Green Gown Awards 2016 – Community – Universities of Oxford & Oxford Brookes – Highly Commended

Low Carbon Oxford week – Pop up green events across our city

Now in its third year, Low Carbon Oxford Week (LCOW) is bigger and better than ever. The concept was nurtured by the Oxford Strategic Partnership - set up in 2003 to promote a better quality of life in the city – with Oxford Brookes University and University of Oxford both playing a very active role.

Quick facts from LCO Week 2015: Attendance over 40,000 across all event including 23,000 at Big Green Day Out launch event alone; 585 entries in the Big Green Treasure Hunt; Local experts delivered inspiring assemblies in five Oxford primary schools; Festival guide –  to over 13,500 people as supplement in Oxford Times, with over 5,000 additional copies distributed.

This year, LCO Week kicks off with Oxford’s Big Green Day Out street fair that combines live music, local art, regional foods, and family craft activities with environmentally-themed workshops, displays, and demonstrations.

Top 3 learnings

1 Working in partnership with large organisations is key to making sustainable behaviour the social norm. Coordinating our resources has led to city-wide reach and impact – no single partner could deliver a festival of this scale alone and no person in Oxford could miss it.

2 The diversity of approach is key. By empowering communities to run their own events, LCO Week spread across the city, reaching 16 of 24 wards.

3 Making sustainability fun; taking it out to every venue, from pubs to theatres to parks; and capturing everything from health and nature to robots and electric sports cars, engages a hugely diverse audience.