This report is based on a State-of-the-Art literature review on citizen engagement and awareness creation in context with Living Labs conducting citizen science for behaviour and social change. While a significant number of papers are referred to in this document, the more systematic review of papers was limited to 38 papers that were identified as most representative for creating an overview of the most pressing issues related to the I-CHANGE project. The goal of this guideline is to help strengthen citizen and community engagement in Living Labs that conduct citizen science activities and to foster awareness creation that aims towards behaviour change and just transitions.
The report provides a brief introduction to conceptualizations and key terms relevant to the Living Labs, such as citizen science, citizen engagement, awareness creation, as well as a few representative examples of the theories, models, and approaches developed to promote social change. Then, it describes the methods used in the literature review and presents the findings and analysis of the identified barriers to and enablers for citizen engagement and awareness creation aiming for behaviour change. It also includes a brief description of potential co-benefits and co-harms, a new conceptual framework approach to fostering transitions, and it discusses the findings and recommended next steps.
Based on the findings, three main clusters of drivers were identified to help generate a more comprehensive overview of the factors that need to be taken into consideration when planning and conducting participatory citizen science research in the I-CHANGE Living Labs for social change:
- Research project components;
- Research process characteristics;
- Strengthening community capacity, form the foundation for the I-CHANGE Just Transitions Framework. Each of the cluster categories consists of a thematically arranged set of motivational drivers for engagement that form a set of criteria that can help plan more equitable research.
The expectation is to help start thinking about how to design and conduct more equitable, inclusive, and collaborative citizen science that will help create awareness and promote behavioural change.
In case you are interested to learn more about the report, please send an email to info@ichange-project.eu.