Recent approaches to environmental communications suggest that simply providing information to individuals will not be sufficient to effect the transformation of society to sustainability. Communications efforts should lead to mutual change in preference to individual change; responses should be collective, not just individual. A Johns Hopkins study suggests approaches "based on community dialogue and collective action that clearly specify social outcomes as well as individual outcomes…a horizontal sharing [of information] between two or more participants within social networks"¹ rather than the channelling of information from government to individual.

Key Message - Community Sustainability As cities grow larger, the municipal level may become too large a unit for the processes of citizen engagement and learning to occur. In many places around the world we are beginning to see that sustainable cities are built upon a foundation of sustainable neighbourhoods.

We are learning that the size of the social network may have some influence on the effectiveness of knowledge-sharing among individuals. Structured engagement with social groups inside municipalities may be equally useful to larger scale community vision and planning exercises.

IISD, in collaboration with the Natural Resources Institute of the University of Manitoba and Winnipeg's Civic Environment Committee, has piloted a new approach to community level environmental communications called "EIZs": Environmental Improvement Zones.

An "EIZ" Plan is an action plan to improve the environment within a neighbourhood, by asking the residents to identify their concerns, to fill in their information gaps and to put in place mechanisms to collectively address environmental issues. The Plan is developed in partnership by all parts of the neighbourhood, including, but not limited to, the residents, special interest groups, local government, local industry and other agencies. The objective is to improve and sustain the local environment for everyone, through collective action. It would take a serious commitment among neighbours to make a difference. "EIZ" Plans should tackle the issues that local neighbourhoods identify as important to their health, safety and enjoyment of their local environment.

Based on the pilot project, two documents have been prepared for consideration by the Civic Environment Committee and the City of Winnipeg administration.

• Environmental Improvement Zones (EIZ): A Model for engaging Winnipeg neighbourhoods in local action; Considerations for implementation in Winnipeg.
  Reviews the history of environmental communications and decision-making across the neighbourhoods of Winnipeg, examines precedents in other municipalities, and provides some guidance on how the neighbourhood approach might work in Winnipeg.

• Environmental Improvement Zones (EIZ): A Guide to environmental issues in Winnipeg neighbourhoods
  Identifies key environmental issues and suggests strategic activities that neighbourhoods could undertake, based on pilot exercises in the neighbourhoods of Whyte Ridge, Riverview and West Broadway.

Our work on environmental improvement zones has had broader influence, leading to the development of a community action mapping tool currently being used by other communities across Manitoba as part of the Province's Climate Change Community Challenge (C4).

Funders

This project has been supported by the Winnipeg Foundation. Additional support for one of the researchers was secured through Environment Canada's EcoAction Community Funding Program.

[1] Figueroa, M.E. et al. 2002. Communication for Social Change. An integrated model for measuring the process and its outcomes. New York: Rockefeller Foundation. p3