ChangeLAB - Changing Lifestyles, Attitudes and Behaviour

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ChangeLAB -Changing Lifestyles, Attitudes and
Behaviour

• Sevilla 2007
• Hilary Lowson
• Surrey County Council

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ChangeLAB introduction

• Surrey

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ChangeLAB the basics

• Funded by INTERREG IIIC programme
• Total budget 1,597,251
• (ERDF 914,037)
• Duration January 2005-December 2007
• Partners Surrey County Council and Hampshire
  County Council (UK), Regional Environment Centre
  Estonia (EE), Municipality of Sykies (GR), Head
  Office Regional Environmental Centre (HU),
  Regione Liguria (IT), Provincie Utrecht (NL),
  City of Solna (SE).

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We dont know enough about changing behaviour

• Many good projects on sustainable consumption and
  production
• But no systematic base of knowledge on how to
  influence lifestyles, attitudes and behaviour
  effectively
• Increasing interest in behavioural issues - not
  just related to environment

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Why ChangeLAB?

• Behaviour change strategies are often confined
  within particular sectors or specialities.
• Need to maximise the potential to use existing
  knowledge, encouraging transfer of experience
  not only between regions/countries, but also
  between sectors - transport, waste, water and
  energy
• There is little information on whether
  previous initiatives have actually changed
  behaviour and by how much

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What ChangeLAB does?

• Creates an interactive Knowledge Database on
  existing experience of changing behaviour
• Develops criteria for assessing successful
  projects
• Identifies and refines effective techniques with
  potential for transfer across sectors and to
  other target groups
• Tests the techniques further through 7 Pilot
  Actions in partner regions. Are they
  transferable?
• Devises a set of practical tools for local
  decision makers in authorities, organisations and
  agencies working on public participation
  initiatives

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How?

• Over 140 relevant projects collected from partner
  regions and entered in Knowledge Base with a
  focus on water, waste, energy and transport
• www.changelabproject.org
• A Technique Planner which interrogates the
  Knowledge Base and suggests a mix of behaviour
  change techniques which fit a specific target
  group
• 7 Pilot Actions
• a toolkit on behaviour change

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ChangeLAB toolkit

• Knowledge Base,Technique Planner, 7 Pilot Actions
  and
• Guidance for practitioners how to plan for
  success timing, targeting, communication,
  monitoring, evaluation, transferability and
  follow-up, plus tips

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Developing the Technique Planner

• Initial research suggested four broad approaches
  
• Penalty/reward (e.g. congestion charging, prizes
  or awards)
• Infrastructure (e.g. cycle tracks, water-saving
  devices, car share schemes)
• Education/awareness-raising (e.g. role models,
  personal coaching, documentaries)
• Social learning (e.g. eco-teams, learning by
  doing)
• From these four, we have identified nineteen
  techniques

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Techniques for changing behaviour

• ChangeLABs Technique Planner uses 19
  techniques for behaviour change and helps you
  match these to your target group.
• Laws and Regulations, Permits, Threat of
  Enforcement, Taxes, Agreements, Demonstrations,
  Subsidies, Incentives, Group Learning,
  Participation, Courses/Training, Personal Advice,
  Information, Labelling, Promotion,
  Comparisons/Benchmarks, Competition,
  Organisational Provision, Infrastructure
  Provision

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ChangeLAB Pilots

• Surrey water saturation project with a primary
  school and its community on evidence of changes
  in behaviour on water use
• Sykies composting project involving 600
  citizens
• REC Estonia children from 42 schools
  participating in a week-long sustainable
  transport to school project
• Liguria three six hours workshops for 110
  building engineers on sustainable heating systems
• Hampshire working with a group of retired
  people on energy and water saving activities with
  financial benefits
• Utrecht 250 questionnaires on water saving
  circulated to local households in a new-build
  area - with 60 follow up home visits
• Solna an exercise supporting and encouraging
  local authority staff to adopt sustainable travel
  to work behaviour

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Guidance for practitioners

• What behaviour do you want to change?
• How do you know whether, and by how much, you
  have succeeded?
• agreeing an action plan
• successful implementation
• measuring success
• practical advice and tips

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Behaviour change in action
Surreys Golden Boot Challenge
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Keep in touch

• Surrey County Council
• Hilary Lowson hilary.lowson_at_surreycc.gov.uk
• Vincent OConnell vincent.oconnell_at_surreycc.gov.u
  k
• Tel [phone]
• Fax [phone]
• www.changelabproject.org
• www.surreycc.gov.uk