Towards resource wisdom project Kohti resurssiviisautta – hanke

The “Towards Resource Wisdom” project was a joint undertaking by the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra and the City of Jyväskylä, where the project was piloted in 2013. The project involved developing an operating model for promoting resource wisdom in medium-sized and large cities and municipalities. The operating model is used to embed resource wisdom in the community as a whole, ranging from the strategy work of city management to the everyday lives of city residents. Introducing the operating model also included the drawing up of a roadmap for resource wisdom by a working group comprising representatives from the city, residents’ associations, businesses and educational institutions. The road map comprises the city’s long-term plan for reaching its targets of becoming carbon-neutral and waste-free. The plans are divided into five overlapping thematic areas: energy, transport, waste, food and water. Resource wisdom was measured on a regular basis using four indicators: 1) the carbon footprint; 2) the ecological footprint; 3) material loss; and 4) the perceived well-being of city residents. During the project, residents were invited to submit ideas on how to reduce environmental harm and improve social and economic well-being through a web portal. During the pilot, 25,000 residents took part in testing resource-wise ideas in practice, from reducing food waste in public kitchens to letting households try different ways to become more resource-wise.