group to think about and discuss at the neighbourhood level.
It is less technical than the other energy themes and enables people to quickly get into conversations about the challenges, opportunities and potential solutions in their place.
“The practical parts of the session, like walking in the neighbourhood and mapping homes were really interesting, it made me look at the area differently”
Sholver group member
Delivery resources
- workshop tool: sustainable transport including an example workshop outline, additional learning resources and good practice case studies
- example content including example resources used during the delivery of Oldham Energy Futures
read about the sustainable transport and active travel workshops in Westwood and Sholver here.
Purpose
This workshop is about building knowledge within the group using something they all experience as an entry point: movement within their neighbourhood. It aims to build knowledge and help the group to understand how this theme affects different groups in their community, alongside beginning to understand what mechanisms they could use to address problems around transport and movement in their neighbourhood.
Who should be there?
- facilitators
- the neighbourhood group
- one workshop leader with expertise in transport, for example an urban designer or transport planner with community engagement expertise (see below for suggested organisations)
- nice to have: an expert witness from a community-led transport initiative.
Organisations with relevant subject expertise
Key questions
- how do you move around your place?
- how do other people move?
- what do you think works well and doesn’t work well in your neighbourhood to enable you to move or use transport in a sustainable way?
- what would change this in a positive way?
Participant outcomes
- understanding of how their own approach to movement affects the environment and what this means for climate change
- understanding of how the way each person moves is impacted by the neighbourhood, including access to public transport, a positive/not positive environment for active travel, and what this means for other people in the neighbourhood who may be in a different position to those in the group.
Group outcomes
- an understanding of the challenges around transport and movement in their neighbourhood, and how more sustainable travel could be advanced
- an understanding of how the neighbourhood is affected by wider connectivity issues.
Tips
It is important to use this workshop to get outside and experience the neighbourhood environment if possible. If the workshop includes a walk, remember that, depending on the group dynamics, trust and cultural aspects, some people may not feel comfortable going out together. Online platforms such as Google Earth can be used to explore the environment and have conversations inside, which may be useful if people are non-ambulant, struggle walking or do not feel comfortable going out.
When running this workshop make sure to connect the conversation to relevant initiatives happening in the area, such as the introduction of a low traffic neighbourhood or local greening.
Oldham Energy Futures example
In Westwood, the group included a councillor who was involved with local work around active travel and school streets. When the group fed back following a “walk and talk” in the movement workshop, the councillor was able to bring information to the room which was relevant to the group and the solutions they discussed, filling them in about initiatives already happening in the neighbourhood that they should be aware of. This informed the solutions they decided to progress later in the programme, and their decision to invite stakeholders involved in the implementation of this active travel work. Insight and discussion with these stakeholders then shaped the development of a community action project around movement and transport.
