At our COP 26: Cities vs the Climate and Nature Crises gathering on 29 September, Bristol Green Capital Partnership launched 2030: Re-Envisioning Bristol – a positive interactive vision of what the city could look like in less than 9 years’ time. 

This piece was based off local artist Andy Council’s illustration of a low-carbon scenario in 2050 which was created nearly a decade ago for the Future Bristol project. There have been many developments since then – most notably in July 2019 when the city brought forward its goal to achieve carbon neutrality 20 years earlier than the UK Government’s target, and the subsequent work that followed to set out how Bristol can achieve this and its ecological goals published in the One City Ecological Emergency Strategy. 

Soon after the publication of this strategy, Bristol Green Capital Partnership collaborated with UWE’s SUNEX research team to enable Partnership members and other environmental expert stakeholders to bring to bear the latest expertise and knowledge in the third iterative refresh of the One City Plan. 

The insights they shared reflect recent developments, including the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the scale, nature and pace of change needed to achieve the city’s 2030 goals. These constructive insights went on to inform the creative re-envisioning of the city in 2030, capturing key themes across Energy, Food, Nature, Resources, Transport and People.

We want it to be a tool to spark imaginations, seed more aspirations and visionary ideas, and further our sense that another future is imaginable and possible. It builds on the work of the Partnership’s Our Future: A Vision for an Environmentally Sustainable Bristol and we hope it will support future planning of the Partnership and its members’ work in Bristol. 

If it inspires any reflections or ideas that you’d like to share, you can do so on this collaborate virtual jamboard. 

It’s certainly not the only vision of Bristol’s future – whether it’s been visualised or not, we all have our own visions as individuals and as collectives in our community groups, organisations, businesses and institutions. We are sure that there will be more opportunities to get your blue-sky thinking caps on and be part of the co-creation of other visions of Bristol.

Finding complementarity between multiple visions is important for different visions and perspectives to co-exist with each other. But we must ensure all perspectives are heard because with greater diversity of thoughts and voices will there be greater collective resilience and capacity to adapt, respond and thrive in the face of crises.

Links

• Download 2030: Re-Envisioning Bristol for the full interactive effect and more context on how it came to be.
• One Shared Vision for Bath and North East Somerset
• What does a carbon neutral North Somerset look like to you?
• This Must Be The Place – shared visions of Scotland’s sustainable future