Local Cultures – Global Spaces

Abstract

This communication aims to contribute to discussing citizen science models in the environmental sustainability field in the context of semi-rural communities, going beyond its traditional hard-data methodologies and adding an ethnographic, design-led approach. It departs from an on-the-ground pilot case titled “In My Backyard? A citizen science pilot project on home farming and gardening” (Horizon 2020), led by Rio Neiva – Environmental NGO and its partner CEA – Municipal Centre for Environmental Education, in Esposende, Portugal, aiming to support a long-term transition to sustainable backyards. The premise was based on the need for more information on home farming and gardening practices and on a geographical area where backyards are a common feature and part of a local family’s cultural heritage. Our work focused on 1) collecting and analysing quantitative and qualitative data, and 2) promoting knowledge transfer workshops on sustainable home farming and gardening practices. We would highlight an ethnographic video-documentary approach which allowed us to establish a visual and collective narrative of this community’s backyards and experiment with the boundaries of citizen science engagement models. We concluded that backyards are an untapped area that can offer a wide range of environmental, economic, or even well-being benefits, and how ethnographic and design-led qualitative data can provide critical insights into such reality. Indeed, quantitative data allowed us to understand the diversity of pesticides and fertilisers used or of existing biodiversity, and qualitative data allowed us to contextualise these findings from a citizen perspective, valuing and disseminating this rich and unwritten knowledge.