Reflection and Legacy - Overview and Methods - Communication, Co-creation, and Legacy Planning

Sep 11, 2026

Reflection and Legacy provides structured guidance for carrying learning forward from a project through communication, citizen co-creation, and legacy planning. It details how to disseminate results to diverse audiences using media, academic outputs, institutional platforms, social channels, and public authority communication. It also outlines participatory actions that empower citizens to propose and deliver impact-focused initiatives, followed by methods to codify learning, ensure scalability, and support sustainability beyond the initiative.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages2

Reading Time1 min

AccessFree to download

Disseminate results among different audiences

Producing tailored materials for each audience

Co-create citizens actions

Organize public events and empower citizens

Use pop-up interventions to raise awareness

Reflect and plan for the legacy of the project

Codify and transfer learning for scalability and sustainability

Use sociotechnical infrastructure, toolkit, certificate, and pilot videos

REFLECTION AND LEGACY: OVERVIEW AND METHODS 1. Disseminate results among different audiences A crucial part of ensuring legacy refers to extensive communication and dissemination activities that should be conducted throughout the project lifecycle (as well as beyond the funding period) . These should focus on producing different types of materials to suit the different audiences. These can include news media activities (including blogs, news articles, radio interviews, interventions on TV etc.), academic publications and conference presentations, presence on other institutions' websites and blogs, social media communication, and communication oriented towards the public authority (see the Policy Brief Tool below) . 2. Co-create citizens actions This sub-phase focuses on actions to empower citizens to propose courses of action. The aim is to co-create, plan and deliver actions that can generate recognition of the issue explored in the case study experiment and possibly make an impact. One of the most obvious and straightforward ways to address these objectives would be to organise one or more public events where debates are conducted among participating citizens, the research team, and representatives from the relevant departments/agencies of the local or regional authority. Method, Pop-Up Intervention: according to the experience, pop up interventions to showcase results and raise awareness about these have proven effective. These can take many forms, but we advocate for citizens to be at the core of the action, both its design and implementation. 3. Reflect and plan for the legacy of the project In the last step, the main objective is to codify and transfer the learning from the case studies and the overall project and to plan for scalability and sustainability beyond the end of the initiative. Therefore, citizens and researchers should collectively reflect on which kind of legacy the project aims to leave, and how. The cornerstone for addressing this sub-phase has been tackled in WeCount through the development and establishment of a stable and transferable sociotechnical infrastructure that will enable other groups of citizens to replicate the experiment and contribute with new sources of evidence to augment the knowledge base on traffic in our neighbourhoods, cities, and regions. The key elements of this infrastructure are the technology (the hardware, the platform, and the software side), and this toolkit. In addition, two more resource to facilitate this sub-phase are proposed. Tool, Graduation Certificate: with the objective of establishing ownership of the WeCount intervention, as well as of creating an attachment to the project and the citizen science discipline as a whole, this action focuses on graduating participants as members of WeCount and/or as a “graduation” as Citizen Scientists. This will be conducted through the delivery of a certificate that asserts that the person has been an active part of the WeCount case study. The development of the WeCount Graduation Certificate template is planned for the following months. Tool, Pilot Videos: videos, in WeCount and beyond, were proven to be effective ways to disseminate the project’s concepts, principles, experiences and findings. In WeCount every case study leaves videos showing and explaining each local intervention as an important legacy of the project. The links to those developed as part of WeCount can be found below: • Leuven: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WutQFBI9V8&ab_channel=WeCount](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WutQFBI9V8&ab_channel=WeCount) • Madrid&Barcelona: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUGxNu0JuLM&ab_channel=WeCount](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUGxNu0JuLM&ab_channel=WeCount) • Ljubljana: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tTskieFrbw&ab_channel=WeCount](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tTskieFrbw&ab_channel=WeCount)

FAQs

What communication and dissemination activities support project legacy?

Legacy depends on extensive communication throughout the project lifecycle and beyond funding. Activities include news media, academic publications and conferences, presence on other institutions’ sites, social media, and communication directed to public authorities.

How do citizens’ actions contribute to recognition and impact?

Citizens actions aim to empower people to propose and deliver courses of action. Through co-creation, planning, and delivery, participants can generate recognition of the explored issue and potentially create real impact.

What is the final goal of reflecting and planning legacy?

The goal is to codify and transfer learning from case studies and the overall project, and to plan for scalability and sustainability after the initiative ends. Citizens and researchers jointly decide what legacy the project should leave and how.

Sep 11, 2026

Uploaded by Ben Jamin