7 Oct 2021 – one day workshop 

Recurring initiative (was or is still being repeated)

The Vision Workshop follows a predetermined sequence of six modules, which addresses various sensory levels and thereby reflects the workshop’s creative approach: prepare, arrive, learn, feel, create and share. For each module, the Vision Workshop Toolbox suggests up to five options for interactive methods from which organisers can choose based on the local context and specific needs and capabilities of the target group. The Toolbox contains a total of 27 method profiles for organisers to decide which methods are best suited for their own workshop. 

Each module is dedicated to a different experience:  

PREPARATION - Gathering impressions and ideas in your own environment.  

Arrival - Placing the workshop in a local and personal context.  

EXPERIENCE - Getting to know and expressing one's personal attitude towards climate neutrality.  

LEARNING - Providing a detailed factual perspective by involving experts.  

DRAFTING - Designing a shared vision in small groups based on emotional and cognitive input.  

SHARING - Presenting the group vision to stakeholders (mayors, school management, other male and female pupils, possible media) 

Detailed description: 

The EXPERIENCE  

Active local leaders, representatives of schools, kindergarten, Municipal and Communal Social 

Assistance Centre (MGOPS), Polish Scouting and Guiding Association (ZHP), Sztum's Cultural Centre, 

Senior Citizens' Club and the Group of Rural Housewives in Czernin, as well as the Municipal Council of Sztum gathered on 7 October this year in the premises of the Senior Citizens' Club+ to better understand the concept of climate neutrality during a visual workshop and to co-create a common vision of Sztum in a climate-neutral future.  

After presenting the results from sensory walk, presenting what they do and don't like in Sztum today, participants defined the opportunities and barriers they see on the way to climate neutrality (using key words and later on the Walt Disney method). In the group of 18 people, most of the time divided for 3 teams, the participants lively discussed how to transfer the implementation of climate policy goals from the national and EU level to the local level. The participants actively shared their knowledge, appreciating the city's achievements to date and creatively approaching its further 

development, as well as stressing the importance of dialogue and cooperation between local authorities 

and inhabitants of Sztum.  

LEARNING  

Learning module was based on two short films:  

1) Is it too late for climate action 

2) Global warming: why are we passive?  

DRAFTING  

After each of the film short discussion was held aiming at answwering the questions:  

1) How to reduce emissions effectively?  

2) What you can do to mitigate climate change and reduce emissions? 

SHARING - At the end of the workshop, the participants had the opportunity to present on camera the common vision of the climate neutral future of the city and the possible ways to reach climate neutrality, so that the workshop conclusions could reach the widest possible audience. 

The concept of climate neutrality was introduced to the representatives of the different groups in a workshop, allowing them to develop a common vision of a climate-neutral future that takes into account their individual perceptions of the future as it relates to their own everyday life and at the same time as part of a long-term international transformation. During the small group work and a lively discussion on how to transfer the implementation of climate policy goals from the national and EU level to the local level, the participants actively shared their knowledge, appreciating the city's achievements to date and creatively approaching its further development, as well as stressing the importance of dialogue and cooperation between local authorities and inhabitants of Sztum.  

During discussions and group work, produced visions for a climate-neutral future provide guidance to policy makers in developing new and updated city policies that take into account the voice of different groups in society. The final video of the workshop also brings together the expectations and needs of citizens in relation to policy-making by local decision-makers, which, when taken into account in the legislative process, will give the urban community a sense of empowerment and participation in creating the future of their city. 

The idea behind the vision workshop is to: 

- to bring together people from different backgrounds with an individual vision of a climate-neutral future. Through this participatory approach, participants get to know their own priorities and those of others, reflecting on how they want to live in the future and how this can be imagined in the context of climate change. 

- to make participants aware that it is possible to implement climate policy goals at a local level and in their own immediate environment.  

- to show how citizens can participate actively in and contribute to energy transition and climate protection.   

- to develop creative thinking and the involvement of different social groups. 

The city, new CoM signatory since Jan. 2020, declared its willingness to organise such vision workshops at its territory and took part in a preparatory workshop organised in advance as part of the BEACON project. Sztum has been actively involved in this project and has also been undertaking activities in the field of citizen participation, while the city has a number of social groups that want to be active on its behalf and were potential target groups for the planned workshops.  

Therefore, the idea of such workshops fit perfectly with the city's activities and priorities. During a special preparatory session, city representatives gained knowledge about the innovative methodology and tools to be used during vision workshops.  

Due to the restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the date of this event was constantly postponed, but finally in October 2021 it was possible organise it on site.