Developing local sustainability initiatives in Western Sydney

ESD Innovation: ‘Our Place Western Sydney’ represents a research on the meaning of local places in relation to community involvement in environmental sustainability initiatives. The participatory action-research methodology implemented allows the participants to identify places that mattered, raise issues of concern, and to generate possible solutions. Two innovative Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) approaches were undertaken. The first was the creative use of storytelling and objects to identify local places of importance. Participants were asked to bring an artefact from or representing their favourite place, and tell a story about that place. This approach generated powerful insights into how, why, and where community members connected to their local places. The second innovation involved ‘Open Space Technology’ (OST) with the aim of bringing together clusters of people with a common interest in taking specific environmental action. Seed funding was made available to collaborative projects developed through this methodology to enable implementation. Societal Transformation: The research highlighted the unique ways in which local people relate to their local places and also supported small networks of grassroots projects at these sites. The Emu Riparian project is one example of a continuing project that has had a ‘ripple effect.’ The project included two successful funding applications for riparian zone action along the Hawkesbury Nepean River and engagement with university students for project-based learning. The Our Place Western Sydney project supported new membership to the RCE Greater Western Sydney (GWS) network, which in turn continues to support the individual organisations and associations at the grassroots level. RCE GWS continues to use a form of OST at its annual planning day to further generate collaborative initiatives. Implications of Development for Knowledge Institutions: Findings by the Our Place Western Sydney project have implications for future study design and how universities can approach working with communities. The chapter demonstrates how higher education knowledge institutions that work in the community space can use ESD innovations that are mindful, respectful and considerate of the local knowledges and expertise that already exist there. Employing these creative methodologies led to a depth and breadth of the initiative that would not otherwise be possible using more traditional study methods such as a survey