Educating communities for sustainability: living smart in the City of Fremantle, Western Australia

With human activity as the cause of many local and global environmental problems, the sustainability of a city largely depends on the choices and actions of its population. If the vision of a sustainable city is to be achieved, it is imperative that the people of that city not only have a clear understanding of the concept of sustainability, but also demonstrate support and actively contribute to this vision. A joint initiative by the City of Fremantle, the Southern Metropolitan Regional Council, the Meeting Place Community Centre and Murdoch University in Western Australia, sought to increase the Fremantle community’s contribution to sustainability through a new environmental education program. Knowing that simply providing information is not enough to create behaviour change, the "Living Smart" program used a framework for environmental education (developed by the authors of this paper) that emphasised community development and included goal setting as a behaviour change technique. Evaluation showed that the framework used in the program was effective in increasing participants knowledge of sustainability issues and the number and frequency of positive environmental behaviours taken. By bringing together people that have similar interests and concerns, “Living Smart” has created a community of individuals who have increased their understanding of sustainability issues and are actively contributing to this vision through their own behaviour and their connection with the community.