- Introduction
- The Living Neighbourhood
- The Method
- Living Neighbourhood Initiatives
- Onkaparinga Opts for Living Neighbourhood
- For more information
The following Case Study explores an innovative community engagement program, developed in Adelaide SA, to promote greenhouse gas reductions.
As part of an ongoing strategy to reduce the impact of the car in Adelaide, Transport SA commissioned a series of studies in 1996. The focus was to assess the usefulness and relevance of Travel Blending® - an approach in which change begins with Partnerships for Change Aindividuals. Two projects in 1997 and 1998, conducted by UK transport consultants Steer Davies Gleave, produced results showing a 20 per cent reduction in kilometres travelled by car per participant, and reductions for the population as a whole of around 11 per cent.
So Transport SA commissioned a project on a much larger scale. The entire community of Dulwich and Rose Park in the City of Burnside became a Living Neighbourhood® in which everyone who lived, worked, played and went to school in the community - an estimated 1500 people - were invited to participate.
At the completion of the six-month project preliminary results show car trips in the neighbourhood have reduced by 10 per cent, and the number of kilometres travelled by car reduced by six per cent. Car drivers report they now spend five per cent less time behind the wheel and subsequently enjoy 20 minutes more leisure time per week. Time spent walking has increased eight per cent.
Estimated cost of the project is $150 per household. This means that $150 buys one tonne of reduced C02 emissions per year.
The success of the project has convinced the City of Onkaparinga, in Adelaide's south, to create a Living Neighbourhood at Christies Beach.
Introduction
Efforts to reduce car use often fall into two camps. There is the US approach of legislative and pricing measures, and the campaigns to make people aware of the benefits of reduced car use, pioneered in the UK.
The problem with the latter is turning awareness into behavioural change. A good example of the problem comes with the results of a random telephone survey of 1000 households conducted in 1995 in the greater Sydney area (Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong). Eighty nine per cent of respondents to this survey expressed concern or at least some concern for air pollution in the region. However, only 59 per cent said they take action to reduce car use because of the environment. It highlights the challenge of getting people to move from awareness to change in behaviour.
The Living Neighbourhood approach is based on the philosophy that people need more than simply being 'made aware'. They need to:
- understand the issues so that they can make changes themselves, and
- make changes that suit their own lifestyles.
The Living Neighbourhood
Living Neighbourhoods have their roots in the technique called Travel Blending. In a Living Neighbourhood, such as the Dulwich and Rose Park community, everyone who lives, works, attends school and plays in the neighbourhood is offered the opportunity to travel blend.
Travel blending was initially developed as part of Clean Air 2000, an innovative campaign to clean Sydney's air before the Olympic Games.
In brief, it can be described as an approach that empowers people to reduce the impact of the car by making small changes from which they benefit and that fits their lifestyles.
Travel blending offers a way for individuals to reduce car use by:
- thinking about activities and travel in advance
- blending modes of transport
- blending activities by doing as many things as possible on the same journey
- blending over time by making small sustainable changes over longer periods of time.
Thinking about activities is, in some respects, the key to the whole concept. In addition to encouraging small changes, participants begin to think about long term changes.
The Method
Approximately 1500 people who lived, worked or went to school in the Dulwich and Rose Park Living Neighbourhood were asked to complete a series of travel diaries. These diaries recorded all their trips over a full week. The data was entered into a database and an automatic feedback generation system (based on the Expert System method) used to prepare customised feedback sheets. These sheets offered each household tips on how they might be able to reduce the number of trips they make in future. Among the suggestions might be using a bicycle for those trips to the corner deli, or approaching a neighbour who makes the same trip at the same time.
Participating households were given about four weeks to practise these travel blending tips. Then they were sent the next kit. This kit measured the impact of travel blending on the household's travel activities. The kit included another set of travel diaries. The household again completed these over a seven-day period and returned them for analysis.
Finally, the household received a summary of travel activities from the second set of diaries and an analysis of the changes in travel between the first and second diaries. In addition, participants were given tips and a log book so they could continue to monitor the odometers of their vehicles once a week.
Living Neighbourhood Initiatives
One of the characteristics of a Living Neighbourhood project is that each community develops its own set of initiatives.
In Dulwich and Rose Park, for example, the local primary school added travel blending to its curriculum for Grades 5, 6 and 7. Each student in these classes took home diaries. The school announced the Travel Blending and Living Neighbourhood program in its weekly newsletter and all parents of participating children received a special letter signed by the principal.
The City of Burnside Council replaced all street signs in Dulwich and Rose Park with new ones that included the Living Neighbourhood logo. And Council, of its own volition, drafted a letter to residents (under the Living Neighbourhood banner), asking them to cut back overhanging branches so that it was easier to walk along the streets.
A monthly newsletter was developed for the Dulwich Business Precinct. Its aim was to link businesses together and keep them informed on recent Living Neighbourhood developments.
Onkaparinga Opts for Living Neighbourhood
As part of its Cities for Climate ProtectionTM Local Action Plan, the City of Onkaparinga in Adelaide's south started a Living Neighbourhood project last month.
Besides reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Onkaparinga Council expects their Living Neighbourhood project to lead to a healthy and active community as residents become more aware of their community and support its local services.
Council selected Christies Beach as its Living Neighbourhood. This is a suburb with 17.4 per cent unemployment (27.6 per cent youthunemployment), 20 per cent of households earning less than $300 per week and 16.6 per cent of residents without a car.
Table 1: Examples of Reduced Car Use in Adelaide June-July 1997
| Participants | Diary 1 | Diary 2 | % Change | |
| Car Driver Trips | 2572 | 1988 | -22.7% | |
| Car Driver Kilometres | 26,856 | 21,131 | -21.3% | |
| Total Hours in the Car | 1325 | 977 | -26.2% | |
| Total People Approached | ||||
| Car Driver Trips | 3089 | 2669 | -13.6% | |
| Car Driver Kilometres | 32,251 | 28,534 | -11.2% | |
| Total Hours in the Car | 1603 | 1310 | -19.3% | |
Table 2: Reductions in Carbon Dioxide Emissions
| Diary 1 - Kms | Diary 2 - Kms | Reduction in Kms | C02 reduction | |
| 26,856 | 21,131 | 5725 | 1436 kg | |
Assumimg the above figures are reductions over one week, it would mean that for 100 households (gross) there is an annual reduction of 75 tonnes of C02.
What Onkaparinga Council expects to achieve from the project includes:
- improved air quality
- an integrated transport system based at the Noarlunga Interchange
- reduction in car dependence
- healthier and more active residents
- more awareness and better use of local services
- greater mobility and access to transport options
- enhanced work skills as residents are trained as data entry processors
- community involvement with residents encouraged to volunteer
- part of curriculum for local TAFE students
- networking with Beach Road Main Street Project Inc.
Besides fitting with Council's CCP campaign and with Smogbuster's Rideshare objectives, the Living Neighbourhood project aims to raise awareness about the economic, social, health and environmental implications of transport use.
The Onkaparinga Council and SARTAG (Southern Adelaide Region Transport Advisory Group) will be jointly involved with the project.
For more information
For more details about this Case Study, please contact:
Elizabeth Ampt
Steer Davies Gleave
229 Greenhill Road, Dulwich SA 5065
08 8332 4000 (phone)
08 8332 9796 (fax)
lizampt@sdgworld.net
Ann Gibbons
City of Onkaparinga
08 8384 0630 (phone)
anngib@onkaparinga.sa.gov.au
AGO, Community Partnerships
02 6274 1597 (phone)
02 6274 1814 (fax)
CCPTM is an ICLEI Program in collaboration with the Australian Greenhouse Office
Before you download
Most publications are available as PDF files. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view PDF files.
If you are unable to access a publication, please contact us to organise a suitable alternative format.
Key
Links to another web site
Opens a pop-up window