Signposting Sustainability

Burnet, Frank; Hull, Angela; Johnson, Ben; Longhurst, James

Abstract

This project built on the pre-research and evaluation outcomes of Sci-Bus (Output 1) to raise public awareness of a key environmental issue. It was funded by an EPSRC Partnership in Public Awareness Award. The campaign used a poster carrying both the URL of a custom designed web site (www.bristolsays.com) and an SMS number. This poster was displayed on the sides of buses travelling through the centre of Bristol and its message was targeted at pedestrians and car drivers. The purpose of the campaign was to discover whether this approach would draw the target audiences into contributing their views about what should be done to reduce urban pollution. Additional feedback was gathered using face-to-face interviews and a questionnaire created by Bristol City Council that was available on the project web site (www.bristolsays.com) for direct submission to the Council. By these means the project added value to a public consultation on sustainability options for Bristol that was being carried out by the Council's Sustainable City Unit from October to December 2003. These links meant that the potential impact of the project team members' research was not only communicated to the public but also key decision makers within local government, including senior local politicians. The project was also the starting point for a project that led directly to an ESRC's Science in Society scheme award to investigate in greater detail the approaches taken by English Local Authorities to consulting the public on issues with scientific content research, like the management of air quality.
www.uwe.ac.uk/fas/graphicscience/projects/evaluations/eval_signposting.htm

Citation

Burnet, F., Hull, A., Johnson, B., & Longhurst, J. (2003). Signposting Sustainability

• Other Type: Other
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2003
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: sustainability, campaign, Bristol, pedestrians, car drivers, public transport