‘A TownToolkit for experiential-socio-ecological governance.’
This project is a cultural and technical toolkit for small towns which is designed to bring local people and local political entities together based on emotions, personal perceptions as well as environmental pollution data. The concept is that local democracy requires a broad holistic view of towns in order to deal with challenges such as social changes, economic development, peak oil and climate change.
This unique toolkit brings together three different levels:
1 Personal Perception / Body arousal. This level involves workshops with local people, where they can use two specially designed electronic circuits which measure emotional arousal as well as noise level. They re-explore their town by going for a walk while carrying these tools and creating a communal map when they return to the project base
2 Opinions / Pollution meansurement. This level involves distributing a series of unique pollution sensors / voting stations around the town. The 8 sensor units are designed to be mounted on lampposts across the town to give a wide coverage of differnt environments.
3 Visulisation, Interpretation & Discussion. This level involves collecting together all the data and insight from the other levels displaying and interpreting results for a large public discussion.
The toolkit was trialed for 4 months in Hedehusene, Denmark where it brought together local people and council members in deliberating the future of this small town which is supposed to double in size in the next 10 years.
“At first I was suspicious but when I saw this project I was amazed.
This is brilliant and will change the way we do things round here”
– Poul Bonderup Poltitician responsible for Hedehusene
Project Website (In danish)