In Our Nature midway report by HUBBUB

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Midway Report for the In Our Nature Manchester programme November 2021 1

Executive Summary Hubbub is an award-winning charity that inspires ways of living that are good for the environment. We design campaigns that make environmental action desirable. We disrupt the status quo to raise awareness, nudge behaviours and shape systems. We do this through knowledge, playfulness and positivity.  As the scale of the climate crisis becomes ever more apparent, we are passionate about creating campaigns that deliver significant impact and that can be rapidly taken to scale. We partnered with Manchester City Council, the Manchester Climate Change Agency, local and national partners to launch Manchester’s largest community climate programme: In Our Nature. The aim is to create a campaign that will leave a genuine legacy for the city. Beyond Manchester, it will provide inspiration for any of the 290 UK local authorities who have declared a Climate Emergency and are seeking positive and impactful ways to engage local residents and communities. In Our Nature was successfully launched in May 2021 and has already delivered significant social and environmental impact in Manchester and rich learnings that can be shared with other local authorities across the UK.

Together we have:

Established 5 Community Fridges to tackle food waste and increase access to healthy food in the city.

Brought together a growing coalition of local and national partners to inform, deliver and amplify the programme, allowing us to reach a wide audience of residents and deliver activities that resonated. Conducted extensive consultation with more than 1,000 residents and stakeholders in the city to ensure the project is directly responding to local needs, providing a model for community engagement in other cities.  Created a strong, recognisable brand and  year-long programme of activities under the umbrella of In Our Nature.  Launched a city-wide communications campaign including, 1. an online hub of tips and resources for residents with more than 15,500 visits, 2. a social media campaign that has reached 900k people to date, 3. media coverage with opportunities to hear over 23 million, 4. a podcast on green roofs and 5. a video on making our cities greener that was viewed 33,000 times. Delivered a series of offline communications and creative public activations including an interactive installation in Moss Side inviting residents to feedback on what they want to see in their area and an immersive nature pop-up shop bringing the benefits of nature to the heart of the city, that welcomed more than 1,000 visitors. Gave away more than 1,500 plants as part of public engagement activities.

Gifted 1,500 surplus smart phones to digitally

excluded residents, reducing e-waste and cutting almost 80 tonnes of carbon.

Launched a range of innovative urban greening community projects exploring how spending time in nature can help connect the huge issue of climate change to our everyday lives, involving more than 350 people through events and workshops Connected ten households to members of their community to get expert advice on ways to make their homes greener. Learned the dos and don’ts of growing a tiny urban forest. Provided funding for seven local groups to deliver innovative projects responding to local needs and priorities. Established a strong local delivery team including a respected local delivery partner, an independent evaluation partner and a locally-based Creative Content Producer to document and capture impact.

Launched a design competition challenging university students across the UK to use their creativity to make day-to-day sustainable living second nature, and will be piloting commended entries as part of the campaign. And much more!

About this report This report summarises the activity, impact and learnings from the first phase of In Our Nature which ran from May 2021 – October 2021. The report focuses on the elements delivered by Hubbub rather than the activities delivered by the other project partners in the wider programme. It has been prepared with support from our independent evaluation partner The Social Investment Consultancy (TSIC). More details on the methodology for the evaluation of the programme can be found in Appendix 1. Hubbub is committed to openly sharing learnings and insights from all our campaigns to enable others to scale successful elements. A full impact report and inspiration guide will follow in summer 2022.

Our partners In Our Nature is funded by a number of grant funders - Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation and the Wates Family Enterprise Trust – as well as a coalition of corporate funders: the Co-op, Coca Cola GB, Danone UK & Ireland, JCDecaux, Suntory Beverage Food I&E and Tetra Pak. We are running the project in partnership with a local coalition of organisations who are funded by the National Lottery’s Climate Action Fund: Manchester City Council, Manchester Climate Change Agency and Partnership, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, Amity CIC and Commonplace.

Introduction In Our Nature is an ambitious programme that aims to support households and communities in Manchester to take positive action in response to the climate emergency. Since we launched in May 2021, we have trialled a series of positive, creative solutions and approaches to achieve this aim. This midway report gives an overview of progress against the programme’s key objectives: 1. Building a movement 2. Inspiring climate action 3. Ensuring a strong legacy for Manchester and developing approaches that can be scaled elsewhere 6

Building a movement 1) Built a coalition To avoid the worst effects of climate change, we need rapid, ambitious and joined-up action from all levels of society. One of the key aims from the outset was to bring together a coalition of local and national partners to inform, support and amplify the project.

We have: • Linked up with a strong coalition of local partners including Manchester City Council, Manchester Climate Change Agency, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and the Manchester Climate Change Partnership, which includes the arts and culture sector,academia, housing providers, faith institutions and sports clubs. • Built a growing coalition of funding partners including the Garfield Weston Foundation, the Wates Family Enterprise Trust, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and the National Lottery as well as the backing of corporate partners including Co-op, Coca Cola GB, Danone, JC Decaux, Tetra Pak and SBF I&E.   • Collaborated with a growing number of local collaborators and experts including Envirolution, Sow the City, Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Manchester, Mustafa Sharif Centre, Jason Singh, Manchester Urban Diggers, Keep it Real 24/7 and many more.

Convening key stakeholders – from local governments to businesses, charitable organisations, residents, local community groups, greening experts and academics – was a time-consuming process, but an absolutely critical one, too. The collaborative nature of In Our Nature sets it apart from similar initiatives and has allowed us to build on the expertise, reach and experience of each partner organisation.

“ We have been really impressed with Hubbub’s enthusiasm, responsive and flexible approach, and they are an integral part of the In Our Nature delivery team. Nothing is too much trouble for Hubbub staff, they are incredibly effective in their roles and are a vital element for communications and campaigns across the In Our Nature programme. Lisa Lingard, Resident & Communities Lead, Manchester Climate Change Agency

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Manchester Climate Change Partnership

Manchester City Council Neighbourhood Teams

Manchester City Council Corporate Comms

Amity CIC Manchester Climate Change Agency

Southway Housing

Local Partners

Commonplace

Core Delivery Partnership

Manchester City Council

Garfield Weston Foundation

Canal River Trust

Community Fridges

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Wates Family Enterprise Trust

Esmee Fairbairn Foundation

Keepin it Real 24/7

Manchester Vineyard and Bollywood Active

Funders Charitable Funders

Lancashire Wildlife Trust

Urban Greening

Yarran Northwest CIC

National Lottery (not funding Hubbub)

BeeWell

National Trust

Stirling Centre

Suntory Beverage and Food GB&I

Corporate Partners

Derby University

Cities of Trees

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Coca Cola GB

Young Identity

Jason Singh

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Tetra Pak

Millennium Powerhouse

Ignition

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The Co-op

Playground Design Studio Akse-P19

Moss Side Allotment

Ossory Street Allotment

Envirolution Manchester Metropolitan University

Danone UK & Ireland JCDecaux

Supporters/ Collaborators

Groundwork

Tyndall Centre for Climate Change research

UoM Climate Resilience

Manchester City Council Climate Officers

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Grant Projects Unicorn Grocery

M&E Partner

Delivery Partner

RHS Lentils and Lather

Suez

The Social Investment Consultancy

Plastic Shed Mothers Against Violence

Frank

Comms Collaborators

Manchester Urban Diggers

St Chad’s Primary School

and many more!

Sow The City Stitched Up

Moss Side Eco Squad

Flowhesion Foundation Manchester Library of Things

Manchester Urban Diggers

Future Directions CIC Stitched Up

2) Bringing people onboard In Our Nature puts residents and communities at the centre of identifying solutions that respond to local needs and priorities. Throughout the design and implementation of the programme we have involved residents and local stakeholders, building on their experience and expertise to develop a relevant and effective programme.

“

I’m so pleased to have made a connection with Hubbub as their community-centred approach was exactly what our group needed. They have taken the time to listen to our very specific needs and truly understand that whilst we all have the same goal of tackling the climate emergency, each ward has different priorities and has to adopt different approaches for it to fit in with their community.

Together we have: a) Created a shared brand for climate action in Manchester To create a buzz about climate action in the city, it was important to create a strong brand which people can get behind. To ensure a long-term legacy for the programme, we worked with Manchester City Council to refine and develop their existing ‘Zero Carbon’ campaign. This included expanding the illustrations, including more colours and fonts, integrating photography, and developing a messaging framework that focused on making environmental behaviours accessible and desirable. To find a suitable programme name we invited residents to feedback on different name options. The result of this co–design approach was In Our Nature, a name celebrating how households and communities intrinsically hold the skills, knowledge and power to take action on the climate emergency – whether it’s making savvy lifestyle choices, voting with their wallets, or pushing elected leaders to do more. It (In Our Nature) taps into a feeling that as Mancs it’s part of our heritage and DNA to be changemakers, and it feels inspiringan invitation to be part of it *because you already are.*

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Hafsa Mekki, Resident and Founder of the Moss Side Eco Squad community group "In Our Nature is people-friendly, it draws people in, in particular new audiences and those who would be put off by the term Zero Carbon." Survey respondent

Survey respondent

#InOurNature

Making food go further is

#InOurNature

b) Amplified the voice of communities Throughout the programme we want to create opportunities for residents to have their say, whether by engaging in programme design, sharing thoughts on what they want to see in their community, or feeding into the city’s response to the climate emergency.

“

We’ve been really impressed with Hubbub’s design-led approach to solving environmental problems. They allocate plenty of time to understand the needs and desires of the people who will take part in their projects, and this helps with innovation and developing solutions that are right for the community they are working with.

• Supported Manchester Climate Change Agency and Envirolution to facilitate Manchester’s first Community Assembly on Climate Change to create a ‘citizens mandate’ for the city’s response to the climate emergency. • Ran surveys and groups discussions during which residents were able to give us direct feedback on the communication campaign and what they’d like to see more or less of. Throughout the process we’ve sought to use creativity and strong design to grab people’s attention and inspire them to share their thoughts. In the coming months we will continue to explore creative ways of conducting community consultation to ensure that more people engage in these processes.

Impact at a glance

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Jon Ross, Director and Co-Founder, Sow the City

15,500 visits

We have: • Worked with Commonplace to create an engaging online hub featuring polls and heatmaps where residents can share thoughts on what they want to see in their local area. The hub has been visited by more than 15,500 people to date with 450 people making a contribution or responding, and 390 people signing up to receive regular updates. • Trialled creative ways to gather insights and feedback including an interactive ‘Sensory Structure’ in Moss Side which asked residents what they wanted to see, hear, taste, smell and touch as we make the city greener, with more than 2,730 votes recorded. • Invited local groups and residents to take an active role in defining the success of the programme’s interventions, with 50+ people joining evaluation workshops to agree on the desired outcomes of the project.

to the online hub

450 people making a contribution or responding

390 people signing up to receive regular updates

2,730 votes recorded

through The Sensory Structure

c) Provided practical tips, advice, and inspiration We know that the majority of people want to take action on climate change, but many are confused about where to start, concerned that change will be difficult and unsure about how to integrate meaningful action in their busy everyday lives. To give people the tools they need to get started, we launched a city-wide communications campaign providing residents with practical tips, advice, and inspiration how to live greener in Manchester.

We have: • Delivered a successful social media campaign reaching more than 1.2 million* and building a following of 1,900 followers. • Created a range of content including social media cards, ‘How-To’ videos, and infographics covering topics from food, fashion, travel, recycling, energy and more. • Distributed engaging print communications with practical actions including recipe cards, postcards, tips and hacks. • Teamed up with over 20 local groups, projects, and influencers to create Manchester-specific content, to show what is possible and inspire individuals to get involved in local initiatives. ture Na

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We have seen the power that hyper-local and targeted communications can have and how people are more likely to engage with and respond to engaging content such as videos, graphics and photography. We’ve seen how people want to take concrete actions and see the impact locally.

Impact at a glance

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total social media

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total hashtag reach (May-October)

*This has been calculated using the analytics platform Brand24 19

“

I quite like that it (In Our Nature) creates a community to show other people feel the same way and are taking actions as well. Sometimes it feels so daunting that there is so much to do that it just feels nice.

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Focus group participant

“

It (In Our Nature) served as a reminder because it can be really easy to fall back into your lazy ways, but when you see these posts it kind of gives you a jolt and gets you back on track.

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Focus group participant

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The way it’s presented by you guys is that there are achievable nuggets that you can do and you’re not so alone with it so that’s what I’ve enjoyed about it.

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Survey respondent

d) Making climate action relevant to all A key priority for the In Our Nature programme is to reach and create opportunities for the diverse communities that exist in Manchester. We have: • Experimented with creative engagement approaches from leafleting and door knocking to playful signage and interactive installations. • Run four high profile PR campaigns, securing 28 pieces of coverage, with opportunities to see/hear of +23 million since programme launch. Coverage has included the Daily Climate Show on Sky News, interviews on BBC Radio Manchester, BBC North West, CBS News, two articles on Manchester Evening News, I Love MCR, About Manchester. A full media coverage report can be found here: https://nectarine.pr/p/fDR5GA • Worked with Manchester City Council Neighbourhood Teams and other local stakeholders to distribute printed communications, including translated leaflets and posters at libraries, community events, GP centres and more. • Created communication guides for organisations such as neighbourhood teams and housing associations to build on what we’ve discovered. • Sought out interesting collaborations to reach a wider audience, partnering with sound artist Jason Singh and spoken word collective Young Identity on a project combining innovative tech and augmented reality to sounds of nature to appeal to a younger audience. • Provided funding for a series of innovative climate projects engaging diverse audiences including a growing project engaging the Kurdish community and a cookbook for adults with special needs and autism.

We have learned that eye-catching local interventions are effective ways to attract residents who might otherwise not have heard of In Our Nature. For example, more than 80% of visitors to our In Our Nature pop-up shop hadn’t heard of the programme before. Most of the participants in the Give it a Grow project heard about it from door knocking or discussions with volunteers on the streets.

We’ve gathered feedback from residents through surveys and focus groups to inform our approach which has highlighted the importance of targeting community hubs such as community centres, libraries, places of worship, as well as working in partnership with existing community groups. In the coming months we will continue to work with local partners, groups, and stakeholders to ensure our messaging and approach is even more inclusive and relevant to a wider audience.

Impact at a glance

pieces of media coverage with 23+ million of opportunities to see/hear

350+

people attended workshops and events

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I’ve really benefitted from having Hubbub’s eye-catching leaflets to hand out at community events. I recently attended a plant giveaway at University of Manchester where I chatted with students about climate change activity in the city. It would’ve been difficult to create action from these conversations without the handy leaflets with a QR code for the consultation. I also handed out some of the jollof rice recipe cards which the students loved!

”

Nina Des Forges, Climate Change Neighbourhood Officer, South Neighbourhood Team

Inspiring climate action

Impact at a glance

921

To reach Manchester’s climate targets, we need to provide residents with practical, accessible ways to take climate action at home and in their communities.

visitors

7 tonnes

Through In Our Nature, we have been trialling a range of creative ways to inspire climate action, from setting up Community Fridges to connecting people with nature.

of food redistributed

Community Fridges set up with 2 more to come

1) Reducing food waste and empowering communities: Community Fridges If food waste were a country, it would be the third biggest emitter of carbon emissions globally. Still, we know that each household waste an average of £60 of food every week, much of which can be avoided. Community Fridges are social places where residents and businesses can share food that would otherwise have gone to waste. There are more than 200 Community Fridges across the UK in Hubbub’s Community Fridge Network. On average, each fridge redistributes 2.4 tonnes of food per month. They bring people together, address social isolation and provide people with the opportunity to access healthy food, try something new and save money.

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Since we opened 5 months ago we have had over 540 visitors and redistributed 6.4 tonnes of surplus food. The Community Fridge has enabled us to work on a more social level, bringing community groups together, stopping food waste and providing residents across Moss Side with veggie parcels, cooked meals and healthy, nutritious food when they need it. It’s been the best thing since sliced bread.

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We’ve supported five Community Fridges to set up across Manchester in Moss Side, Longsight, Crumpsall, Wythenshawe and Failsworth, with two further fridges scheduled to open in coming months. These fridges have redistributed 7 tonnes of food to date to more than 921 visitors.

Wendy, Hungry Be Fed Community Fridge in Moss Side

2) Tackling e-waste and supporting digitally excluded households

3) Connecting people with nature to inspire climate action

Electronic waste is a major contributor to climate change and the UK generates the second most electronic waste in the world per capita. 

Good things happen when people are more connected to nature. Research by Natural England revealed that almost 80% of adults agree that green spaces make them happy and are good places for mental health and wellbeing. The research also shows a positive link between feeling connected to nature and living in ways that is good for the environment.

It is estimated that an average of four phones are sitting unused for every phone in use in the UK, so Hubbub’s Community Calling project redistributes used and donated smart phones to people who are digitally excluded while also tackling e-waste. In Manchester we have gifted more than 1,500 phones since launching the scheme in December 2020, each device comes with 12 months of data from O2 and recipients are offered digital skills training.

Impact at a glance

1,500

phones rehomed, cutting almost 80 tonnes of carbon

“

My new phone will help me with my everyday social life, I’m especially looking forward to speaking with my friends via Facetime which I have never done before.

”

So if a stronger relationship with nature makes us feel happier and more likely to live sustainably, why not use our leafy friends to help mobilise people living in cities with climate change? This aspect of the programme is trialling a variety of ways to use urban nature to shift behaviours around climate change, collecting practical evidence and inspiring case studies along the way. We want to find out how time spent in nature can nurture climate action, and explore whether experiencing nature in cities will inspire people to live more sustainably. The People and Nature for England Survey also discovered that people living in low-income areas are least likely to spend time outside, and that lowincome groups are 40% less likely to visit a green space. With this in mind, we developed a programme of interventions in Manchester focussing on helping a diverse range of Manchester residents notice and engage with nature. The aim is to not only improve their health and wellbeing, but also create a stronger sense of community, build environmental awareness and help areas adapt to the climate crisis. Building on existing research and insights, we are working hand-in-hand with local communities to introduce a range of innovative, practical ways for residents to get their hands dirty, while monitoring changes in behaviours, both immediately and in the longer term. Learnings will be compiled into a blueprint that will support latest research in the area, be shared widely with other urban communities looking to replicate and scale impact, and we hope it will inform the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan, which has a key goal to reconnect people with nature.

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We trialled:

Impact at a glance

• Creative community consultations • A series of long-term green community projects during Great Big Green Week

urban greening projects off the ground, with high potential for lasting impact

• Creative public engagement - launching an immersive nature pop-up shop in a busy city centre high-street • Planting Manchester’s first ‘tiny urban forest’ • Connecting households to members of their community to get expert advice on ways to make their homes greener • Organising a students’ competition and celebrating the best ideas that use nature to inspire greener lifestyles Read Hubbub’s blog outlining the various ways we’re seeking to use nature to achieve a range of other benefits, including boosting health and wellbeing, overcoming isolation, building community engagement resilience, celebrating diversity, and ultimately increasing positive climate action.

“

One of the key objectives of Manchester’s Biodiversity strategy is to involve people creatively with nature. Hubbub’s playful approach and creative engagement methods are incredibly useful to help reach communities in cities and urban areas; they are dynamic, different, challenging and fun, and can really resonate with our citizens.

1,000+

people engaged in community consultations

120

1,000+

350+

people taking part In Our Nature events and workshops, including 80 on Great Big Green Week alone

playful wildlife signage hidden across Manchester parks

corporate volunteers giving away their time to support on-theground projects

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1,500+

free plants and seeds given away and greening Manchester residents’ homes

winners for this year’s Design by Nature student competition

Dave Barlow, Senior Policy Officer at Manchester City Council

visitors at the In Our Nature shop

a) Creative community consultations The ‘Sensory Structure’, created by local artists at Playground Design Studio, popped up in Moss Side Park for ten days in May 2021, inviting residents to have their say on what they want to see, hear, touch, taste and smell in their neighbourhood.

“

The Sensory installation appealed to young and old and was certainly a talking point! In all the many years I have worked in community engagement I have never had the privilege of experiencing an engagement tool quite like it... People were so inquisitive, and it made conversation so easy!

40 corporate volunteers, including from funding partners’ organisations like the Co-op and the Wates group gave their time to support the urban greening projects. 80 residents took part in In Our Nature greening events in Moss Side during Big Great Green Week. Activities focussed on four long term community-led projects delivered in partnership with local groups which are transforming grey, neglected patches of land in the Moss Side area into community green spaces for all. Below is an outline of the ambition for those greening projects, with full case studies and learnings to be compiled in the final evaluation report at the end of the programme. In the meantime, our priority is to build the capacity of local groups to grow and sustain these projects into 2022 and beyond.

”

Lorna Herbert, Climate Change Officer, Manchester City Council The structure was unveiled to the public and media including Sky News. The launch event also included a giveaway of 500 plants to local residents, with tips on how to start growing at home. Our delivery partner Sow the City, a local social enterprise, ran a series of free drop-in workshops that attracted 123 participants, to give residents the opportunity to get in touch with their senses and have their say about what they’d like to see in Moss Side.

b) Green community projects on Big Great Big Week Big Great Green Week (18-26 September) is the UK’s biggest celebration of action on climate. We chose to bundle a range of project launches, workshops and campaign activities under their nation-wide movement, to amplify our reach and test how effective it was in engaging new audiences. Sow the City ran a series of events and workshops to provide tangible opportunities for target groups including school children to get their hands dirty while benefiting the wider community by creating better, greener, more welcoming spaces for all. A ‘swift boxes decoration’ workshop in partnership with a residents’ association was attended by more than 40 families, and a bird feeder workshop saw a group of 25 children create handmade bird feeders and hung them up around Moss Side. 30

Courtyard: a safe nature haven for all We are transforming the unloved courtyard of a NHS health centre into a thriving nature hub for local residents to come and spend time in, creatively combining flowers and edible plants with arts and urban design.  We partnered with the talented Manchester-based artist Akse P19 to create a vibrant mural celebrating local nature, inviting local residents to come along to help grow and make the most of the space. Akse P19’s social media reach also amplified the reach of the campaign to new audiences across the city. Sow the City is running weekly gardening sessions which will gradually start introducing wider topics linked to sustainable living, including diets, active travel, repair and reuse. 31

Innovative agro-forestry project in Moss Side We believe that agro-forestry is an effective, climate-proof solution to feed cities in a more sustainable way, and are trialling a small experiment involving chickens, fruit trees and orchards in Moss Side allotment to demonstrate how food production and nature can co-exist in an urban environment.  More to come!

Learning and wellbeing allotment plots We’re working with the local community to transform neglected allotments into learning plots, allowing Moss Side residents to grow their own food for the first time and learn from long-standing allotment holders. The new space will be used to run a series of NHS Green Prescribing ‘gardening for wellbeing’ sessions with the Moss Side Health Centre and the Greenheys Adult Education Centre, linking health and wellbeing with the green agenda. Observations collected by our independent evaluator show that a diverse group of local residents are engaging with the project, in terms of background, age and ethnicity. According to the volunteers, the project serves many different functions. For some, it is a place where they can relax and improve their wellbeing:

“

It’s a stress relief being here, I can zone out” (local resident) For others, it is an opportunity to grow fresh food at minimal costs:

“We need to learn about nature and how to grow fresh food because of Covid (local resident)

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A network of green alleyways We are empowering, motivating and connecting residents of Broadfield Road alleyway in Moss Side, while equipping them with the skills and knowledge to create and sustain their own community space. The impact of the approach will be showcased encouraging others in the area and across Manchester to transform their own space, building on successes from Hubbub’s Love Where You Live campaigns across the UK.  Local residents have cleaned up a litter-strewn alleyway and built raised beds to grow plants and food, which is already showing positive social and environmental benefit.

c) Creative public engagement In Our Nature pop-up shop Reaching people where they’re at is one of Hubbub’s key principles for effectively engaging the public, especially new audiences, with environmental messages. In Our Nature aims to bring nature to people’s lives, integrating it in unexpected everyday places in the city so that they can benefit from it without having to change their behaviours, and pointing them towards In Our Nature resources for practical tips, advice and opportunities to take practical environmental action in their daily lives.

Observations collected by our independent evaluator show that local residents engaged in the early stage of the project already see the positive effects of urban greening.

“

I’ve met some residents that I’ve never met before so that was really nice and if you can plant free food, herbs and strawberries then that’s wonderful. (local resident)

It makes people want to walk through the alley because there won’t be fly tipping and it gives them a sense of wellbeing, it creates a sense of smells, scents and green is best (local resident)

I feel really strongly about greenery and improving the environment in which we live and improving the quality of air in Manchester and everyday wellbeing, seeing greenery every day from your window it helps. (local resident)

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The Manchester Flower Show in June 2021 was located in one of the busiest high streets in the city. We partnered with a local artist to create giant ‘In Our Nature’ letters and used those to give away 700 plants across the weekend. The letters have since been used in a range of climate-related engagement events across the city and will take part of a mini ‘nature takeover’ of Manchester Met university campus in November 2021. In late September, on the back of the Big Great Green Week, we took the concept a step further and took over a shop in St Ann’s Arcade, transforming it into an immersive oasis of nature in the heart of Manchester. 35

For ten days passers-by were invited to step in and tune out of their busy day-to-day lives whilst being surrounded by plants, the smells of nature and projections of green spaces from around the city. The design and experience at the shop was informed by research by Natural England around the various ways to develop a strong relationship to nature, including by using our senses.

and leave the shop feeling reconnected and energised to do something for the environment by suggesting actions for people to take to help the environment, both at individual and community levels.

1,000+

people visited the shop over the 10 day period

“

I loved being able to chat to the public face to face and engage them in really meaningful conversations about what nature means to them and what they can do to protect it and help to turn the tide on climate change. The shop included an augmented reality sound installation - a set of musical recordings created in collaboration with local composer Jason Singh and the spoken word collective Young Identity. The tracks were made using technology that translated ‘biodata’ generated from the plants and trees in Alexandra Park into musical notes, alongside stories and poetry captured in a workshop with local young people as part of Great Big Green Week. BBC Northwest came onboard as an exclusive media partner, following the journey of the ‘nature recordings’ from workshop stage onwards. Visitors were invited to vote on their favourite song, which will be used throughout the campaign and available for free downloads on In Our Nature channels.

”

Catherine, Danone volunteer at the In Our Nature pop-up shop

The ambition was to give the public a chance to reset surrounded by nature, 36

We asked a sample of 46 visitors how they felt before they entered the pop-up and right after they left. • About 40% were worried, busy, tired or unsure how they felt before getting into the pop-up. • After they experienced the pop-up, more than 80% felt “more relaxed” or “calm”. About 15% were happy and optimistic.

“

Calmer, green makes me calmer, especially in a city

”

(survey respondent) We asked visitors what they would take from the experience and if they would do anything differently in the future: • 68% said that it helped them realise they need to appreciate nature more, because it is relaxing and make them feel good • About 50% said they would like to have more houseplants, plant trees or take care of urban green spaces. • 30% wanted to take more time to appreciate the outdoors and green spaces in their neighbourhood. • About 10% said they would like to volunteer or recycle more often.

“

Everyone can do a bit more - we live in a homeless shelter and people need to do little things like recycling and using refillable stuff. Even just buying less. It inspired me to visit more green spaces in Manchester that I haven’t been to before

”

(survey respondents)

d) Creative public engagement – playful wildlife signs Using wildlife to drive empathy is effective in creating an emotional bond with the public, which can lead to climate action. After collecting insights with the local Wildlife Trust branch and aligning with the City’s biodiversity strategy, we created 120 playful signs made from sustainable materials which were displayed in parks across the city then, due to popular demand, turned them into shareable, printable assets for anybody to use. The signs used wry humour to create local characters like Daphne the Dandelion to engage new audiences with nature and encourage them to notice, celebrate and do their bit to protect local wildlife.

e) Tiny Forest: small urban woodlands in practice Small scale urban forests are a powerful climate solution for cities, with the potential to deliver on both climate resilience and adaptation ambitions, whilst delivering multiple health and wellbeing benefits, improving community cohesion and boosting biodiversity in an area. Growing a tiny forest in a city first requires the identification of an appropriate urban space, and an owner willing to set aside some land for a minimum of ten years. This is often the most difficult hurdle to overcome for any urban greening project and is a barrier we faced in Manchester. After 10 months of unfruitful conversations, we’ve taken the tough decision to stop our search for a suitable site for Manchester’s first tiny forest, although we are still open to the idea if an opportunity presents itself. We’ve collated learnings in a case study (see appendix 2), developed in partnership with Paul O’Hare, Senior Lecturer in Urban Geography and Development at Manchester Metropolitan University and lead on climate resilience and adaptation projects at Manchester Climate Change Agency, so that others can benefit from our experience. Partners Earthwatch are still looking for sites to grow a forest in Greater Manchester, so we’re redirecting interest to them and continuing to promote it as an effective climate solution for cities.

f) Connecting households within a community to share advice on ways to make their homes greener

g) Design by Nature – celebrating students’ ideas that inspire greener lifestyles

Beyond the immediate benefits of creating greener, wilder homes, will supporting households to grow at home also inspire them to take more climate action in their daily lives?

Design By Nature celebrates fresh, creative approaches to tackling environmental issues. The award is open to UK university students and recent graduates from any creative discipline. This year’s brief was inspired by the idea that ‘Good things happen when we connect people to nature’.

Two thirds of green spaces in Manchester are privately-owned gardens, most of which are underused, overgrown or neglected. We launched a hyper-local home growing challenge in north-east Manchester, aiming to create a new culture of growing and demonstrate that everybody can give it a grow, no matter how much space, time or money they have available. Building on Hubbub’s successful Give It A Grow campaign, we have trialled: • Recruiting through door-knocking ten households living in Miles Platting and Newton Heath, to bring together a diverse cohort of people with a range of social, economic and cultural backgrounds. • Pairing up novice gardeners with “everyday experts” living in the same area, based on having similar spaces and horticultural interests, whether this is growing food, creating a refuge for wildlife, preventing flash flooding or improving wellbeing. The everyday expert could be an enthusiastic allotment owner, keen hobby-gardener, employee at nearby garden centre or professional gardener.

Our design competition attracted student from across the UK and a variety of disciplines, including architecture and design. The panel of expert judges shortlisted ten ideas and highly commended two of the students. ‘XPlore’ is a rewards-based navigation app making nature part of daily journeys. ‘The Hidden Draught’ is an installation (turned urban community vegetable patch), that visualises the amount of water that goes into the production of a beef steak, inviting passers-by to reduce the amount of meat they eat by showing them how much local, seasonal veg you can grow on their doorstep.  Hubbub is now supporting both designers to bring the ideas to life as part of future phases of In Our Nature in Manchester. Read the full case study on Design by Nature on appendix 3.

• Supporting skilled growers in providing them with the inspiration, tools and personalised support they need to create a green space at home. Over the coming months we will follow the journey of those households as they create a green space at home, and capture a series of engaging, real-life case studies including video and blog content. We’ll monitor changes in their lifestyles and see if their environmental awareness and behaviour increases as a result of participating in the project.

4) Supporting Community Action through Grant Funding

healthy recipes and practical tips to help reduce food waste, as well as a series of cooking demo videos. They hope that this will inspire and empower people to gain confidence and learn new skills so they can eat well and waste less.

In Our Nature Grant Fund

The project is kicking off in October and the book will be launched in spring 2022.

A core aim of the In Our Nature programme is to empower communities to take action on the climate emergency in a way that responds to local needs and priorities. To support local groups to deliver their own projects we made £25,000 available to community groups in Manchester. The funding was open to innovative, community-led projects addressing a range of environmental issues including reuse/repair/recycle, food and food waste, energy saving, active travel and more.

We’re excited to support the groups as they plan and deliver their projects. We will create case studies which will be shared to inspire other groups to deliver similar initiatives and scale impact.

An independent grant panel agreed to fund three projects focused on circular economy, sustainable fashion and food waste education. These are: 1) ‘Walk in Wardrobe’ by Stitched Up The ‘Walk-in-Wardrobe’ will be a pop-up experience for young people who want to find out more about their clothes covering what they’re made from, who made them to what happens after we get rid of them. The Walk In Wardrobe’s first pop up will be in the Rusholme/Hulme/Moss Side area (exact location to be confirmed) in Spring 2022. 2) The Manchester ‘Library of Things’ by Manchester Library of Things The Manchester Library of Things will be a community shed bursting with things people need, but don’t want to buy. Working like a normal book library, you’ll be able take out a membership and borrow extremely useful items at very low costs. The Library will be situated at the Old Library in Levenshulme and will open its doors in spring / summer 2022. 3) ‘Good for you, Good for the Planet’ Cookbook by Future Directions CIC With the funding Future Directions CIC will work with people with learning disabilities and autistic people to develop an easy-read cookbook filled with

Urban greening grant projects In addition to the projects supported through the In Our Nature community grant, Hubbub will provide funding for four community-based urban greening projects. The projects aim to break down some of the barriers preventing certain communities, including Manchester’s Kurdish community, Muslim women, and school children, from engaging with environmental issues, using nature and community-led urban greening projects to inspire climate action.  1) ‘Play and Grow’ project - Mothers Against Violence Working with young ex-offenders after their release from prison in one of the areas worst affected by gun and knife crime in Manchester, the project will help them to make a positive contribution to their local community. It will build green skills, offer mentoring support and enable participants to spend time in nature. 45

2) St Chad’s Primary School A neglected patch of land around a school in North Manchester will become an outdoor classroom and public green space by revamping the ponds and natural habitats and planting trees to welcome back wildlife. An organic garden will be maintained by a school gardening class, with the food grown used in the school canteen. 3) ‘Garden of Love’ project – The Flowhesion Foundation Growing food has enormous climate benefits and is a powerful way to celebrate the myriad cultures living in an area. The ‘Garden of Love’ project will help local Pakistani women and residents to create a publicly accessible communal herb and fruit garden, while also delivering a range of education sessions in Urdu and Punjabi where women will learn how to grow vegetables and fruits at home on a budget. 4) ‘Plot to plate’ project – Manchester Urban Diggers Taking part in greening activities can tackle social isolation and build a stronger sense of community. The ‘Plot to Plate’ project, in partnership with Manchester Urban Diggers, will bring the local Kurdish community together to produce culturally relevant crops affordably and sustainably, while serving as a testing ground for a new approach to creating growing spaces which reflect the diversity of Manchester’s communities.

Ensuring a strong legacy for Manchester and developing approaches that can be scaled elsewhere Phase 1 of In Our Nature (May – October 21) have generated rich insights into how we can best inspire and support communities to take action on climate change.

5. Be creative with resident consultations. Adding a dollop of

creativity and playfulness helps to reach a wider audience and inspire people to think differently about where they live and what they want to see in the future.

6. Unlock community potential. Communities are full of great ideas and

offering relatively small sums of seed-funding is a powerful way to unlock these ideas, while ensuring projects directly respond to people’s needs. You might learn a lot from them, too!

7. Meet people where they’re at. Building on existing networks

and channels (such as faith groups, sports clubs, schools or resident associations) is a more effective way to engage people that trying to reach individuals directly. It also ensures a strong legacy for the projects and lower the risk of people losing interest in activities.

8. Nature is a powerful hook for engaging residents, but urban greening projects take time to set up and barriers around land permits and ongoing maintenance shouldn’t be overlooked.

Key learnings to date include: 1. Keep it simple. Most people want to take positive climate action but are confused about where to start and how to integrate meaningful changes into their daily lives. Clear, simple messaging and advice is key to grab people’s attention and inspire them to get started.

2. Make it about more than climate. Focus on things that people are passionate about and the benefits to them or their community. Highlight how actions can help save money, connect with neighbours or improve health and wellbeing rather than focusing solely on climate benefits.

3. People engage with creative content such as graphics, videos and

9. Collaboration is key. In Our Nature brings together partners from

across society including local authorities, academics, community groups, businesses and enthusiastic residents. This makes the project greater than the sum of its parts and is the only way to achieve change at a systemic level.

10. The first step is the hardest. Engaging people beyond the already

converted is complex and remains one of the programme’s key priorities. Initial observations indicate that most of the people who took part in urban greening projects were already interested in gardening or climate change issues.

photography. Having a creative team on the ground has been key to capture impact and amplify activities on-the-ground to a wider audience.

4. Keep it local. People prefer targeted and hyper-local content to more

than general tips and advice. Sharing stories of local people doing amazing things is a great way to show what’s possible and inspire more people to seek out ways they can take climate action on their doorstep.

Looking ahead As we move into phase 2 of the programme (Nov 21 – May 22), our key priorities will be: • Get more people involved and continue broadening the reach of our interventions. Make sure that the programme is as inclusive, accessible, and relevant as possible. Collaborate with relevant groups, stakeholders, and organisations to shape the messaging and approach to make sure we create opportunities for all residents to engage and participate.

• Make sure that we bring people on a journey from their initial

engagement with the programme and develop a deeper understanding of how that engagement is leading them to take climate action at home and in their communities.

Thank you

• Build a strong legacy for the programme in Manchester by

ensuring that the programme is embedded in local communities, through building capacity and skills and forming strong collaborations with local partners, networks, and replicating successful elements to other parts of the city.

• Continue collecting data throughout the process to evidence the change in attitudes and behaviours that results from a deeper connection to nature: in what conditions does spending time in nature nurture climate action? We will initiate an independent scientific study to verify the long-term impact of nature on low carbon behaviours.

• Develop a model for scaling successful elements to towns and cities across the UK. While Hubbub will continue to develop,

implement, and evaluate ‘In Our Nature’ in Manchester in the next year and ensure a genuine legacy for the city, the ambition is to scale the programme beyond Manchester. Following the final evaluation in summer 2022, we will create a toolkit of tried and tested approaches, design tools and accessible case studies. This will be shared with local councils across the UK, encouraging them to replicate successful approaches. Outcomes will be promoted in the media, on social media and to key policy and decision-makers demonstrating that there is a positive momentum for change. 50

To find out more about In Our Nature visit inournaturemcr.co.uk and follow @InOurNatureMCR 51

Appendices 1. Measurement and evaluation: theory of change and data collection tools 2. Case study: Tiny forests, small urban woodlands in practice 3. Case study: Design by Nature, celebrating students’ ideas that inspire greener lifestyles

Appendix 1: Measurement and evaluation methodology The Social Investment Consultancy (TSIC) is a global social impact consultancy committed to enabling a better understand of impact, to innovate and scale; and influencing systemic social change. Hubbub commissioned TSIC to carry out the independent evaluation of the activities that Hubbub would be delivering as part of the In Our Nature programme. From May to August 2021, TSIC conducted a series of workshops with local partners to define the outcomes, evaluation framework and Theory of Change for the programme, which is outlined in the diagram below diagram. Although we respect the fact that each project is different, we wanted to create a Theory of Change that would focus on synergies and help build a narrative around In Our Nature as a whole. Most of the outcomes are relevant to multiple projects. Some projects have specific outcomes that are not reflected in the overall Theory of Change.

* 5 pathways to nature connection and a report by Natural England showing their link to pro-environmental behaviours

Data collection tools The evaluation uses a wide range of data collection methods to evidence outcomes outlined in the Theory of Change. Here is a summary of the data collection tools and methods implemented up to October 2021: Sub-project

Data collection tools implemented so far

Communication campaign • • • •

Outcomes fall under three categories: • Building a movement • Inspiring climate action: people feel inspired and supported to take positive climate action. • Scalable model: Ensure a strong legacy for Manchester and develop approaches that can be scaled elsewhere.

Nature Takeover: using nature to inspire action

• Greener, Wilder Homes: home growing challenge Community fridges Community grants

•

Data collection tools to be used in the future

Monitoring data from Commonplace and social media Survey for social media followers (13 respondents) Focus group with social media followers (5 participants) Baseline questionnaires for local groups (xx)

The same data collection tools

Participatory observations from urban greening projects, informal discussions with participants Surveys before and after the popup shop (52 pre and 46 post)

Interviews & focus groups with

Baseline interviews with Greener, Wilder Homes participants

•

No data collected so far No data collected so far

will be used in the next phase of the programme

participants Case studies Final interviews and focus groups •

Participatory videos

•

Participatory videos

•

Focus groups

Project reporting

Appendix 2: Case study: Tiny Forests, small urban woodlands in practice Developed in partnership with Paul O’Hare, Senior Lecturer in Urban Geography and Development at Manchester Metropolitan University and lead on climate resilience and adaptation projects at Manchester Climate Change Agency.

Mini urban forests should be designed and planted in collaboration with local communities. They can quite literally become a ‘living lab’, with data gathered by citizen scientists and volunteers able to be used to improve our collective understanding of urban greening initiatives and to identify the climate benefits.   Challenges and overcoming them  Growing a forest in a city first requires the identification of an appropriate urban space, and an owner willing to set aside some land for a minimum of ten years. This often proves the most difficult dimension of any urban greening project and is a barrier we faced in Manchester. Like any urban greening projects, the planting of mini urban forests can face various hurdles:

Benefits of small urban woodlands Small scale urban forests have the potential to deliver climate resilience and adaptation ambitions, whilst simultaneously delivering benefits for health and well-being, urban recreation and alleviating air pollution. They are often based on the established forest management method developed in the 1970s by Dr Akira Miyawaki.   Mini urban woodlands can vary in scale but generally require a land area around the size of a tennis court, which can accommodate around 600 densely planted trees. The most successful projects involve engagement with local volunteers and stakeholders to support with initial planning, planting, monitoring and general stewardship. In doing so, the projects can deliver multiple social, physical and mental health benefits for wider communities, in some cases providing an outdoor classroom and learning environment for local schools and nurseries, helping to trigger a lifelong passion for nature in young people.   They can, therefore, become a catalyst for community empowerment, turning disused or abandoned sites into assets for urban communities. They have the potential to be embedded within wider regeneration and area improvement schemes. Even small-scale woodlands provide a significant boost for local biodiversity and canopy coverage.

Concerns about safety: there may be fears around the forest being used for anti-social behaviours. However, ensuring positive community engagement early on can alleviate such fears, decrease the likelihood of negative connotations and gain community buy-in.  Concerns about maintenance, from a woodland management and littering perspective: similarly, strong community engagement can alleviate concerns through not only highlighting the often lowmaintenance methodologies that are followed in such planting schemes (ensuring that very little maintenance is needed) and through gaining buy-in in the form of local volunteers to assist with any litter-issues.  Lack of long-term buy-in from private landowners: given the scarcity and cost of land in cities, the long-term contract needed to host an urban forest can raise concerns. However, highlighting the multitude of benefits to the local community and area and engaging them on its design and uses can help ensure landowner buy-in.

Other ways to ensure success with small urban forest schemes include:

established, making them great choices for local authorities and councils.

• Secure buy-in from senior decision makers and landowners as soon as possible to make progress easier and faster.  • Establish a senior champion that will build the case with stakeholders and partners.  • Develop a clear and inclusive engagement strategy with local residents, providing multiple opportunities for people to have a say in the design of their forest, e.g. including local art projects, places to sit and relax, facilities making it more accessible, etc.  • Aim to strike a balance between the desire to plant in a location with high deprivation and a location that is likely to gain approval and buy-in.   • Design accessible signage, site interpretations and education opportunities to showcase the benefits of the forest for local communities to help challenge perceptions.  • Create and share a long-term maintenance plan with clear roles and responsibilities for both landowners and volunteers who will be involved with the scheme.  • Sell the concept by highlighting the benefits of the forest in three areas:   • Environmental - has a positive impact on carbon storage, biodiversity, air pollution, canopy cover, etc.   • Educational - highlight the benefits of ‘planting a classroom’, of using the forest as a biodiversity case study, and of monitoring its growth and impact.  • Mental health and wellbeing – showcase its potential impact on community cohesion, resilience, isolation, and the many health benefits it can bring as a space for residents to connect with nature.

Earthwatch work with local partners, from businesses to local councils, to deliver Tiny Forests to a range of urban sites. The charity has recently partnered with Fever-Tree and Hammersmith and Fulham Council to bring a Tiny Forest to local residents, making it London’s first Tiny Forest.

Conclusion Innovative, community-centric urban greening initiatives like small urban forests have the potential to engage residents, contribute to canopy cover, support biodiversity, and bring the multitude of benefits nature can have on our health closer to urban residents. But they require careful planning and collaboration. As such, local authorities, governments, businesses, and environmental charities need to work closely together if we are to enable more of these schemes.  For more information on Tiny Forests, please visit: earthwatch.org. uk/get-involved/tiny-forest or https://www.groundwork.org.uk/hubs/ greatermanchester/how-to-create-a-mini-forest-in-your-community/

Small urban forest schemes in practice: Earthwatch’s Tiny Forest  To date, a few urban greening schemes have had success within the UK and across the world. For example, environmental charity and citizen science specialists Earthwatch Europe have run a successful scheme, titled Tiny Forest, since 2019, planting the first Tiny Forest in 2020. Their Tiny Forest initiative has pioneered small scale urban forests in the UK. Tiny Forest sites require a list of criteria to be met. This ranges from site size (approximately 200m2) to ensuring that no underground or overhead infrastructure is present. Please contact Earthwatch to receive the full criteria list. Generally, Tiny Forests require limited management and maintenance requirements after the first two years as the trees become 56

Appendix 3: Case study: Design by Nature, celebrating students’ ideas that inspire greener lifestyles About Design By Nature  Design By Nature celebrates fresh, creative approaches to tackling environmental issues. The competition is open to UK university students and recent graduates from any creative discipline. This year’s competition, brought to life thanks to the generous support of the Wates Family Enterprise Trust, challenged design students and recent graduates to come up with new ways to connect people with nature. The winning ideas, selected by an expert panel, are inspiring and varied ranging from an interactive installation promoting sustainable diets to a mini, growing ‘green wall’ anyone can have in their home.    Ultimately, the aim is to incorporate the winning ideas into ‘In Our Nature’, bringing innovative, experimental ideas to trial as part of the programme and taking the students concepts to a wider audience, while measuring how effective they are in shifting behaviours towards greener lifestyles.

Our approach   Design By Nature builds on Hubbub’s belief that insight-led, experimental design should be at the heart of solving some of the most pressing environmental challenges facing society. Over the years we have seen how impactful great design can be in nudging behaviours and the value of collaborating to create innovative, experimental approaches to tackling environmental issues. From trialling drone technology and AI, developed by technology start-up Ellipsis Earth, to tackle litter, to working with artists Climate and Cities to create a Pollution Pavilion, raising awareness of air pollution, and our continued collaboration with Mark Edwards MBE, a boat builder bringing to life our 99% recycled plastic punts to tell a brilliant circular story.

We have continually been astonished by the level of talent of young design students coming through our education system and want to create more platforms and opportunities for them to use their skills to develop environmentally sustainable solutions. Design by Nature was created in 2019 to harness this creativity, giving students a chance to work on a practical brief, enabling them to hone their ideas, present them to a group of experts and bring most commended ones to life.   We've found offering live briefs is a great way of engaging students with different environmental issues and an opportunity for them to use their creative stills to inspire action.  “I would definitely recommend taking part in Design by Nature – it’s a great opportunity to get feedback and recognition on your work. Say you’ve entered into a national competition is a useful addition to the CV and helps you in the job hunt. Being sustainability focused also shows a genuine care for the world around us - it’s great to start working on those kinds of projects early on in your ‘design career’ as it puts you in the right mindset for doing other projects in the future. It’s more about the impact rather than how pretty you can make something look” - Design By Nature entrant 2021  The process  Students were invited to dig into the research and insights behind the briefs, packaged up in an ‘Insights Pack’ providing some context into the wider In Our Nature programme’s ambition, and help students back up their ideas by tangible evidence and research, as well as information about target audiences and the key barriers these groups are experiencing in engaging with nature in cities.  Like for In Our Nature more widely, we aimed to primarily benefit people living in urban areas, specifically focusing on under-represented audiences that are more likely to be deprived of access to shared or private green space and are therefore least connected to nature.   Students were invited to pick between three briefs, all inspired by the idea that ‘good things happen when you connect people with nature’.    1. Green is the new black – “Imagine a world where young people engage and connect with the natural world the same way they engage with the latest social media trend.” (Audience: young people aged 18-25 living in cities)  59

2. Bring the outside in – “Imagine a world where everyone can make the most of the benefits nature has to offer, in the comfort of their homes.” (Audience: low-income households)    3. Use nature for good – “Imagine a world where every time someone walks past green space, they feel inspired and empowered to live sustainably and protect the environment.” (Audience: either young people aged 18-25 or low-income households.)

Dig into the ideas   We had entries from design students across the UK from a variety of creative disciplines. Along with our panel of expert judges, we shortlisted ten ideas and highly commended two of the students.

The two winning ideas   1. 'XPlore'  Lilymae Prescott’s idea ‘XPlore’ responded to the brief to inspire 18–25-yearolds to explore and spend time in their local green spaces and engage with nature in their everyday lives.   'XPlore' is a rewards-based navigation app making nature part of daily journeys. It offers alternative green routes and rewards time spent in nature with sustainable perks. The app generates several nature-incorporated routes based on your end destination. You can share activity with friends and trade in the points you earn for perks which promote sustainability and healthy living.   "Loved it. Great concept. Smart use of key principles (esp. nudge, simplify, social norms, partner). Very scalable with the right support." - Anna Turrell, Head of Environment for Tesco, Guest judge  2. 'The Hidden Drought'  Joshua Fox’s idea ‘The Hidden Drought’ responded to the brief to help innercity communities to make more sustainable choices in their day-to-day lives and become advocates for protecting the environment.   'The Hidden Drought' is an installation (turned urban community vegetable patch), that visualises the amount of water that goes into the production of a beef steak and compares it to the number of vegetables that this amount of water could grow. It invites the community to reduce the amount of meat they eat by showing them how much local, seasonal veg you can grow on your doorstep.  "Great to visualise resources that go into growing food and connect this to practical activities communities can take part in."  - Hubbub judge

Impact and next steps  Hubbub is now supporting both designers to take the next steps with developing their ideas; Lilymae is receiving expert advice on how to develop her app, and we’re collaborating with Joshua to explore installation concepts, building on his idea around the role nature can play in helping people to have more sustainable diets. We’ll be bringing the ideas we develop to life in Manchester next year as part of In Our Nature.   "My main ambition is to just keep throwing myself into situations where I can be challenged so I can continue learning and growing with the times. I'm quite interested in accessibility within design, so if I could use my skills for anything I'd definitely look at how we can improve existing systems and services to make them more inclusive, both from a societal and a usability point of view."  - Lilymae Prescott   “It was a great opportunity to take part in the Hubbub Design by Nature challenge as it offered a chance to delve into a real world problem such as climate change and look how the behaviour of my age group could improve to support the future of the planet. As part of my research I experimented with different vegetarian recipes and also dug up some rooted insights from user behaviours. I myself was on the fence to become vegetarian so used it as an opportunity to research the topic area further and consequently have decided to try out being vegetarian. Overall it was great to have fun playing around with different foods I’d never eaten and to experiment with a different diet. I’m now aware of everything I eat and the role it plays in the ecosystem and my own health. The brief challenged assumptions and allowed flexibility!” - Joshua Fox

Partnering with universities and collaborate with students

Five key reflections and learnings from Design By Nature 2021  1. Consider if the target audience is accessible for students - most of the entrants opted for the briefs which targeted 18-25 years olds rather than low-income households. Lecturers have said it was difficult for the students to engage with or gain insights from this audience due to lockdown. Focusing on a 18-25 year old audience meant they could also build on lived experiences. 2. Embed the live briefs within university modules – we found the entrants who’d worked on the briefs as part of their course had the chance to do much more in depth research and understood Hubbub’s approach, which reinforces the need to partner with universities and embed the competition as a way to bring skills to life. 3. Have one clear theme to link all the briefs – using nature as an overall theme and linking the competition with a live programme happening in Manchester was a successful way to make it tangible and attractive for students to take part. 4. Consider how to incentivise students – we found students aren’t as interested in seed funding but are drawn to the opportunity to present their idea to experts or gain support from Hubbub to bring their idea to life.  5. Running creative competitions is time-consuming so Hubbub is looking for as effective, more time efficient ways to collaborate with students and bring their best ideas to life.

Design By Nature has opened up further opportunities to work with students and universities. As part of In Our Nature, we’re partnering with Manchester Met University to run a series of workshops and design sprints for students linked to some of the key themes we’re exploring within the programme.   We’ll also be running a mini version of the nature takeover on the campus and hosting some of our installations to playfully engage students and inspire them to get involved in the programme.