“Pådriv  (the 17.17 infrastructure) will be one of the things I am most proud of when I look back at my time in the city government, because I believe that it has contributed to a better city that is more open for these types of initiatives.”  Marie Loe Halvorsen, political advisor for Vice Mayor for Finance, Oslo City.

Marie gave this statement when she contributed to a SoTalk on how we can mobilize and align “top and bottom-approaches” to create more sustainable city transformation. Cities are traditionally strong at setting targets, creating strategies and passing legislation (top-down). We are now seeing an increasing emphasis on citizen and stakeholder engagement and the importance of scaling behavior change (bottom-up).

The 17.17 infrastructure is a concrete solution to SDG 17, target 17: “Encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships.”

SoCentral is a non-profit collaborative initiator that brings together government, entrepreneurs and residents, and creates partnerships to solve complex sustainability challenges. In this webinar, you could learn about Pådriv Oslo, the original 17.17 infrastructure, which started in 2017 and has since been used in several other cities.

The infrastructure is designed for and has proven successful in providing long-term support to people and organisations who are ready to create transformative change, making their cities healthier, cleaner and more sustainable.

The methodology behind the 17.17 infrastructure
Thomas Evensen from SoCentral gave us a brief outline of the 17.17 infrastructrue. The 17.17 infrastructure is an open source methodology for collective action, and an effective tool for cities who acknowledge that better collaboration is needed to reach existing climate and sustainability targets.

Six core principles
1.Alignment with city goals – Making the city´s climate and sustainability goals part of the infrastructure is key. It ensures that activities within the local infrastructure amplify city goals.

2.Place-based – The infrastructure is always connected to a geographic area(s) and adapted to the local context. This enables engagement from local stakeholders, and make it easier to create tangible results.

3.Open to all people and organizations – every person or organization that want to take part in the development of their city can join, contribute and benefit from resources that exist in the infrastructure.

4.Collective and equal ownership – the infrastructure in a specific city is owned by the stakeholders in that city. All members should have an equal stake, independent of financial or political power.

5.Action-oriented and collaborative culture – The infrastructure is set up to create motion, and includes a stewardship team who initiate collective action, and connect citizens, organizations and projects.

6.Open source – Knowledge created within and funded through the infrastructure is open to all. This leads to better conditions for collaborations and meaningful transformation.

In this SoTalk we also heard  from Carla F. Høyer, student at NMBU, who told us how she has used the model as a citizen and student. As well as Ragnhild Olaussen, Section director for Community Development in the district of Bjerke on how they have used the infrastructure.

Did you miss the event and want to watch it?
You can find it here

Do you want to read more and watch the SoTalk were we outlined the model?
You can find it here