Cities are increasingly required and willing to mitigate biodiversity loss. The challenge is multiple: perspectives of neighbourhood communities must be combined with those of local governments, and needs of people, nature and technology (affordances) need to be aligned. This workshop forms an essential part of the ongoing participatory design research project “Neighbourhood as a Biotope” (Wijk als Biotoop, WAB), within which eight interventions related to this challenge have been developed and tested through a co-design approach. We aim to present these innovative interventions and examine them through the perspectives of the workshop participants. Furthermore, we intend to introduce and discuss the Behaviour Change Wheel framework that can be employed by governmental bodies to develop policies addressing social challenges such as biodiversity loss. We would like to collaboratively map the interventions on this model and embed the model in community-based approaches. The goal is to bring this policy-oriented perspective into the communities’ dialogue and explore if it yields new insights, or, the other way around, if community-centric and other participatory approaches can enrich the model.
- Full-day workshop in conjunction with C&T (https://2025.comtech.community/ ) in Siegen
- Welcoming both practioners and academics
- The deadline for submitting Two-page Statement (C&T format) and (optional) Intervention Questionnaire is July 13, 2025
- Participants accepted for the workshop must register for C&T 2025
- Looking forward to meeting you in Siegen!
- Programme
|
Activities |
Time minutes |
|
|
Walk - in |
-10 |
|
|
Start ca 9:30 |
|
|
|
1 Creating a green and save space By using a WAB intervention |
45 |
|
|
2 Situating green interventions shared beforehand by participants |
60 |
|
|
3 Introducing theory |
60 |
|
|
Lunchbreak |
|
|
|
4 Explaining the assignment |
15 |
|
|
5 Making groups and distributing intervention factsheets |
15 |
|
|
6 Working in the wilderness |
60 |
|
|
7 Preparing for presentations and/ or small break |
15 |
|
|
8 Video presentations and discussions |
30 |
|
|
Round 2 |
30 |
|
|
9 Wrapping up |
15 |
|
|
End ca 17:00
|
|
|
- Workshop goals
The subject of this workshop aligns well with theme no. 7 “Community Development and Research Approaches” of the C&T conference 2025, as it explores how the community perspective can be included into policy design with (technology-supported) interventions aimed at increasing residents’ willingness to take action in support of enhancing biodiversity in their immediate surroundings.
In this workshop Participatory Designing Research (PDR) meets Behaviour Change Theory.
During this workshop we would like to investigate, together with the participants:
1 How different models, frameworks and approaches can contribute to more community-centric and targeted design of (technology-supported) interventions aimed at increasing residents' willingness to take action in support of biodiversity enhancement.
2 How the novel interventions can enrich the BCW framework, or the other way around, how bringing this policy-oriented perspective into the communities’ dialogue might yield new insights.
- Workshop topics
Participatory design research
(2) Urban Living Lab
(3) Citizen participation/ Community engagement
(4) Urban biodiversity
(5) Pro-environmental behaviour
(6) Technology
(7) Neighbourhood scale
(8) Twin transition in cities (smart & green)
- Call for participation
We welcome participants with an academic background (PDR or Behaviour Science), policy officers from local governments, and representatives from organisations engaged in citizen participation at the neighbourhood level to contribute and share their experiences.
Prospective participants are encouraged to articulate their interest in the workshop, and we particularly welcome participants that engage with one or more of the themes outlined above.
The workshop can accommodate a maximum of 25 participants (excluding the organisers).
- Take aways for participants
An opportunity to share your skills and knowledge and to expand your professional network Participants will have the opportunity to present and discuss (relevant) interventions, in which they are or were closely involved themselves, with other participants and the organisers. The participants will have ample time to connect their own inspirations, theoretical preferences and interventions with each other and relate them to the COM-B model.
Assignment will call upon your experience and knowledge as a professional
Translate factsheets of WAB interventions into a visual design elaboration of a community-centric intervention for the location of choice in the immediate vicinity of the conference location in Siegen.
Provide and understanding of the extent to which the Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW) and the COM-B model can offer a structured foundation for selecting and developing theoretically grounded interventions aimed at fostering behavioural change.
Obtain insights into the ways in which the diverse professional contexts of participants inform and shape the development of the proposed format.
- Submission details
Participation in the workshop requires:
A Submission of a max. two-page statement (see detail below)
B (Optional) Filling in a short Intervention questionnaire for a relevant intervention of choice
A Two page statement should detail: (following the C&T template) https://2025.comtech.community/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CandT-2025_Template.doc
(1) Academic and/ or professional background (max. 200 words)
(2) Motivation for participation (max. 500 words)
(3) A concrete description and visualisation (max. 2 images) of an intervention relevant to supporting climate change or biodiversity loss mitigation goals at the city level, in which they have either actively participated or with which they have been involved in another capacity (max. 300 words).
To be send to j.spoelman@hr.nl and a.overdiek@hr.nl mentioning “C&T Conference workshop 4”
B Intervention Questionnaire (optional)
For this intervention of your choice you will be asked to fill in an Intervention queationnaire (https://forms.office.com/e/kW9zhtCUpg?origin=lprLink) (takes about 15 minutes).
This information about the relevant intervention of choice, provided in the intervention form will be shared during the morning programme of the workshop in the form of an intervention factsheet.
All submitted Two-page statements and filled in questionnaires will be reviewed by the workshop convenors and evaluated based on the relevance in regards to the workshop goals. Should the number of expressions of interest exceed the workshop’s capacity, priority will be given to submissions that promise to contribute meaningfully to the richness of presentations and discussions, while also ensuring diversity among participants.
Deadline for both Two-page statement and (optional) Intervention Questionnaire: July 13, 2025.
Notification of Acceptance: July 18, 2025
Workshop Date: July 20, 2025
Looking forward to meeting you in Siegen!
- Organisers
Three of the four organisers are involved in the funded four-year research project “Neighbourhood as Biotope” (Hogeschool Rotterdam, 2022).
MSc Janneska Spoelman has been affiliated as a researcher with the Knowledge Centre Creating 010 at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences since 2022 and has held the position of senior lecturer in the Department of Urban Development at the School of the Built Environment since 2009. She brings a spatial and governance perspective to the proposed workshop. She has been involved with the WAB project since the very start and has published a paper about Co-creating Eco-cities in which expert knowledge about enhancing biodiversity at neighbourhood level is plotted on the COM-B model. As a lecturer, she has extensive experience with (international) multidisciplinary, context-rich educational projects.
Dr. Phil. Anja Overdiek is a professor Cybersocial Design at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences and an associate professor at the Mission Zero Centre of Expertise of The Hague University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands. Her research focusses on multi-stakeholder co-design in transition processes, on experimental environments, and on digital technology for sustainability transitions. Anja holds a PhD from Freie Universität Berlin (Germany) in Political Sciences and has co-authored several books about Living Labs and Applied Design Research. She is founding member of the Expert Network Systemic Co-Design (ESC).
Dr. Ir. Geertje Slingerland is an assistant professor of Urban Studies at the Urbanism Department of TU Delft. With a background in Interaction Design, she likes to investigate how design can contribute to positive behavioural change in people, and ultimately systemic change in society. Her expertise includes co-design, participatory design, urban communities, qualitative research, research-through-design, citizen empowerment and engagement. Her research focuses on the smart and social city and includes co-design with citizens, digital technology and placemaking. Geertje always uses a participatory approach in her research and therefore works as much as possible with residents and local organizations from the context.
Dr. Katharine Willis is Associate Head of School (Research) for Art, Design and Architecture and a Professor in Smart Cities and Communities at the University of Plymouth. Her research expertise includes smart cities, smart villages, digital technologies and the role of space and place. Her approach to smart cities is focused on the community in the spaces and the need to build from the ground-up to create inclusive environments. She is currently working on a range of funded research projects that explore how new technologies can create ways for people and communities to engage with place, with a particular focus on social and digital inclusion. Katherine is a Visiting Research Fellow at The Centre for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP) at Kings College London.